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Combines rolling By: Jeff Caldwell 08/13/2010 @ 3:58pm
The "weather's been cooperating" lately around Northwood, North Dakota, where Keith and Ben Thorsgard were making good progress cutting their 2010 winter wheat. "We've been getting a lot done ...
High & Tight By: Jeff Caldwell 07/18/2010 @ 11:00pm
This central Illinois cornfield shows the current trend of higher plant populations. A recent ag consultants survey indicated an average increase in plant populations of 500 per acre vs. last year (photo by ...
/media-center/photos/other/b15dc4b0277beeda0ddf19055a4b643e9ba4c033_541-6759 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Fire extinguishers"Be prepared for combine fires by carrying two ABC-type extinguishers -- one in the cab and one at ground level," according to a report from Iowa State University Extension ag safety ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Keep filters clean A huge challenge in a dry harvest season like this one is preventing fires. One way is keeping all filters clean. “Hot, dry, dirty field conditions are hard on machines, so take the extra ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Stripper plates & snapping roll openingsIt's important to Keep the stripper plates close and narrow the snapping roll openings on your corn head to accommodate smaller ears and stalks, Keller says.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Don't let them out"Be careful when thrething to prevent grain from going out the back of the machine," says Keller. "Fan speed should be slowed and sieve openings should be made smaller to account for ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Keep it flowingIn a drought year, it's especially important to keep material flowing consistently once you pull the combine into the field, according to Gleaner product performance manager John Keller ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Head in lowOverall header height is going to be much more important than usual this fall. "It's about getting that header down and getting as many of the corn & beans harvested as we can," says Dereck ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Shell it allOne way to make sure you're getting even the smallest corn ears is by making sure your header deck plate spacing is "close enough that the smallest ears are not shelled at the head or broken ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Keep 'em separatedOne problem many anticipate this fall is a lot more cob making its way into the tank. To prevent this, make sure separator grate spacers are installed between the grates and rail. "This ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Rotor speed"Smaller diameter ears and less plant material suggest narrower concave clearance than normal. Don’t use faster rotor or cylinder speed than necessary for adequate threshing," says Iowa State ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
ConcavesMake sure you inspect your concaves and replace them if they're too worn. According to a report from John Deere, it's important to make sure they're level and zeroed to the rotor. "This ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The drought's challenges won't end when the growing season's done. See a few ways you can avoid some common problems in harvesting corn & soybeans in a drought year.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here are the 2 fields side-by-side. Thompson says he did get enough of a rain soon after planting to get a stand established, but the soils under conventional tillage weren't able to retain the moisture ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"No moisture to bring the crop up even," Thompson says of this shot. "This field has little residue and has been blowing in a very dry and windy 2012. Both fields got less than an inch of rain and were seeded ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's the flipside: "This is a picture of the soil moisture in a no-tilled (direct seeded) wheat field that is right next to a conventionally tilled wheat field. In a very dry dry 2012 year here," ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The residue Thompson relies on is in many forms. Here, a mix of Nitro radish, sudan, millet, grazing corn and cowpea helped him stave off damage from the severe heat and dryness in his area this summer ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a closer look at what was left of that cover crop mix in November. The mix helped prevent wind and water erosion and, even into fall, "these radish survived the haying process, the wheat drilling ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a shot of the soil just below the surface. "This is the tilth of the ground due to the cover crop blend as well as the radish roots loosening the soil," Thompson says. "This field is spongy feeling ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These radishes may not look like much from the surface, but dig a little and you see the full value of them as a cover crop long after a hard freeze. "Here's the taproot on the radish plant that will ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Harvest is over and farmers are starting to lay the groundwork for the 2013 crop, one that could face an uphill climb if the drought continues. But, what if it doesn't? They're just a couple of the ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
What if 'normal' weather returns in 2013? That shift -- and its effects on grain prices -- was the focus of a meeting this week at the University of Illinois. It's clear prices would fall, but ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Where those prices go in the next year also depends a lot on global factors, the biggest one ahead being the 'fiscal cliff.' In this week's Big Picture, Scott Shellady delves into the ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Back to the weather: It's worst now in the Plains, where the hard red winter wheat crop is struggling to get a stand established before dormancy. Farmers say it could be the worst conditions in years, and ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you're using no-till or cover crops, though, your wheat crop may be in better shape. That's the case for one farmer in northern Kansas who's seeing big-time differences in early wheat stands ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, how big of a corn crop do U.S. farmers need to raise next year to meet demand? One projection this week shows it will take between 80 and 88 million harvested acres to raise just over 14 billion bushels ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That crop size next year will have a lot to do with where farmland prices head, too. Despite some factors that point to a possible downturn in values, one land expert said this week that there's not a ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, what are the other factors to watch to see if land prices are going to tank or continue to surge? Keep your eye on interest rates, grain prices and crop insurance rates among others, one expert said this ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, land's just one variable going into your crop balance sheet. What about seed? With rising costs, it's important to pick a variety that's most likely to perform on your acres. One report ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Variables like land prices and seed are important to your profitability, obviously, but so too are factors that are out of your control, like conditions in crop-growing regions overseas. Tune in with Markets ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Did you miss out on the Black Friday deals last week? If so, don't worry -- we've got you covered. Check out all of our editors' picks for Christmas gifts for farmers this year, and find out how ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
On a day when the grain markets screamed higher and opened the door to major volatility, I hit the road to see how things look in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. Here are a few snapshots.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
I headed south through Indianola, eventually taking back roads through Centerville, Iowa, and eventually east of Unionville, Missouri, then back north through Ottumwa, Lynnville and Sully, Iowa. I would have ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This was the first tasseling field I saw in the morning, just east of Lacona in southern Warren County, Iowa. Though rainfall's been light in that area lately, this crop looked okay compared to other ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Tassels were just starting to emerge. This field was about 7 feet tall. At about 7:00 in the morning, the leaves were fully open, though they showed signs of having curled quite a bit lately.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While I was in Russell, Iowa, just southeast of Chariton, this friendly guy wanted to jump in the car with me!
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though I was eyeballing the crops more than the livestock on this swing, I couldn't help but be awestruck by this herd just north of the Iowa-Missouri state line.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field is representative of some of the more severe corn conditions in the nation's midsection. Though this field was hilly creek bottom ground, it still showed signs of almost zero emergence in some ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though this field just north of Bloomfield, Iowa, looks like it's tasseling and pollinating well, it was at least a foot shorter than that tasseling field I'd seen earlier in Warren County. And by ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field's just south of Sully, Iowa. It was just starting to tassel, mostly along the edges of the field.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Just like the field near Bloomfield, this one was noticeably shorter than the one I'd seen earlier near Lacona, and showed signs that it needs a good rain.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Think you’re dry? Well, there are many northern and central Indiana farmers who are in the same boat. Here’s a look at some fields that Gil Gullickson, Crops Technology observed during a visit to northern ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
“We have some areas that have had only 2 inches of rain since the beginning of April,” says Kip Tom, a Leesburg, Indiana farmer. In these areas, corners of center pivot irrigation fields are showing the ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Fortunately, being able to irrigate shines in a drought year. It costs money to pump water for corn, but it does ensure a crop, Tom says. Last week, this field was eye-high and rapidly growing. On dryland ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One drawback to irrigation is that it creates a higher disease environment. “We scout and understand what is going on in those fields,” says Tom. “Typically, we use fungicides (in those fields) and have ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Crops continued to struggle as I moved south. These sharp-looking soybeans east of Sidney, Indiana, were no-tilled into standing corn stalks. The moisture that no-till saves gives soybeans like these an edge ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This dryland corn near Urbana, Indiana, was fighting off drought stress. However, it still was hanging in there. "Clearly, there are some truly severely stressed regions of the state," said Bob Nielsen, Purdue ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The next stop I made was at Lasater Farms near Gaston, Indiana. “For only getting an inch of rain here from May 1 to June 20, things don’t look to bad around here,” says Scott Lasater. Until the 90-plus ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Lasater farms a wide variety of soils, ranging from low-organic matter ones to high peat soils with 20%-plus organic matter like the one this corn is planted on. In a drought year, the moisture-holding peat ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One dry weather bright spot is that it’s excellent harvest weather for wheat in the area. This field near Matthews, Indiana, has likely been harvested by the time you see this.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Corn in Indiana is nearing the crucial late June to early July pollination period. Pollination has already started in some fields in southern Indiana. Drought stress like this slices pollination and yield ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The good news is the crop appeared in better shape as I neared the Indiana-Illinois border. This field is near the border town of Kentland. Hopefully, moisture-deficient areas in the Hoosier state will catch ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
From the highway, it looks like just another farm. A few buildings, research fields, and irrigation units break up this lonely stretch of South Dakota Highway 34. A stop at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm near ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Find out more- Join the discussion in Agriculture.Com Farm Business
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Did you catch all of USDA's big reports last Friday? The prospective plantings report sent a clear message: The markets are going to really be watching corn and soybean planting and development weather ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though clouds and lower temperatures have rolled in to parts of corn and soybean country, this week's been one driven by weather. Hot, dry conditions are dragging on crop conditions, USDA said this week.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That dryness -- which has eased slightly late this week with showers moving through the Corn Belt -- is hampering weed control for some farmers, experts say.- Read more
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Weed control isn't the only problem that can arise at this point in the growing season. Poor root development can be a big problem, especially when the plants are around the V3 developmental stage.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The wheat world has had a big week, with winter wheat harvest making its way into Kansas, where farmers are finding extremely variable conditions and yields. But, records are being broken; some farmers say ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The fuels sector fed the headlines this week. A report this week showed the ethanol business needs widespread approval of E15 to survive. At the same time, the crude oil market fell to multi-month low prices ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The costs associated with the fuels sector helped drive farm machinery costs up by around 15% in the last 2 years, another report out this week shows. Fuel & labor costs were the main bullish drivers ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
And, there was another sign of the cost of farmland continuing to surge. But, unlike the other latest reports from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, this latest version shows some signs that land values ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Grain prices have their own 'crisis of confidence' going on this summer, too. Driven by some bearish outside factors, there's some downward pressure on the grains these days. What are the key ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Hey, don't forget about Dad! Father's day is a little over a couple weeks away. Have you shopped for Dad? Or, if you're the Dad yourself, have you dropped all the hints you need to drop? If not ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The World Pork Expo's the place to be this week for anyone involved in the hog industry around the globe. Producers, industry experts and hog business company representatives flooded the Iowa State ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Let's take a quick stroll around the Expo grounds. The main drag is the place to be if you're hungry. See that smoke around those flags just to the left of the street in this shot? That was my first ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's what was creating that smoke. The folks from Lynch BBQ of Waucoma, Iowa, were grilling up bratwursts for anybody passing by, and having a good time doing it.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"She had kind of a late night last night. That's why her eyes are bloodshot," said one of the Lynch guys grilling the brats. Though the line was short in the morning, as the day unfolded, the Lynch grill ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Expo's the place to be if you're in the market for any new iron for your farm. The state fairgrounds are covered in booths -- indoors and out -- with the latest equipment, from trailers and ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This shirt logo caught my eye. That's a strange-looking pig! It's on Steve Caskey's shirt. He's an Alabama native who's now working in Thailand. One of his ventures is a large Tilapia ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
He also produces feed additives that are used in swine diets. He said Thailand's got around a 900,000-head sow herd (fewer than in Iowa), but is the nation's 3rd-leading exporter of chicken and is ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
After a quick chat with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey on the way to the barns (he said the corn on his northern Iowa farm is "beautiful" right now, having received some good rains lately), I went ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A lot of families make the Expo a vacation destination. Some drive halfway across the nation to show pigs. Some see it as a business proposition while others are doing it as a hobby.
