Recent Articles
New farming approach born from old customs | The Journal Gazette
It has been years since Chuck Zumbrun, who farms 1,200 acres near Churubusco, got the odd piece of advice from a one of his father’s friends, a man he described as an old hillbilly farmer. Plant your beans, corn and squash together, like the Indians always did, the man said, and you’ll get better yields. [...]
Crops News, Agriculture News | Agriculture.com
A lower trading day is seen for the CME Group farm markets Monday. The early calls for the commodities on Monday, March 18, 2013, are lower. Corn is seen opening 5-7 cents lower. Soybeans are seen 14-15 cents lower and wheat 7-9 cents lower. In overnight trading, the May corn futures contract traded 5 cents [...]
Social bees mark dangerous flowers with chemical signals
Mar. 14, 2013 — Scientists already knew that some social bee species warn their conspecifics when detecting the presence of a predator near their hive, which in turn causes an attack response to the possible predator. Researchers at the University of Tours (France) in collaboration with the Experimental Station of Arid Zones of Almeria (Spain) [...]
Farmers who commit totally to sell locally can make a profit
Mar. 8, 2013 — Farmers can make a profit selling their produce directly to local businesses, but they must not let possible new costs weaken their commitment to the new venture, according to an international team of researchers. Full story at Science Daily . via Farmers who commit totally to sell locally can make a [...]
Corn questions for 2013
Many of you couldn’t wait to throw your 2012 calenders away and think about 2013. That’s an understatement, for 2012 was the worst drought year since 1988. Fortunately, 2013 is here and you can start out with a clean slate, particularly if winter snow recharges subsoil levels. Here are some questions and answers you may [...]
Beef producers: MORE tech coming
While the headline on this story is true, don’t be scared by the thought of more technology to keep up with. Some of the technology coming in agriculture is actually low-tech; as in, using farm dogs. Before giving you the rest of the dog story, let me tell you that the source is Lowell Catlett, [...]
Managing weanling pigs without antibiotics
A researcher at the University of Illinois has created a resource to help swine producers identify strategies that they can use to manage weanling pigs without using antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), as a market in the U.S. continues to grow for pork raised without antibiotics, including certified organic pork. Hans Stein, professor of animal sciences, [...]
Combine fire research progresses
By Sonia Mullally National Sunflower Association One day last fall, while ag engineer Dan Humburg was perched atop a combine during sunflower harvest in central South Dakota, the grower operating the machine stopped at the end of the field and asked, “Do you smell that?” The South Dakota State University researcher could detect a burnt [...]
‘Milk deficit’ has state’s dairy production up
By David Rookhuyzen For Land and Livestock The dairy industry is big business in South Dakota and it’s becoming more compact and efficient. According to the state Department of Agriculture’s Annual Dairy Report for fiscal 2011, the state’s 332 farms produced more than 5 million pounds of milk daily. One of South Dakota’s 92,000 dairy [...]
Why the Government Should Pay Farmers to Plant Cover Crops | Mother Jones
Globally, 2012 will likely rank as one of the ten hottest in recorded history, The New York Times reports. If it does, "it will mean that the 10 warmest years on record all fell within the past 15 years, a measure of how much the planet has warmed." Here in the US, last year was [...]