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Mark Karthauser, here with daughter Stevieann, drove 26 hours from Loomis, California, stopping every 2 hours to water his daughter's pigs. "The first couple of times we stopped, they wanted out. And ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Karthausers see raising show pigs as more of a hobby. Mark works at a local cable company and the family has about 10 sows. "We can't make enough money doing it to make it a business. Feed costs are ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There are a lot of "secret weapons" in the show pig business. Here's Kevin Doherty's: Skittles. He and his 3 kids raise about 8 pigs a year, buying from farmers around Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois ...
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Doherty, an ag lender with Badgerland Farm Credit Services, says showing pigs is more of a hobby for his family. But, youth and agriculture are also part of his work with Farm Credit. "We're promoting ...
15 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a young guy from Oklahoma who isn't showing a pig at this year's Expo, but just as I walked by, I heard someone tell his dad "You just wait. He'll be showing next year."
16 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These guys were hard at work when I walked by. They're brothers Gavin and Garrison Strika of stigler, Oklahoma. You could tell this wasn't their first hog show, and they were keeping their pens as ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, just as I was rounding the corner, they'd already shifted gears. Here, they're leading their pigs to the scale for the pre-show weigh-in.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Soybeans are sprouting, winter wheat is showing its golden hue (or even harvested), and corn is knee-high by the 4th—of June, that is. Here’s a roundup of crop progress that Crops Technology Editor Gil ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These soybeans were just popping above the ground when we stopped by this field in late May by the Mississippi River near Hannibal, Missouri. Compared to previous years, soybean planting is far ahead of normal ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This winter wheat was changing color near Canton, Missouri, in late May. Harvest has started in many parts of Missouri, with 33% of winter wheat fields having been harvested by June 3.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In late May, we stopped by the Dan and Darren Shaw farm near Edgar, Nebraska, farm. Corn is king in this corner of southeastern Nebraska. Several ethanol plants in the area have boosted demand for corn in ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Good planting weather enhanced timely planting in the Shaw’s area this year. However, weather hasn’t been perfect this year. So far, they have had fields hammered by three rounds of hail.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Even so, continuous corn still reigns supreme in the region. Prolific residue is one challenge when it comes to raising corn-on-corn. One way the Shaws deal with it is by raising corn in wider, 36-inch rows ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Residue can quickly add up in a corn-on-corn field. However, it can decay over time. This shot shows the progress in residue decay (left to right) from 2009, 2010, and 2011 in one of Mike Schardt’s 2012 ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One way Schardt deals with the additional residue of corn-on-corn is by running a single disk fertilizer opener ahead of trash whippers on his planter. The opener slices the trash and gives the whippers a ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The prolific residue of corn-on-corn can house disease-causing organisms, such as the bacteria that causes Goss’s wilt. Selecting disease-resistant hybrids is the major way Schardt guards against this ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Disease-resistant hybrids and use of fungicides are tools Schardt uses to battle fungal diseases like gray leaf spot, common rust, and anthracnose. “We know post-pollination application of fungicide pays,” ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Schardt also works irrigated soybeans into his rotation every few years. Irrigation removes drought stress that otherwise would severely limit soybean yields in this area of southeastern Nebraska. “If our ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Rotations still play a role for Jon Halbur, Coon Rapids, Iowa. He is planting a share of his acres to no-till corn-on-corn for 2012, but plans to stick with a corn-soybean rotation on most of his acres in the ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
No-tilling corn with soybeans has a number of benefits, such as breaking pest cycles. Residue also isn’t as prolific, although the previous year’s soybean residue is sufficient to curtail erosion ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's hot and dry for a lot of farmers from the Plains to the eastern Corn Belt. With a few exceptions where substantial rain's fallen lately, a lot of farmers' crops are hurting for a drink ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's one corn field in north-central Warren County, Iowa. The area saw some rainfall this past Sunday night, but it was far from enough to get the crop near its normal moisture needs, as evident by the ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though the weather wasn't as hot as it's normally been on Tuesday, the corn leaves in this field showed signs of being thirsty. Even though it was about 10:30 in the morning and the temperature was ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This soybean field is just down the road from that first corn field. It appears to have been planted on the late side, and it was evident that there's already some weed pressure on these young plants.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's what some of those weeds look like. Though some weeds were dwarfing the beans -- some as tall as 2 feet -- they did look like they've been sprayed in the last few days. Hopefully that shower ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Making my way into Marion County, I stopped by Smith Fertilizer & Grain in Pleasantville, Iowa. She was the only one in the office Tuesday morning, a sign that it's a busy time. Kendrick said they're ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"Everybody's talking about how much it needs to rain," Kendrick said. I bet it rained an inch in May and that's it." Pleasantville had about .20 inch of rain Sunday night. Not many soybeans in Marion ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field east of Pleasantville looked much better. I dug just a couple inches down in the soil to find, surprisingly, it was still plenty damp just beneath the surface. This field had a lot more even growth ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
At least the hot, dry weather's been good for some folks out there. This fellow, about 4 feet long, was enjoying the sun and gravel road until I came along.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
All joking aside, things are worse in other areas. This field in southern Michigan is hurting for rain. Agriculture.com Marketing Talk senior contributor Blacksandfarmer says farmers in his area already have ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Soil moisture was excellent in the Claremont area, as I was able to easily plunge a soil probe in the ground. Soils quickly dried out, though, as I drove further into central South Dakota. This corn was ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Soil moisture also was abundant. I put my soil probe in the soil prior to plunging it down. I was expecting drier soils, but the next photo shows how reduced tillage and no-till can shine in a dry year.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It was no problem to plunge the entire soil probe into the soil. Pulling it out revealed adequate soil moisture to take this crop into the dog days of July, when soil moisture is a must for optimum
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
South Dakota is called the land of infinite variety, and for good reason. The 2012 growing season has so far shown great differences in soil moisture levels.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you ever think your fields are too wet, remember this picture. It’s the line between Brown and Marshall Counties in northeastern South Dakota in June 2011. The land on all sides of this road used to be ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The good news is the situation is better this spring—if you can call this better. Water still laps up in the ditches surrounding the road, but an open winter and less spring precipitation has enabled area ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The drier weather made for a good corn stand on my land near Claremont, South Dakota. Even stands are essential for good yields in the fall. “If plants are two leaf stages behind, there is a big yield ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
U of M research shows corn yields for stands with a one-leaf stage delay for every other plant are 94% of corn stands with uniform stands. Yields are further pared back to 83% of uniform stands with stands ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A conversation with the farm’s manager, Dwayne Beck, consists of a mix of agronomics, smart use of technology, resource management, and just a downright good time. Beck is a believer in soil moisture and ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Cover crops, such as legumes like lentils or brassicas like mustards, are often planted following winter wheat. Even in dry areas like central South Dakota, soil moisture often is excessive from July winter ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One of the goals of the alfalfa is to have soil mycorrhizae take nitrogen from the legume (alfalfa) and feed it to the non-legume (corn.). The alfalfa also cycles nutrients including calcium, magnesium, and ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
You never know what kind of crops you’ll come across at Dakota Lakes. You might think this sesame poking through previous residue is a new crop. Actually, sesame seed is considered to be the oldest oilseed ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ever wonder where the lentils in your soup come from? Well, they are one of the crops grown at Dakota Lakes. Records of human consumption of this legume dates back up to 13,000 years.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Canola is another broadleaf that Dakota Lakes includes in rotational mixes. Canola oil is used in edible food products and also in the production of biodiesel. Canola oil’s low saturated fat level and ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This hard white winter wheat is part of a wheat-corn-broadleaf rotation that’s been grown for around 20 years. In recent years, winter wheat in this field has approached the 85 to 100 bushel per acre level ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One unique feature is these wheat yields come with no insecticide, fungicide, or herbicides. “There are a few scraggly cheatgrass in here, but we will clean those up when we come in after it’s ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Before European settlers broke the prairie, it consisted of 80% prairie grass. You’re seeing part of Dakota Lake’s goal to mimic that prairie makeup with two years of wheat (a grass), two years of grasses ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
“One thing about this mustard is it’s a pretty good soil fumigant,” says Beck. “It also gives us a lot of snow catch and sucked up lots of nitrogen (N) that was free, so the legumes (in the cover crop ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another advantage of having a high-residue no-till system with cover crops is an abundant earthworm and nightcrawler population. They create tunnels in the soil (filled by this pen) that greatly boost rainfall ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The winter wheat crop was coming along in the area, as evidenced by this field north of Miller, South Dakota. Dry weather has had its impact on anticipated production, though. USDA’s most recent crop report ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
South Dakotans often take their cattle herds for granted. In lots of the places I travel, though, cattle are a rare sight. There aren’t many herds in these areas like this friendly group near Stephan, South ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
HarvestLabBeef and dairy producers will have the ability to determine corn silage nutrient quality when using the John Deere HarvestLab starting in July of 2012. In addition to dry matter content, it will be ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
MyJohnDeereTo help agricultural producers manage their equipment information, production data and farm operations from a single website, John Deere introduces MyJohnDeere.com. It gives customers a centralized ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Remote display accessThe ability to remotely supervise and support precision field operations becomes even more important. To provide that support, John Deere introduces Remote Display Access, which allows ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
StarFire 3000 receiverTo give producers increased accuracy in precision-guided field operations, John Deere announces enhancements to its StarFire 3000 Receivers. The enhancements give SF1 subscribers 9-inch ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Technology SummitAt the John Deere Technology Summit, June 28-29, the company hosted media representatives and securities analysts to showcase its latest technology releases. On Friday, at a farm north of Des ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Mobile WeatherJanae Tapper, Deere Integrated Solutions Group, explained the company’s new mobile weather system. The monitor allows farmers to see field specific weather information from a sprayer cab ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Real-time AccessDeere’s Mobile Weather system uses a third-party sensor on the sprayer to capture real-time weather without the operator having to climb out of the cab to check conditions.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
MyJohnDeere.comThe company touted MyJohnDeere.com, which will help farmers manage their equipment information, production data and farm operations from a single website. The portal will be available from a ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Tyler Hogrefe demonstrated the new implement detection technology, which automatically populates implement- and task-specific settings from a controller on the implement to the GreenStar™ 3 2630 display in ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Remote AccessIn the farm’s machine shed, visitors watched a demonstration in which they could view the operator’s display screen on this 4830 sprayer.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Fix it from afarThe Internet-connected Remote Display Access enables dealers to identify and fix equipment problems and assist with correct settings on a machine.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
USDA slashed expected corn yield by 20 bu/ac on Wednesday. It's just one of the big changes in crop data from last month to today. See more o
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Follow along and see just how much USDA adjusted crop production and supply/demand estimates from June to July with these charts courtesy Kevin Penner at AgTraderTalk.com.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The company who created the original all terrain utility vehicle (UTV) in 1987 has planted its flag in the popular recreational utility vehicle class. John Deere introduced its Gator RSX850i which among its ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Deere premiered the new Gator in the 105-degree heat of the red rock cliff terrain near Moab, Utah. I spent 2 days with automotive journalists from across the country trailing the RSX850i in harsh backcountry ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The heart of the RSX850i is 839-CC, twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled, four-cycle motorcycle engine that turns out a whopping 62 horsepower. “This machine is definitely equipped to provide a surge of power that ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That much became obvious on flat trailing riding when the new Gator would leap into the road when floor-boarded. I later discovered that the RSX850i delivers a 0-to-30 MPH acceleration in just 3 seconds.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
To engineer a vehicle that can maintain stability while running at high speeds, Deere engineers designed a unique 4-wheel independent suspension that employs dual “wide arch” A-arms in the front and an ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Other features on the include electronic controls and a fuel-injection system; heavy-duty polyethylene doors, 400 pounds of payload capacity, 1,200 pounds of towing capacity, 10.3 inches of ground clearance, a ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This Gator is being offered in three models including the RSX850i Sport, Trail and Base RSX. The Sport model was designed for harsh desert and rocky, sandy terrains. The Trail Model was developed for hunting ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Yes, the drought raging the Midwest is bad, as this Missouri corn shows. Still, there are promising crops in areas where farmers were lucky enough to catch a timely rain. Here’s what I found on a story swing ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Where it’s bad in Indiana, it’s bad. This head-high corn field east of Wingate, Indiana, in west-central Indiana has been hit-hard by drought.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The thinking, though, of Indiana farmers attending last week’s Purdue University’s Top Crop Farmer Workshop, is that soybeans still have a chance. These knee-high soybeans west of Indiana State Road 25 ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Then there was this fully canopied 10-foot-plus foot high corn field a little further south down the road. Chris Holt, district sales manager with Channel, stopped to chat while I was snapping photos. He ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It’s dry in central Illinois, too. When I snapped this corn field just south of Decatur, Illinois, a couple of Macon County’s finest asked what I was doing and politely asked me for identification. One of ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Knowing a bit about farming has its perks. When I told him this corn looked a lot better than some I’d seen in Indiana, he quickly concluded I was no security threat. This area sure looked like it could use ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Bear in mind, though, that this area of central Illinois is in a severe drought as categorized by the most recent U.S. drought monitor report. These soybeans across the road will need rain soon if they are to ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Then there is Missouri. This drought-ravaged corn field east of Jacksonville in northern Missouri is typical of much of the state. The consensus of those attending the University of Missouri (MU) Pest ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
At the station tour, Bill Wieblold, University of Missouri Extension agronomist, discussed a 2012 study to examine corn populations ranging from 24,000 to 44,000 plants per acre. “This was wrong year to do a ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A drought year can confirm some findings, though. MU studies have revealed narrow corn rows of 15 inches like these or 7.5 inch double rows have little response in Missouri. However, Minnesota and Wisconsin ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Early canopying aids weed control and it has been touted as conserving moisture. Compared to 30-inch rows like the ones in this photo, narrow rows may cost farmers moisture. “Narrow rows are spaced more ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If someone could figure out a market for waterhemp or giant ragweed, these plants could form almost a recession-proof market for many Missouri farmers. (Then again, these weeds likely would battle weeds ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There’s lots of promising soybean weed technology coming on the market in the next few years, notes Kevin Bradley, MU Extension weeds specialist. They include tolerance to growth regulator herbicides like ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Drift and volatility concerns accompany growth regulator herbicides, though. This concern also encompasses herbicides now used to control weeds in pastures. Since current soybean varieties on the market are ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Growth regulator herbicides evaluated included in the MU trials include 2,4-D amine, Clarity, Tordon 22K, Milestone, Remedy Ultra, Stinger, aminocyclopyrachlor, and Starane. “Surprisingly, 2,4-D amine showed ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A challenge in using new growth regulator technology will be proper cleanout of sprayers between use of different herbicides. “If a co-op sprays 2,4-D on 2,4-D tolerant beans one day and dicamba on ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Several companies are promoting one-pass treatments of strobilurin fungicides, slow-release nitrogen, and postemergence herbicides early on during the V5 to V6 growth stage. Solomon reported on a study that ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Fungicide did decrease gray leaf spot levels in the irrigated continuous corn plots. However Solomon and Bradley note neither fungicide nor the slow-release N boosted corn yields. Chlorophyll content and stalk ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another new soybean technology likely to debut by mid-decade include HPPD inhibitor soybeans. HPPD-inhibitor herbicides, such as Balance Pro, are now used on corn. “Tolerance to 2,4-D and dicamba are ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Still, it will be important to use these technologies in rotation with others. “The big thing is not to go Callisto/Callisto/Callisto or Balance/Balance/Balance or 2,4-D/2,4-D/2,4D all the time,” says ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Weed scientists recommend the use of preemergence herbicides to take the heat off postemergence herbicides like glyphosate or glufosinate. Rotation also adds modes of action, which helps deter resistance to ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
“This year, guys got sour on preemergence herbicides, but we have to stay with them,” says Bradley. “Year in and year out, preemergence herbicides will give you control better control.”
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
You’ll also see better yields minus the grass and broadleaf competition. “We are losing yield by waiting too long to treat,” says Bradley. On average, 2.4 bushels per bushel were lost in 2011 Missouri ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Bradley notes an overlapping residual program can work well by first applying a preemergence residual herbicide followed by a postemergence mix of glyphosate and a residual herbicide. “Cost increases, but ...
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Early treatment is particularly important for waterhemp with existing and future technologies. “If you apply dicamba to dicamba-tolerant soybeans on waterhemp at this height, you will not be happy,” says ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
As the Dog Days of summer continue to bake the corn and soybean crops in much of the country, a group of weather specialists and crop scouts are touring the Corn Belt this week to get a feel for how the crop ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A soybean field in Delaware County, Ohio, was the first stop for the group, organized by MDA EarthSat Weather. The beans in this field are short, clearly planted late in the spring. They are showing some signs ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This corn field has a lot of weed pressures. It was just starting to pollinate and lacked the insect pressures clear in the nearby soybeans. With some moisture in August, this field could pull through okay.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The MDA EarthSat tour is tallying corn yield potential by counting the number of plants and ears in a 30-foot length of 2 rows. Some fields like this one in Union County northwest of Columbus, Ohio, showed as ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's another shot of some of the soybeans in Delaware County. These beans are short and have a lot of weed pressure. It's clear the control of those weeds will have a lot to do with this ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These Union County soybeans, on the other hand, look a lot better. They're still flowering, so if they get a good rain or 2 in the next couple of weeks, they could make a decent crop. One farmer said he ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Based on Monday's estimate from MDA EarthSat specialists, this field in Logan County, Ohio, will likely yield about 139 bu/ac. That compares to last year's county average of just over 168 bu/ac.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These ears are from that same Logan County field. They have decent girth (16 rows around) and are, on average, about 7 inches long. This field had about an ear per stalk.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Not all the corn's looking that good in Logan County, Ohio, though. There's a ton of variability in that area, with ears like this common in some areas. This was the tour's second stop of the ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here are some double-cropped soybeans in Logan County that were planted around mid-May. The farmer had just finished spraying about 45 minutes before the tour arrived at his field. He said his stands are thin ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Then, the tour moved on to Shelby County, where things changed a lot! This corn field, according to MDA's calculations, could finish above 175 bu/ac, just over 20 bushels above last year's average ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A tour member checks out a Darke County, Ohio, corn field. This field is well short on moisture and not quite indicative of all the corn in extreme western Ohio. This was Monday's last tour stop in Ohio ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
How's this for a welcome sight? As the tour traveled east approaching the Ohio-Indiana state line, the sky opened up and brought heavy rain.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This ear of corn in Blackford County shows just how the corn could have done well with more rain. The ear is short. The corn was in dough stage. Notice the curled leaves.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It was 95 degrees when we entered this field. The ear count for this field was 46 in a 30-foot row-length. The ears had 16 rows of grain each.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ultimately, the yield potential was estimated at about 110 bushels/acre vs. Blackford County's average last year of 160 bu/ac.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Kyle Tapley, MDA Earthsat Weather Crop Tour director studies a Blackford County, Indiana, soybean field. These beans were in the flower-to-pod-setting stage. The beans were under little insect pressure and ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These soybeans in Grant County in east-central Indiana were in the pod-filling stage. The soybean plants were 30 inches tall. The plants were putting on pods.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"It's obvious the heat stress has impacted these Indiana crops. But, the soybeans have potential with late July and August rains," Tapley says. A year ago, Grant County recored an average soybean yield of ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The ear counts are larger in the east-central Indiana counties the tour visited versus the Ohio fields. In 2 rows of a 30-foot span, this Indiana field recorded an average of 50 ears in each row.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though the crop scouts did't think much of the field before entering, the tour formula calculated a yield potential of 120 bushels per acre. The ears averaged 14 rows of grain around the cob and 5 inches ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field in Madison County, Indiana, was strong. The field was planted in 30-inch rows similar to all of the previous fields found on this tour. The crop scouts rated this field the best corn in Indiana ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"Overall, the corn crop in Ohio was worse than I was expecting, while the crop in Indiana came in close to what I was expecting," Tapley says. "I expect our Indiana numbers to come down significantly Tuesday ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The soybeans in Madison County were in the pod-filling stage. This field was planted in 15-inch rows. There appeared to be little insect pressure. At this stage, the beans appeared to have decent pod sizes.
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Most of the pods were filled with 2 or 3 beans. "Overall, the soybeans in both states (Ohio and Indiana) were better than I was expecting, and with some rain, should bounce back," Tapley says.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This soybean field in Edgar County, Illinois, is well shorter than normal and not canopying like it should, but with any rain in the near future, it could bounce back, crop scouts on the tour said Tuesday.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The soils in this field in Vermillion County, Illinois, are extremely dry, and with 100-degree temperatures (and it's still not even August), these beans may start to go downhill quick without rain soon.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a closer look at the soil in that same field. Crop scouts on the Tour Tuesday said this field's soil "couldn't get any drier."
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Agriculture.com's Mike McGinnis checks out an ear from a corn field in Ford County, Illinois. It's one of few ears that Tour crop scouts were able to pull from fields in that county, which has been ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The corn ears that are out there are small and already at the dent stage. "In Illinois, there was certainly some variability, but overall yields were slightly below my already low expectations," says Kyle ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here are a few more ears from central Illinois. During Tuesday's stops on the MDA Crop Tour, crop scouts found corn yields ranging between 0 and 188 bushels/acre.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"The soybean crop continued to look better than I expected, but will need significant rainfall to produce a decent crop," Tapley said of the central Illinois bean crop after Tuesday's assessment.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This photo, as McGinnis says, is the "story for 2012 in the eastern Corn Belt." This field in Ford County, Illinois, had zero ears in MDA's yield potential test. And, there are many like it throughout the ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This photo shows another central Illinois soybean field that's succumbed to this year's drought. The plants are incredibly short and, though putting on pods, aren showing very little canopy.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This corn field's in McLean County. Of all the fields the Tour stopped at in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois from Monday to Wednesday, McGinnis says only 2 of them "would measure up to what a Midwestern corn ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
On day 3 of the MDA EarthSat Weather July Crop Tour, we took to both ground and air to get different views of what the crops in western Illinois and eastern Iowa look like heading into the summer homestretch.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
We took off from the Muscatine, Iowa, airport and it wasn't long before we saw the extent of the drought damage in this field just west of the Mississippi River. It's easy to see the difference ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These fields, though, didn't look bad. MDA July Crop Tour leader Kyle Tapley said the Tour's crop scouts tallied the Illinois crop at 136.8 bushels/acre on average. "The variability across the ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Crop Tour winding through the Corn Belt is a diverse group comprising crop scouts, weather experts, traders, investors and bankers, like this Tour member, an investor with Deutsche Bank.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Just because it's been dry this year doesn't mean it's been too dry for insect pests like this corn earworm found in western Illinois. Farmers say they've also seen more spider mites than ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though Mother Nature's obviously held on to the trump card all summer, another variable that's had a big influence on crop potential is soil type. This year, it's been easier to see more ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This ear in a seed demonstration plot was barely hanging on to the stalk, "sadly dead and hanging on," as one Tour participant said.- See more: Majo
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Corn harvest is underway in the Delta, and despite the severe drought conditions in states like Arkansas, one specialist found better-than-expected yields in early action this week.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
As of Monday, 6% of the corn crop in Arkansas was harvested, already well ahead of the normal pace. Usually harvest has yet to start by this week. And, just over half the crop is mature, according to USDA ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Gus Wilson, University of Arkansas Extension Agent in Chicot County, Arkansas, says that area has great yield potential. "Dryland corn that is being harvested is yielding between 140-175 bu./acre. Irrigated ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmers in Prairie County, Arkansas, have also started corn harvest. "So far, so good,” says Prairie COunty Extension staff chair Brent Griffin in a university report. “Yields are from 150 to 230 ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Wilson says corn harvesting is occurring as far north as Jefferson County, Arkansas. Also, although the Mississippi River is still navigatable, it is critically low. He said the levels are being closely ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Wilson says those yields in irrigated university test plots ranged from 196 to 306 bushels/acre. “We have great yield potential. We had good moisture and cooler temperatures to aid the yield."
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But at the same time, there's still moisture not far below the soil's surface. This is what's left after Reynolds pulled one corn plant. But, despite a few recent rain showers, this ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In a brief count of 1/1,000th of an acre in this field, Klaassen and Reynolds did not see a single ear that wasn't either extremely flexible, seriously undersized, or both.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The larger ears -- of which there are very few -- in this Warren County field are already drooping severely. Some are still firmly affixed to the stalk, Klaassen says, but others will have a lot of trouble ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"If we were to use this as silage, getting those drier leaves to pack in a pile or silo is not a possibility," Reynolds says. "The total plant moisture might be correct at 65% to 72%, but we're not able ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These corn plants have root systems that are a mess. Notice the central line in the roots, showing they followed the planter furrow after being planted when the soil was on the damp side. Then, the brace roots ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ironically, though, the plants in this field aren't totally devoid of moisture. When twisting this stalk, Reynolds found ample moisture. But, it's locked in the stems and never made it to the leaves ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"Not only is this ear small, but very flexible. When goes through the combine, it will twist this ear and I'll get small pieces of cob in my tank," Klaassen says. "Setting your combine correctly and ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This ear's from a field just up the road from the last shot. This field may have trouble yielding 40 bushels/acre, Klaassen says. With variable, yet poor yields like these, it's important to keep ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The corn's another story. Klaassen says the field from which this ear came could yield up to 100 bushels/acre, but in south-central Iowa, that's "on the higher side." Most fields in the area could ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
We just need to continue getting little, timely rains," Blake says, adding he received about .60 of an inch over the last weekend. "This plant's gone ahead and filled out with a few more pods. Earlier ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here, Blake chats with Agriculture.com's Mike McGinnis about this soybean field, which has set a good number of pods, but could start struggling as the plants try to fill those pods in the next couple of ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The thermometer in the the car already said 90 degrees by the time we got to the first field in Warren County, Iowa, with Dereck Klaassen, field supervisor for Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Big show this yearAgricultural companies showcased a range of new products and services before a large gathering at the Agricultural Media Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this week. This year's ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Paying out Staff from the Climate Corporation displayed reports from their Total Weather Insurance product designed to pay out for adverse weather at higher yields and more frequently that MPCI. This year more ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A better bale processorVermeer staff touted the new BPX9000 Bale Processor, which improves the bale rotation of prior models by feeding bales more consistently into the rotor, while reducing the need for ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A cost-cutting forageThe Alta Seeds company showcased brachytic forage, a forage sorghum the company expects will compete with corn silage for acres next season. It costs $215 per acre less to produce than ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Down ForceAg Leader introduced the company's new Hydraulic Down Force that enables growers to monitor and control planter down force on-the-go. One of the top features of the system is its ability to ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
New in windrowersAGCO took to the trade show floor to promote Massey Ferguson's new WR Series Windrowers. Models span 100-220 horsepower and feature many advances, including an onboard virtual computer ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ranging aroundPolaris shows off their new Ranger XP 900 utility vehicle, which offers a 60-horsepower engine, an all-new drivetrain, a newly-designed chassis with a five-inch longer wheelbase, electronic power ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Autosteer actionTopcon’s booth displayed their latest X30 console, a visual interface for the brand's System 350 autosteer technology. The console features a 12.1-inch high resolution touch screen with ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Michelin will be launching of its YieldBib radial tire later this month, according to Meredith Rigdon, communications manager for Michelin North America. It's part of Michelin's move into ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
New patentUnverferth Manufacturing announced a new patent for its Seed Runner tender's unique self-filling design. The dual-compartment Unverferth Seed Runner seed tender delivers and unloads bulk or ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
No white mold this year?If there's a silver lining from this year's drought in many areas, it's lack of white mold in soybeans. If conditions do return to normal, though, this scourge of ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Plan on a normal yearDon't change your hybrid and variety selection for 2013 based on what happened in 2012. That’s the message from Bruce Kettler, director of public relations for Beck's Hybrids ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This ear's in a field that was planted in mid-May (the last field was planted in late April). "We still have some yield potential at this point," Reynolds says. "If we don't get more rain in next 2 ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Case IH unveils variety of productsClick through the slide show to see the variety of equipment and technology Case IH recently unveiled at their headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Machines then and nowIntroduced in 1987 for model year 1988, the Magnum 7130 featured 175 PTO horsepower and listed for $69,000. This machine is the second one built in the Series. The Magnum 340, which is a ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Twin-row planters“Case IH twin-row planters allow producers to increase plant populations without having to make any new investments or major modifications to existing harvesting or spraying equipment,” ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Steiger RowtracCase IH is extending its track technology with the introduction of the Steiger Rowtrac. These machines will be available in three models - 350, 400 and 450. Cost is about 20% over current ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Titan 30 Series FloatersThis Series is more powerful and more efficient than previous models and feature a redesigned Surveyor cab. Available in four configurations, with three or four wheels and the option of ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
AFS Software ImprovedCase IH’s Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) software provides customers with the ability to mark field maps with lagoons, highways or other obstacles; create yield maps to track yields and ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The LB4 Series large square baler has been redesigned both inside and out. “The new design increases capacity by as much as 20%,” notes Brett DeVries, Case IH Hay and Forage Marketing Manager. The baler ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
To learn more about Case IH products, visit www.caseih.com.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Drought has devastated many U.S. fields this summer. Still, there are some areas where crops so far look in good shape. There’s often a reason for this, though. Some farmers, like those in northeastern South ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Irrigation is a lifesaver this year for farmers like Jerry Cox, Delta, Missouri. Cox farms in the Missouri Bootheel in an area where irrigation is prevalent. This year, it’s proving to be the difference ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
“This year was the earliest we ever started watering, around May 5,” says Cox. “Normally, we start around a month later. We have spent a lot more money for fuel this year, but we do whatever we can to ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Dryland corn, though, tells a different story. This field by Oskaloosa, Iowa, was firing on the edge. Still, it didn’t look that bad from the road.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Inside the row showed a different story. Ears were tipped back and leaves were firing. A plant will do anything it can to form an ear, and that’s why plants cannibalize themselves.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The good news is that many soybean fields look better than corn. Timely rains this month have helped soybeans in fields like this form pods. Damage has been done, though. In USDA’s most recent crop progress ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
I passed through my family’s farm near Claremont, South Dakota, on the way up to field days in southeastern North Dakota. If any area can be considered a garden spot, this is it. The corn from my family’s ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field of corn flanked by soybeans in back had a pretty good stand. Soil moisture was also excellent, due to timely summer rains. Ditto for subsoil moisture. There’s a catch, though.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This is what that same quarter looked like last year. Northeastern South Dakota farmers suffered through prolific precipitation in 2010 and 2011. The black humor joke is farmers followed a four-way rotation of ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Fortunately, this year looks better. Lots of these soybeans came up to my breastbone when I was walking through them. Wet conditions still prevail, as these cattails coming up through soybeans show.
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It’s not all blue skies and eatin’ peanuts, though. There still are some holes in this soybean field, as this pothole shows. Last year, it was a lot worse, though. Dogs belonging to the woman who lives on ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Dwight Olson farms just north of Interstate 88 near Maple Park, Illinois. His corn has averaged 185 bushels/acre and soybeans 55 to 60 bu/acre. He's having a good year, having been fortunate enough to ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Lynn Martz farms with her husband and son farms about 6,000 acres and feeds about 7,000 head of cattle per year, with some custom-feeding business. "Considering we're 12 inches below normal on rainfall ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's nice to see the younger generation get a start on learning the ropes of farming. Justin is holding his 2-year-old son, Jaxson. What you don't see is Justin's wife off to the side that is ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Martz family runs 2 combines, a grain cart that holds 1,050 bushels and two semi trucks to bring the crop out of the field. As of Monday, the Martzes are finished with soybean harvesting and almost ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The next stop turned out to be the 'honey hole' of northern Illinois, Ogle County. Farmers say there was an area that was 15 miles wide and 60 miles long that received crop-saving rains. This Polo ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In northern Illinois, the weather is right for harvesting and fall fieldwork. This Ogle County farmer couldn't wait to disc the harvest leftovers. As you'll notice, this field won't even sit for ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a combine that is using a 16-row head that our harvest tour group caught in the field. It's the talk of the neighborhood, according to Ogle County, Illinois, area farmers.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
As you go north closer to the Illinois/Wisconsin border, you see that not everybody is whistling Dixie. Some farmers harvested their poor crop early just to help others that actually had a good crop. Some ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This Ogle County, Illinois, farmer is delivering freshly harvested corn to the Bocker-Ruff Grain Polo, Illinois, rail elevator. The elevator is paying $7.37 per bushel for cash corn as of Monday. We're ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
After traveling through northern Illinois, these reporters only noticed that a few soybean fields were left unharvested. For those farmers that have cut beans, the average yields have been in the 40s and 50s.
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While riding in the combine with Jon Rosensteil, a farmer near Shannon, Illinois, it was obvious that harvest weather has turned colder. At his feet, Rosenteil had broken out the Carhartt jacket and gloves ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been probably "the most variable crop" Craig Petersen has ever seen on his farm in Bremer County, Iowa. He says he's seen everything from 25-bushel to 200-bushel corn this fall.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Many early returns came in ranging between 115 and 120 bushels/acre on Petersen's farm, but by Wednesday, October 10, he was "getting into some better stuff. Quality is good. We have good test weights ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Petersen attributes the relative strength of his farm's yields to a few timely rains and his heavier soils. "The rains helped cool the canopy down at night and helped during the 100-degree days, which ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Dave Kirchhoff farms down the road from Petersen near Tripoli, Iowa. He says his soybean yields were "a little better than expected," and on his stronger soils, corn yields have been good. "It just depends on ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Kirchhoff says his farm didn't get any rain in July, but had rain on August 9. "It gave us a little kernel depth and test weight, but still, yields are a little off altogether," he says.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Corn Suitability Rating (CSR) of Kirchhoff's fields is in the mid- to high-80s, with "very good depth of topsoil," he says. Between that and being fully tiled, he feels he avoided more of a yield ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Overall, Kirchhoff says his farm's anywhere from 17 to 20 inches short of normal moisture. That's affected his grain marketing strategy. "We're pretty much holding off on any more sales ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Still, Kirschhoff has forwarded-contracted some corn for the 2013 crop year, but has held off on any more 2012 sales. "I'm still pretty bullish corn given the ending stocks numbers we've seen," he ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Petersen says he's still fairly bullish on the corn market moving forward. "We've got some forward-contracted, but we're going to improve on this market going forward," he says. "There's a ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Still, the drought is not far from these farmers' minds. "We need to get some moisture before the ground freezes up, because once the ground freezes up, you might as well wait until spring," Kirschhoff ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you ask USDA, crop conditions are stable. But, if you ask farmers who are starting to think more about harvest, things are anything but stable in the field. See more on this and the other big stories in ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Despite the stabilization in corn and soybean conditions shown in Monday's USDA Crop Progress report, one weather-watcher says the recent decline in temperatures and improved rainfall amounts here and ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
What kinds of yields are you seeing and hearing about? One of the latest reports in the 2012 'Yield Monitor' shows a central Illinois field just yielded 60 bushels/acre corn where just 3 years ago ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
How large -- or small -- will the corn and soybean crops end up? Will corn dip below the 10-billion-bushel mark? How about soybeans? There's a wide range of opinions here. What do you think?Talk: 20% ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Yield reports like these have the marketplace looking skyward; one analysis this week shows $10/bushel is the next price point that corn prices could realistically reach in the next few weeks.- Read more
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, are prices like these enticing you to sell, or are you "filling bins?" That's a hot topic this week in Marketing Talk: "This is the perfect time for an ace-in-the-hole, assuming your other obligations ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The drought is starting to manifest itself in many different new ways. Now, it has concerns growing about the movement of grain and ag inputs like fertilizer on the Mississippi River system, which is in some ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There are also going to be a lot more crop insurance claims filed this year than normal. But, what if you flexible cash rent your ground? That question's been asked a lot this summer, one expert says. So ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Harvest is also going to be a lot different this fall. Both corn and soybean crops will pose unique challenges to farmers when they fire up the combine. See how you can stay ahead of the curve, get your crop ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In the most severe cases, harvesting in a drought year can create sometimes life-endangering situations in the field, namely through fire. Get some tips and ideas on how to minimize the fire danger in your ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Despite all the problems created by the drought this summer, there have been a few bright spots. Cover crops, for example, have performed well in many areas, experts said this week. And, if you irrigate, this ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been a "long, stinking hot, droughty summer," and projected yields reflect those conditions. That makes it more important than ever to get your crop stored in good shape. "Protecting every bushel ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Clean all harvest & storage equipment to avoid carryover of mold and disease from last year's crop. "Remove all traces of old grain from combines, combine heads, truck beds, grain carts, augers, lift ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
When grain is broken or otherwise damaged, it's extra susceptible to harboring mold and disease. Get on top of your combine adjustments first. "Adjust combines according to the manufacturer's ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Before you start to bin corn you've just harvested, make sure you get all of last year's crop out. Never store newly harvested grain on top of last year's; if there's any disease or mold ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Make sure you take extra care to remove old grain and dust from inside your bins, paying extra attention to cracks, crevices and door ledges. Then, make sure the ventilation structures and the area around the ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Once everything's all cleaned up, check for weak spots and damage. "Once storage structures have been thoroughly cleaned, carefully inspect them for signs of deterioration, especially for leaks and holes ...
05b By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While you're inspecting the structural integrity of your bin, look over the mechanical parts too, including belts, bearings, gear boxes and electrical systems. For the latter, make sure all insulation is ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Especially if your bin site has a history of insect problems, consider putting down an insecticide application, both inside bins and on surrounding land. Just make sure you do it at least 24 hours before ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
And, stay safe out there! "Review your safety procedures for working with flowing grain, grain harvesting and handling equipment, and personal protection," Young says. "Anyone who works around the bins and ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There are a lot of ways to trim your energy usage on the farm, some of which can make a pretty big difference on your monthly utility bill. Here are a few ways you can trim your bill and get more efficient at ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The "biggest thing most farms can do to save energy," says Fred Daniels, program manager for Franklin Energy in Wisconsin, is changing to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). They're the "curlicue" ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
What's that mean in dollars and cents? CFLs usually cost around $3 each and typically will pay for themselves in 4 months. Ultimately, Daniels says between CFLs lifespan and efficiency, they will save ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Take out those standard T-12 fluorescent light tubes and replace with newer T-8 tubes. They're smaller in diameter, Daniels says, and they use a lot less energy. "They don’t hum, they don’t flicker ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Replacing older cattle water tanks with low-energy livestock waterers can eliminate the need for a 1,500-watt heating element, the most common size used for cattle waterers. "Replace the big tank with a small ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Removing a 1,500-watt heating unit and replacing it with a 250-watt unit can take operating costs down to less than $20/month, Daniels estimates. Because of the cost of the unit and its installation, it can ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you irrigate, moving to a lower-pressure system -- going from 100 to 40-60 psi -- can reduce pumping horsepower needs by 25%, saving up to $2,500/year for a 1,320-foot center pivot once changing all the ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
You likely can't eliminate your tractor engine block heater altogether, but you can trim your energy use a lot by putting yours on a timer. That way, it runs in cycles, usually for just a total of a ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Newer programmable thermostats aren't just for your house. Try putting one on each of your livestock barn vent fans. Then, program them to turn on additional fans, for example, when the temperature ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
You can trim the amount of power you need to take care of a common task on the farm by looking at your compressor. If it doesn't match up with the jobs for which you're using it, consider replacing ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Insulating hot water pipes is very inexpensive and can trim a few bucks off your utility bill, but not a lot, Daniels says. But, make sure you don't wrap your water heater in insulation, as that can void ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Do you use a greenhouse? If so, consider infrared-rated insulation film and thermal blankets for the outside of the structure at night, when most of the heat is lost. Daniels says this can save up to 50% of ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Pickups have long been an essential part of farm life & work. Check out a few Farmersforthefuture.com members' snapshots of their rides! I couldn't resist adding my own old farm pickup,
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
How about this mean machine? It belongs to Farmersforthefuture.com member DelShane Kluge of Hankinson, North Dakota.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This Ford that belongs to Benjamin Boyer of Hutchinson, Kansas, looks like it's ready for about anything in the field.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Lawrence Quimby farms near Albion, Maine. Here's his "new DuraMax."
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's Gretna, Nebraska, farmer Luke White standing with his Chevy pickup. It's a pretty popular ride with fellow Farmersforthefuture.com member Justine Duha, who says "I love your truc
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
On the other hand, here's one that's far from clean: Stillman Valley, Illinois, farmer Nick Zumbragel's "Ol' Bessie," or as he calls it "my old, wore-out truck."
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Emerson, Iowa, farmer Brady Smith wanted to make sure his flatbed was good and clean before he left the farm for a few days. "Pre-vacation truck cleaning...cleanest she's ever been," he
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Timothy Aaron Potts, who farms near Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada, has a Ford Ranger that's seen better days.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Check out this shiny rig owned by Farmersforthefuture.com member "captainsirwalter" of White City, Saskatchewan, Canada. "Some people have show trucks, some have work trucks, I have both,
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Keith Livak, who farms near Hilmar, California, is a big fan of John Deere equipment. But, he's also a pretty big fan of his Chevrolet Silverado here.
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Jeremy Larson puts this Ford F-350 to work on his diversified farm near Tyler, Minnesota.
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, they're not all for work. Here's East Greenbush, New York, farmer Kevin Webb's "derby truck."
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Rod Tangeman, who operates Tangeman Farms near Seneca, Kansas, takes a moment so his daughter Addy can get a view from the hood of his Dodge Ram.
15 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Caleb Linke of Clarinda, Iowa, takes a sunny moment to snap a shot of his lineup of trucks featuring a Ford F-250 and F-350.
16 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ridgeway, Ohio, farmer and Farmersforthefuture.com member Phillip Willaim VanScoy got this shot of his Ford F-150 at just the right moment.
17 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"The old 250" is on its way off Wahpeton, North Dakota, farmer Brady Kemmer's farm. "There goes the old Ford," he says.
18 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Salisbury, North Carolina, farmer Sam Mauldin isn't just a pickup guy. His lineup of Fords includes not just his F-150, but also his Mustang shown here.
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Have a hard-working pickup of your own at your farm? Let's see it! Stop by Farmersforthefuture.com, see some of the latest photos from other farmers and start your own photo album today!
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The basic configuration of the tractor hasn't changed much in the last century. But, a phase in the early 1900s saw some major design changes -- some good & some bad -- but very few of these changes ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This Victor tractor sold briefly in 1919 bucked all traditional design and utilized a 6-foot-tall rim with a 2-speed transmission. The wheel had internal ring gears driven by roller pinions.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This Ford Model B, sold in the mid-1910s, actually inspired the founding of the Nebraska Tractor Test because it was so poorly designed. It's one of several machines built during that era on which the ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Moline Universal D of the 1920s was a truly pioneering machine. It was the first tractor to use articulated steering, an electric starter, electric lights and an electric governor. Its drive wheels were in ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Little Bull was the first tractor to utilize a single rear-drive wheel. It also eliminated the need for a differential to power its drive wheel, which was 14 inches wide.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
How about Gray's Drum Drive Model B? It led a group of drum-drive tractors introduced in 1916 and 1917. This model had a 48-inch-wide drum wheel that Gray boasted would basically eliminate compaction and ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Emerson-Brantingham Model L, like the Little Bull, featured a single rear wheal on the right side of the operator, with a wheel to the left of the operator serving as a stabilizer and idler.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Want more Ageless Iron? Check out an exclusive video clip and learn more on how to subscribe to the Ageless Iron Almanac and buy more classic iron books and collectibles!
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Corn and soybean harvest continues at a breakneck pace, with more than half of the corn crop harvested by the start of this week. Meanwhile, you may be able to leave the heavy coat in the closet for at least ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The pace of corn harvest is almost 3 times quicker than normal. Though this pace didn't seem to bother the trade much earlier in the week, it combined with better-than-expected yield reports to keep a lid ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you're already looking ahead to winter, you're not alone. One new outlook this week calls for a mild start to the season, with temperatures well above normal through December. - Read more
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There's been a lot of speculation about whether this year's drought and its effects on crop yields and farm incomes will reverse the skyrocketing trend of farmland values. Though some see potential ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Lawmakers headed home earlier this fall without agreeing on a farm bill, and now, the previous law has lapsed and technically, the law reverts to the 1949 legislation. What does that mean to your farm? It ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's going to be a rough few months for hog farmers, one expert said this week. Drought-fueled losses will likely sharpen through winter and early spring until things bounce back next summer. The worst ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Last Friday's quarterly USDA Grain Stocks report sent the markets skyrocketing, with corn ending that day's session locked limit-up. Some saw the data underpinning futures through the fall, with corn ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"While the 2012 year will be a below average production year, and well below 'trend' yields, we are no where near as poor a crop as USDA is currently carrying on the books," one analyst said late ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Seven steps to better soybean yields, ways to manage off-target pesticide movement, checking corn roots and maximizing mileage in your pickup: They're just a few of the latest features from Successful ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This week, we dug up an classic piece of machinery that earned both cheers and jeers when it was released in the 1950s. It's Ford's Typhoon, the first -- and only -- tractor powered by a turbine ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It was another week of brisk harvest activity, though that looks to be slowing this week, experts say. Still, the fall harvest finish line is now well within sight.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Corn harvest was just shy of 80% complete earlier this week, more than twice the normal pace. Soybean harvest, though not quite as far beyond the normal time window, has also moved rapidly on dry weather and ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That blistering pace is cooling off quickly, though, as rains move through the nation's center. They won't put much of a dent in the drought pressure in the Plains and Midwest. And, warmer ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Harvest is wrapping up the most variable year of corn and soybean yields and production ever, some farmers say. Variability's ruled this year, in more ways than one. See how some farmers have fared as ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Despite it all, though, a lot of farmers are still bullish corn and soybeans, some to the extent that they think they'll be "throwing away the keys to the bin" and hold off on any sales in the coming ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
For those farmers who have made a lot of sales, there's an important date coming up. The final fall harvest prices for revenue protection crop insurance policies will be set in a couple of weeks, and ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Where are cash land rents headed? Obviously it all depends on grain prices moving forward. But, how much could they change? One economist ran the numbers this week for a range of prices in Illinois. It all ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though corn prices have fallen since shooting higher last week after USDA's latest production and supply/demand reports, they haven't fallen enough to encourage more purchases on the export market, a ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, there's still demand out there, especially for U.S. soybeans. So, what's the best way to "sell beans on the bounce?" Market analyst and "Dead Cat Bounce" theory originator Roy Smith chats ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
All the demand for corn and soybeans is having one unintended consequence to the landscape. More farmers, looking to capture more profit on their farms, are putting more acres into crop production that ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
On the business side of the industry this week, one change may affect your grain marketing in the future. CME Group agreed to purchase the Kansas City Board of Trade Wednesday, ushering in what some say will ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The past week's been one of a lot of ups and downs: Harvest progress on the way up, a drought scenario on its way down (possibly), a cattle market on its way up and grain markets moving in both ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This week saw the race toward fall harvest's finish line slow down considerably as rain fell over a larger portion of the nation's midsection. Despite the slowdown, farmers are still well ahead of ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The rain's got speculation rising about the future of the drought that's gripped much of the U.S. the last year. Some say a larger, more moisture-laden trend could be on its way, though farmers and ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Now that harvest is nearing its end, some farmers are starting to look ahead to their 2013 crop rotations and seed-buying decisions. There are a lot of variables that point to soybeans being the king crop next ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One reason harvest has been so quick this year is the drought-shortened crop. And, with the number of crop insurance checks that drought will send out around the countryside, it could cause some tax pains by ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another sector that's been hit hard by drought this year is cattle. But, recent numbers show herd liquidation's been underway and that's got numbers at levels that will likely send market prices ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ethanol's ridden the drought's tide this year too, and now that sector's seeing a trimback in production as a result of higher prices and tighter supplies, bioenergy industry leaders said this ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The bulls in the wheat pits this week have gotten the largest share of the feed, with news out of the Black Sea region -- especially Ukraine -- that exports will be slowed and stopped soon because of supply ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Meanwhile, there was a meeting in Chicago this week to discuss issues around the USDA and CME Group trading, and how the 2 fit together. Reports show there are questions about how the market's adjusted ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Be careful out there! A report out this week shows your likelihood of hitting a deer in your car or truck. A lot of states in the Plains and Midwest made the top end of the list. Weigh in on this growing ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Hurricane Sandy is expected to be the most severe hurricane system to hit the northeastern U.S. in decades, experts say. It is triggering evacuations in some of the nation's largest urban areas and making ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Sandy's expected to be worst on the northeastern coast around high tide Monday evening, with storm surge in excess of 11 feet in some areas, says Craig Solberg, senior ag meteorologist with Freese-Notis ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This map shows the areas under severe weather warnings on Monday morning. The red and purple hues off the east coast show hurricane and tropical storm warnings, with the orange- and tan-hued areas showing high ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Don Keeney's office was closed Monday, but the MDA EarthSat Weather senior meteorologist was still very much on the front lines in tracking the storm. He says coastal flooding was happening Monday morning ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though there's a lot of urban landscape being slammed by the storm, farmers are also affected. Here, Albert Ewing was racing to get the last of his corn harvested on Sunday on his farm near Blake ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In the area around Elkton, Maryland, roads were already flooding by Monday morning. "The wind is blowing and it's raining hard," says Successful Farming and Living the Country Life Editor Betsy Freese ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
For many farmers in the storm's path, Sandy's coming at a bad time. "We have only had 6 days of harvest weather so far in October," says Agriculture.com Marketing Talk veteran contributor docharing ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The storm, on the bright side, will help with soil moisture recharge in the affected areas in the eastern Corn Belt, including much of Ohio and eastern Indiana. Concerns will continue, however, for the area ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Beyond the moisture and severe weather received by farmers from Indiana and points to the east, another of Sandy's major impacts deals with the marketplace. On Monday, all major exchanges were closed in ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The world watched this week as Hurricane Sandy battered the northeastern U.S. But, it wasn't just the boroughs of New York City affected. Many farmers felt Sandy's wrath. It was the biggest of the ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
After coming ashore and bringing devastation to coastal areas, Sandy dropped heavy snow and rain on parts of the eastern Corn Belt, later delivering rainfall as far west as the Iowa-Illinois state line. As she ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Many farmers welcomed the storm's moisture, with some saying it was enough to erase the past year's drought pressure. There are definitely still areas where the drought's far from over, weather ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Those moisture concerns in areas outside of where Sandy brought recent rainfall are growing more severe as winter approaches. While some farmers have started getting rain, others say their crops next year will ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Drought conditions like these are starting to have different, broader implications on the farm economy. One sign of that came this week with a Federal Reserve report showing a sharp jump in the number of ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The drought's also put a lot of pressure on the corn and soybean pipeline, and it's foregone that there will have to be rationing among users if the drought-shortened supply is going to last. So, is ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One bright spot in the balance sheet for crop inputs looking ahead is in fertilizer prices. Anhydrous ammonia, DAP and potash will likely see a sustained decline in prices for the 'foreseeable future," ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Will those lower fertilizer prices spawn more continuous corn in 2013? It historically yields well below corn-after-soybeans, but can work in some situations. Check out some of the pros and cons of the system ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One market that seemingly hasn't been phased by drought is farmland. Recent auctions have fetched record-high prices, and more importantly, those prices are being reached in bidding exclusively by ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Is the recent rain making it tough for you to get into the field? Let's just hope you're not winding up like these farmers, some of whom found themselves stuck to the axles in this slideshow! - See ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Mauricio Torres farms in Chacabuco, Argentina, just west of Buenos Aires. That area's just starting to recover from torrential rains this fall that have delayed planting and early crop development. Those ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field is typical after massive rains have hit the area in the last few weeks. Torres grows corn, soybeans and wheat on his farm.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The flooding has receded from some fields like this one, but Torres says the moisture's preventing key chemical applications.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Just this week, some areas dried up enough for farmers to resume planting soybeans, like in this field.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Torres stopped here to get a closer look at the heavy soil moisture, held in place in fields like this by equally heavy crop residue.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a shot of one of the better wheat fields in Torres' area. Still, it's easy to see where the water robbed yield potential.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's another field Torres found dry enough to resume soybean planting earlier this week.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The corn that had been planted earlier has watched yield potential shrivel with the heavy rains, too.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's another shot of Torres' corn, this one with a little better stand.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, stands like that are fairly rare in Chacabuco. "There are many surface lots lost in corn," Torres says.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The elections have finally come and gone, and now the ag sector faces a marketplace and policy arena shaped by how the votes were cast Tuesday. It's just one storyline this week in agriculture.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The election's results will have both macro-level and ag-specific ramifications to the farm sector. Don't expect massive farm policy change too soon, experts say.- Ag moves forward
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One hot topic this week, especially after election day, is how federal budget sequestration talks in Washington, D.C., will affect grain marketing decisions heading into next year. What do you think? - Join
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Meanwhile, there are serious issues on the Plains. The winter wheat crop is in the worst shape it's been in 20 years. And, some analysts say that's got the bulls lining up for the wheat market.- ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Will those sliding wheat conditions show up in Friday's USDA Crop Production report? The agency will release both its production and WASDE reports Friday morning, and they definitely have the grain ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
With many expectations for Friday's report to show a larger-than-expected soybean crop, will it send soybean prices surging? There's been a largely 'sideways' pattern lately. Can prices ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another big crop story this week is the gradual relief from South American rainfall extremes -- too much in southern Brazil and Argentina and too little in northern Brazil. But, have those conditions caused ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Back in the States, this year's drought has slashed crop output and, for most farmers, crop insurance has made up the difference. While claims are being delayed because of high volume, there are ways to ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
With all of the issues stacking up against the crops around the world this year, is it a good time to resurrect the idea of a grain reserve? That's a very hot topic in Marketing Talk this week. What do ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There was more new information released this week that shows the farmland market's going to continue to strengthen in the next year. And, one expert says that makes a good case for utilizing flexible cash ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been another week of major ups and downs, first sparked by last week's USDA reports, then moved along by supply and demand speculation this week. Follow along for more on that and other big ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Last week's reports and this week's seesawing prices have market-watchers asking a critical question: What will come first, $9 corn or $14 soybeans? Most farmers say the latter's more likely ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, at least for the soybean trade, the number of variables making up that potential price point is arguably the largest it's ever been. One floor trader laid out these factors and how he sees them ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Closer to the farm level, there were reports this week that corn in storage could be subject to losing quality and developing disease, especially where the weather's been warmer than normal. Is your grain ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you're a cattle producer and were feeling the heat of rocketing feed costs on account of the drought, there's evidence this week that you're not alone. These conditions have led to much ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The farm bill's been a 4-letter word this week, as ag group leaders called on lawmakers to get to work on the bill whose future is in doubt after a lack of action by leaders in Congress.- Bill's ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While policy and marketing issues took center-stage this week, it's also about time to start making another set of important decisions: What to buy the farmer in your life for Christmas! See all our ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Is a winter vacation on your Christmas list? If so, check out these ideas on how to 'take an aggie vacation this winter,' from a quick trip to Kansas City to a longer jaunt to Brazil. What's on ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A little crop residue goes a long way, especially in a year when drought has turned otherwise good soils to dust. That's exactly what's happening around Almena, Kansas, where Michael Thompson
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This year, Thompson says his farm has received just over half an inch of rain since he planted his wheat, some in conventional tillage and some in no-till. The results to this point have been staggering. "This ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Thompson says fields like this one -- common in his area -- have seen a lot of topsoil blow away. "There is some moisture in our wheat ground, but no subsoil at all," he says. "The soybean and corn ground is ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's the no-till field right next door to the one in that last photo. The 2 fields were planted on the same day and as of late November had only seen 0.60 inch of rain since planting, Thompson says.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Water levels on the Mississippi River are dangerously low and navigation -- including the movement of grain -- is being threatened and may have to halt until levels can rise. The Army Corps of Engineers has a ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Christmas brings with it a lot of traditions to the farm, and the holiday's always been a big part of life at Successful Farming magazine. Take a stroll through the holiday-inspired magazine covers from ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1910 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1912 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1914 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1915 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1918 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1922 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1924 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1925 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1926 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1927 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1929 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1931 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1932 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
15 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1933 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
16 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1934 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
17 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1941 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
18 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1944 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
19 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 1945 (click image at left to enlarge).- Download & print a high-resolution PDF
20 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Want more Christmas gift ideas? Check these out!- 15 unique gifts for farm families
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The area of greatest concern is around St. Louis, in the "Thebes Reach" of the river where rocks in the river channel are in danger of blocking any barges from passing through.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's another look at the area the Army Corps of Engineers is focusing on for rock removal. In the late 1980s, the Corps went about the process using drilling and blasting.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Then in 2009, the grinding method, using a tool like this one, was deemed ineffective and funding for a previous rock removal project was removed.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, engineers threw their rule books out the window in search of a tractor that would meet the growing need for a lightweight machine that could run down ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That concept was first introduced by the Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company in 1914. The motor cultivator design allowed the machine to maneuver down crop rows to tackle growing-season tillage chores ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Although there were variations on the motor cultivator design theme, the majority of the machines on the market emulated Universal Tractor’s Model 10-12 configuration. That tractor featured two front wheels ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Universal tractor also made history, thanks to its unique steering system. The tractor was articulated at its midsection. A pinion gear and gear rack that acted like a pivot point for steering were ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Moline Plow Company took notice of Universal Tractor and purchased the company in 1915. It then made some major improvements to the tractor before reintroducing it as the Moline Universal Model D in 1917 ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Other manufacturers took note of Moline Plow’s success. Universal D knockoffs as well as variations quickly hit the market. In fact, by 1919, at least 18 firms were building a motor cultivator. “The motor ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Not to be outdone by upstart Moline Plow, International Harvester took a unique approach to its motor cultivator configuration by driving its vehicle with two rear wheels that pivoted for steering on ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another variation included more traditional configurations built by Avery, Bailor, Emerson-Brantingham, and J.I. Case. These motor cultivators featured a single front steering wheel positioned just ahead of a ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
For all its advantages, interest in the motor cultivator soon waned, as a new generation of more powerful, lightweight tractors built around the traditional configuration of two drive wheels at the rear and ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
For all their oddity, these cultivators were just one group of the "weird" farm machinery of the early 20th century. Tractors saw just as much of a departure from what we consider "normal" today. Here are a ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These 7 areas, according to the Army Corps of Engineers are the ones that pose the greatest risk to navigation under low-water conditions. They're the ones currently targeted for rock removal via ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This graphic shows how much of the river in the Thebes Reach of the Mississippi is in danger of sinking below navigable depths. The full extent of the potential navigation interruption will be known by ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The rock demolition, which some officials say could take up to 3 months to complete, will likely happen during the lower-traffic winter months to minimize the disruption to grain movement.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Many areas were hard-hit by drought in 2012. There’s one area, though, where less rainfall was actually welcomed in 2012. Northeastern South Dakota still has plenty of water due to massive flooding in 2010 ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This trilogy of shots sums up what’s been occurring. This intersection is on the Marshall and Brown County line, about a mile from my home farm. Water was lapping up to the ditches in June 2011.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It wasn’t perfect, but the water had gone down when I next visited the intersection in June 2012. An open winter helped matters considerably.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The news was even better when I visited the intersection in November 2012. Although not completely dry, the 1.5 years that have elapsed and drier weather has resulted in significantly lower floodwaters.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This dual series of shots show how the water has receded on my family’s farm. This booming pothole pretty much summed up the way things went in 2011. This once-productive field was littered with potholes ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here’s the same area in July 2012. Precipitation was more scant in the area this year compared to preceding years. That gave potholes a chance to dry out. Meanwhile, abundant subsoil moisture coupled with ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A dry fall this year made for a timely harvest, with an abundance of corn residue blanketing the soil. I wondered, though, how the combination of a bumper crop coupled with a dry fall impacted soil moisture.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A plunge of a soil probe into the soil eased those concerns. I wondered if I would be able to plunge the probe easily into the soil.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
I had to use both hands to plunge it into the soil, but I got it in.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
What’s more, the entire length of my 21-inch soil probe was filled with moisture. I was able to make a ribbon out of the Beotia silt loam soil that forms 80% of this field. A 2-inch rain a few days before ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The disappearance of floodwaters still has a long way to go, though. This area is known to locals as “The Slough.” If a photo of this water would have been taken 40 years ago, it would have revealed some ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One bright spot is that there is a “beach” that’s been formed by receding waters. It still has a long way to go, but the hope is this area will one day return to cropland. Everyone hopes it is sooner ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Shane Louwerens didn't even tell his students about the tractor's past owner. They wouldn't have believed him about the 1963 John Deere 4010, anyway. But, it was definitely a machine that needed ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Stella is her name and Graceland was once her home. She once belonged to "The King" himself, Elvis Presley, and by the time she made it to Louwerens' shop at Mississippi Northwest Community College in ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, without spilling the tractor's secret, Louwerens set his John Deere Ag Tech Program students to work, learning the ins and outs of the machine as they broke it down and refurbished it. First came ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Keeping the machine's origin a secret while the students worked wasn't easy. "“None of the students knew; none of the faculty knew,” Louwerens says. “They didn’t understand why I had to have ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The tractor's loader proved to be a major challenge. The loader’s cylinders were leaking and rusted. Ten-penny nails had replaced original keeper pins. The hoses were bad, but Louwerens knew they would ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Sanding and washing, the crew started finding things that pointed to history. “On both sides of the hood, at the steering column, a number 4 was painted. It wasn’t stencil-painted. It was painted with what ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Under the dash, they discovered the original service booklet.. “Every page had information about when the engine oil should be changed, how much air pressure was needed for the tires,” Louwerens says ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Then came the matter of what to do with the blemishes on the tractor. “It was full of dents and scratches,” Louwerens says. “I documented them but didn’t take any out. There’s history to every ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
By the project's end, everybody knew the tractor was important. “The day they came to pick up the tractor was quite the day,” Louwerens recalls. “There were photographers, camera crews, and news ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Then, the secret was announced. Stella was from a place called Graceland, and she was going home to the Elvis Presley Museum. The tractor left along with a box holding every worthless part. But it also left ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Growing nervousness about the 'Fiscal Cliff' and how it affects agriculture and worsening crop weather in many parts of the world have dominated the ag headlines this week.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Will the U.S. fall off the Fiscal Cliff? If so, what's it mean to your farm? It could push incomes lower, though grain prices might benefit from a lower U.S. dollar. The next farm bill might be a victim ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While that issue has ramifications on the farm level, the bigger issue right now is the weather. Parts of the nation have gotten rain in the last week, but it's not been enough to get crop conditions ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The hurt of the current weather pattern has been worst on farmers in the Plains, where some are watching their wheat crop go into dormancy in the worst condition it's ever been in. Still, it may be too ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The wheat crop's not in bad shape just in the U.S. Farmers around the world, from Argentina to Australia, are facing weather extremes that have some analysts saying the wheat market could be poised for a ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While weather's been the 800-pound gorilla in the room this week, farmland values are a hot topic. Next week, Iowa officials will release that state's latest land values survey. Will it show higher ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another hot topic this week has been the future of 'industrial' agriculture. Opinions vary as much as the farms that make up the nation's ag industry, though there's a common theme: ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Any Elvis Presley fans out there? If so, check this out: A couple of years ago, a technical school class took on the task of refurbishing a classic John Deere 4010 tractor. Little did the class know that the ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While you're checking out the iron, how about these motor cultivators? During the early 20th century, they were all the rage among implement designers, even though they were a little on the "outlandish" ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The clock's ticking and Christmas will be here before you know it. Are you looking to drop a few hints for gift ideas, or do you have a farmer to shop for? Check out our 2012 Christmas gift special, with ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The end of the calendar year is always a time to pause, reflect on the year that's ending and look ahead to the one to come. Here are a few topics Successful Farming and Agriculture.com editors have ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A huge trend to watch in the coming year is how the drought will unfold. Whether it continues will have major implications to crop and livestock producers, especially when it comes to the marketplace for those ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Will a 'bubble' burst in the farmland market or will values continue to climb in 2013? Certainly the drought will play a major role in how it affects farm incomes and, as a result, the amount of land ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The machinery market looks positive heading into 2013. Worldwide production will be a $110 billion business heading into the new year, and that's likely to continue trending higher. And, that's just ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The number of farmers using the futures market as a hedging mechanism in an ever-volatile marketplace will increase in 2013. In past years, 20% to 30% of farmers have traded in the futures versus cash market ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In the new machinery market, look for technology to lead the way in the U.S. Starting in 2013 and for 3 to 5 years beyond next year, experts say precision ag tools -- including the relatively new sector of ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmers have been gleaning crop data through precision tools for years, and 2013 will be a year of major focus on data management and integration. New products will seek to marry all steps in the data ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The technology trend isn't limited to precision ag. More farmers are using tech tools from cloud computing to keeping up with everything with tablet computers and smartphones. The latter 2 devices have ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
An increasing number of farms are being operated and managed by women, and that will continue to increase in 2013. The FarmLASTS Project estimates that women could own up to 3/4 of the farmland that changes ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Changes in federal tax policy and rising farmland values are both likely in 2013, and both are important to succession planning on the farm. Recent data show more than 70% of farmers at retirement age have yet ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
What about changes in the field? Cover crops will continue to grow in prevalence in a lot of farm operations in 2013 as farmers start to identify different combinations of plants -- like radishes, cereal rye ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Corn yields were generally disappointing in 2012. Getting those yields back to trend will be a challenge even if the drought breaks. Factors like pest resistance and diseases like aflatoxin will likely be in ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Weeds had a big year in 2012, and controlling them will again be a challenge in 2013. Look for cultural practices like narrow-row soybeans and overall good field sanitation to join the cadre of chemical ...
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Input costs will likely continue to rise in 2013, spawning an increase in the adoption of tillage systems that cut back on fuel and other inputs. Look for an increase in no-till and strip-till, especially if ...
15 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Don't be surprised if there are more soybeans in 2013. Continuous corn yielded poorly in 2012, and soybeans saw a yield boost from late-season rains. Watch for signs of this trend early in the new year ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The last week's been one of looking ahead to what some say could be a year of major volatility for U.S. crop farmers, both in terms of the grain markets and other key sectors, like rising farmland values ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The next year holds a lot of promise for high farm incomes, but that potential will be ushered in with a lot of volatility and uncertainty, experts said this week, especially with so many question marks ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Even despite a lot of drought uncertainty, it's still too early to peg 2013 crop yields, experts said this week. And, throw in uncertainty about crop insurance protection levels for 2013 and it adds up to ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The dominant variable in the 2013 income equation is grain prices. So, will corn and soybeans return to their pre-drought price levels? "current tight supplies and production uncertainty are expected to keep ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Those tight supplies were examined this week in USDA's monthly WASDE report, in which officials trimmed U.S. soybean stocks. But, it wasn't a massive shift and fell in the range of previous trade ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Is it time to start selling soybeans? "Soybeans have also gained on corn, making soybeans a more attractive sale as we've now rallied back above the 1.90 soybean/corn price ratio. So, soybeans once again ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Now's also a good time to be selling farmland if you've got it, at least in Iowa, where experts released the results of that state's annual land values survey this week. In the last year, land ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
And, don't forget about the used machinery market; strong farm incomes lately have the premiums for the highest-quality used farm iron growing, says Greg "Machinery Pete" Peterson. And, it may just be the ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Used machinery isn't the only category catching the spotlight this week. Believe it or not, it's already farm show season, and Agriculture.com's Jessie Scott recently traveled to the Nebraska ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Speaking of things to buy, have you gotten all your Christmas shopping done? Or, still looking to drop a hint for a gift of your own this year? Check out all our latest recommendations on what's hot for ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Is a new tool of fix-up for your farm shop on your Christmas list? Winter's a perfect time to do some work in the shop, whether it's fixing up machinery or the shop itself. Check out all the latest ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, it's also a good time to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the next. Check out a look back on 2012 in pictures and get a few ideas from our editors on the big trends ahead in 2013. - 2012 ag ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Winter has arrived. That's been the big story this week in agriculture, a week in the doldrums for the grain markets as farmers start in on year-end planning and look ahead to 2013.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The blizzard that swept through the central U.S. brought a little -- but not nearly enough -- relief from the drought. Around a foot of snow has fallen in parts of the Plains and Midwest, but much more is ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Are you ready for the winter weather like that the country's seen over the last few days? Check out the latest features on getting ready for Old Man Winter, including 17 tips to prepare and cope with the ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, the moisture from this week's weather system has been welcomed in wheat country, where the drought's already inflicted a lot of damage to next year's crop potential. That's true not ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The grain markets have had a bad last few days. The bears have been in charge for the most part, due largely to light export demand for corn and wheat. Soybeans have fared slightly better, though the recent ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
And, that sentiment got some fresh backing earlier this week with the announcement by analytical firm Informa that 2013 U.S. corn plantings could exceed 99 million acres, leading other analysts to speculate ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That projection comes the same day National Crop Insurance Services announced just shy of $9 billion in crop indemnity payments has been paid out by the industry on some of the more than 280 million policies ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The drought that prompted virtually all of those insurance payments is now causing big problems on the Mississippi River system, a vital conduit for the movement of U.S. grain to market. But, it could also ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Federal officials started taking action this week to prevent those river problems from intensifying. The Army Corps of Engineers began removing rock structures from a key stretch of the Mississippi River near ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Now's not just the time of year to be collecting Christmas cards at the mailbox. Officials said this week they're starting to mail USDA's Census of Agriculture. It's not the most welcome ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If the recent winter blast has you pacing the floor inside, be like one Agriculture.com Farm Business Talk contributor: Clean out your office! It's a task nobody looks forward to, but it's vitally ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
And you may be spending a lot of time these days looking ahead to 2013 and what it might bring to your farm. Check out these trends that Successful Farming magazine and Agriculture.com editors see as big ones ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
After a volatile year in the crop sector, 2 respected ag economists look at ways to protect and maximize your profit potential in the coming year.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Watch the margins"Keep your focus on profit margins for 2013. Trying to pick the highest price and sell all your crops at that price seems futile after this past summer’s experience," says Iowa State ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Line up pre-harvest salesJohnson advises arranging pre-harvest sales with input costs and those profit margins. "While input costs are expected to remain fairly flat, plugging in 2013 harvest prices available ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Forward-contract carefully"Growers should forward-contract only a portion so that if prices go up they still have money to gain," says Purdue University Extension ag economist Chris Hurt. "It's common to ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Consider other optionsPut options and hedge-to-arrive (HTA) contracts can also prevent losses in forward contracting. "A strategy might be using forward cash contracts or HTAs for some of your early 2013 sales ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Keep a close eye on demand "As corn cash prices approached $8 per bushel in August, demand for corn fed by U.S. livestock producers declined. This demand will be slow to return in the short run and will have a ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Invest in insuranceThe value of crop insurance heading into 2013 can't be overstated, Hurt says. "Sometimes growers are hesitant to sign up because the premiums have to be paid regardless of whether ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Picking a coverage levelAs it stands now, a 75% revenue protection level is a good bet, Johnson adds. "While the projected price will not be determined until the month of February, the use of a Revenue ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Watch for a farm billA big crop insurance variable will be nailed down with the next farm bill. "Both House and Senate versions of the bill stop direct payments to farmers but instead withhold that money to ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Whether it's a gnarly, old barn mouse-catcher or a prized house pet, cats are pretty standard fixtures on a lot of farms. Check out a few of the farm felines from Farmersforthefuture.com members (photo at ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's one of Boyden, Iowa, farmer Andrew Kroese's farm cats being harassed by his dog, Lady.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ina Putnam's cat here, though keeping a good eye on things, is a little less tormented on her Guysville, Ohio, farm.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmersforthefuture.com member Natalie, from Cumming, Georgia, features her "Porch/farm cat."- Have photo
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"All the barn cats" are nestled in the corner of network member Kelsey Crull's family farm barn.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This cat helps keep things rodent-free on Nick Greenwood's family dairy farm near Sunbury, Ohio.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"Betty Jean Wilson, barn cat superb decided to hitch a ride to the other barn," says Deb Kidwell, who raises horses, mules and other draft animals near Martin, Tennessee
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These cats aren't quite the workers anymore. "These guys became more pets than mousers. We got them after Hurricane Ivan came through and left us with a mouse problem," says Katy Spears
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's Farmersforthefuture.com regular Kari Hollman's dog Breeze "saying hi" to Boo the cat. -
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Network member 'Rayhawk' farms near Beech Island, South Carolina. Here's her blind farm cat Freddy doing what he enjoys most. "Blind cat Freddy loves to lay on the sta
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ian and Val Plagge's cat Jigs knows the meaning of sharing. "Our cat Jigs and dog Bailey get along so well, they eat together, out of the same bucket, at the sam
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Milford, New Hampshire, farmer Marcy O'Connell's cat isn't nearly as concerned about doing any work on the farm in this shot.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been a week of looking ahead to this year's row crop sizes, yield prospects and resulting price outlooks. And, there's some growing optimism in the livestock sector. They're just a ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmers are expected to plant 99 million acres of corn this year. If the drought doesn't inflict too much damage, that could yield a record crop. But at this point, that's a big "if."- See more
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The embattled livestock sector got some better news this week. After earlier outlooks painting a brighter picture for hog farmers, the beef and dairy sectors saw good signs for the next year this week.- High
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Many experts agree that there are some factors aligning that could yield a 'bubble bursting' in the market, but there's a lot of disagreement on whether or not it will actually happen.- ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Jim Rogers is a "permabull" when it comes to the commodities and other investments. He said late last week he's high on farmland prices surging for the next few years, but there are a lot of factors ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In the nearer term, the procrastinators on the farm got good news this week when lawmakers announced the IRS has moved the tax filing deadline from March 1 to April 15, good news for farmers whose paperwork ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There also could be some changes coming to federal crop insurance. In an exclusive interview with specialist Art Barnaby, Agriculture.com's Dan Looker learned some of the ways crop insurance may change in ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That could be a tough pill for the ag sector to swallow, though; after this year's drought (that's far from over), the crop insurance industry's paid out record sums to corn and soybean farmers ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In other policy action -- or rather, inaction -- the farm bill's been shelved for the time-being, and that's got some farmers wondering what their industry will be like without a farm bill passed ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The ag news hasn't just been big in the U.S. this week; there's growing concern among U.S. farms about the market focus on the weather in the soybean- and corn-growing regions of South America. Are ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
They're a mainstay of farms around the world, sometimes harder workers than their human counterparts. Here's a collection of farm dogs -- some working hard and some not -- from ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's Eric Blaine's dog Lucy, ready to go at a moment's notice on Blaine's Saint Charles, Michigan, farm.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Danielle Hammer's dog Shiraz is out scouting this field on Hammer's family farm near River Falls, Wisconsin.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, it's not all fieldwork for Bryant Roberson's "Watch Dog," here "taking a timeout" on his farm near Tyner, North Carolina.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmersforthefuture.com member A. King stops on his Klamath Falls, Oregon, farm to take a photo with his dog Cooter, though it looks like Cooter's a little on the camera-shy si
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's "Lucky the truckin' dog" on network member Andrew Akin's farm near Seymour, Indiana.- See more from Farmersforthefuture.c
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Not all farm dogs are hard workers all the time, though. "Sleeping on the job...for shame!" says Will Frey of his "Corn Dog" on his farm near Orovada, Nevada.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here, "Rusty" keeps an eye on things at Farmersforthefuture.com member Tom Paulsen's farm near Quinn, South Dakota.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, it's not all work for "Zeke," who's catching a quick pick-up game of basketball with Farmersforthefuture.com member Adam on their Clear Lake, Minnesota, farm.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"Even as a puppy this Great Pyrenees gave her all to her job of guarding the alpacas," says Alabama farmer and network member Katy Spears of her farm dog Scarlett.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a real hard worker. "We have a rotational grazing system and I could not get the job done without a quiet easy working dog," Virginia Nancy Dove says of Rob, her family'
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The buck really stops with this working dog on Farmersforthefuture.com member Randi's Saskatchewan, Canada, ranch. "Watching the dog. No one touches the bale 'til it's rolled out," she
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Isle, Minnesota, farmer Kari Hollman's "cow dog" Breeze may like to be out on the farm, but she's "more into motors than running around," Hollman says.
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This pup may not be the most helpful working dog on the farm yet, but don't count her out from being a big part of Greg Risenmay's farm near Idaho Falls, Idaho.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
From the pitchfork to the draft horse, then the early tractor, farm machinery's not always been high-tech and massive. Check out these classic Successful Farming magazine covers showing the hard work it ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
April 1926 (click image at left to enlarge).- See more classic Successful Farming covers
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
All things weather were big in ag this week, whether it was a long-term outlook accounting for climate change or the shorter-term implications to soybean prices caused by dry, hot conditions in South America ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A report released by USDA researchers this week offers a few ways U.S. agriculture could change with continued changes to the climate. Though there are many ramifications, farmers should be able to adapt to ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though that's a ways into the distance, there were also more short-term reports of how Mother Nature might treat farmers as this year's crop season gets underway. Depending on where you're ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Is your iron lineup up to the challenges of moving this winter's snow and staying upright? Here are a few tips from experts on how to get a little more bang for your buck when it comes to some bothersome ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
On a wider economic scale, new analysis from the Federal Reserve shows that the last quarter's seen a rise in ag lending for big-ticket purchases, though experts say it's not a sign of a slowing ag ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The livestock sector alone could be on its way higher if one condition holds...but it's a big 'if.' New information out this week shows with the resumption of more normal weather conditions in ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Many of the proceedings of last week's AG CONNECT Expo focused on the future and its greatest challenges and biggest opportunities for farmers. See more and get a full show recap!- A trio of farm concerns
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, while it's trade show season, when ag companies are rolling out their latest and greatest machinery, it's also a good time to look back on the history of the business, from the oldest tractors ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Many analysts saw Friday's USDA WASDE report being quickly overshadowed by ongoing crop weather pressure in South America, namely hot, dry conditions in Argentina,
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
In its report Friday, USDA didn't do much to adjust crop potential in Argentina despite that nation's heat and dryness through much of the growing season. This field Torres toured today shows ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The crop damage is far from consistent; "It is rare to explain why we are seeing a year where we have many differences in yield from one field to another," Torres says.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
He attributes this to 3 factors: Varying groundwater availability, production systems like tillage and whether fields were fallowed, and what seed varieties were planted.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Will things improve anytime soon? "I don’t expect much through early next week, other than a few very light showers in southwestern Argentina Sunday/Monday," says Don Keeney, MDA Weather Services senior ag ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a photo from Torres that shows the variability in crop conditions heading toward harvest. "One field has an estimated yield of 10,000 Kg/hectare and the farmer across the road will not have yields ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a close-up of what the ears look like from those 2 fields in the last photo.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Analysts said this week that upcoming rainfall expected in parts of Argentina could be "make or break" rains for the nation. "Overall, there's not much improvement for the area early next week, but then ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another view of that early-planted field in western Parana where the farmer expects above-average yields.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Soybean harvest is rolling in Brazil, like in this field in Goias in west-central Brazil. So far, so good for these farmers.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, it's not been all smooth sailing. This is a grain elevator rail line leading to the Port of Santos.- Read more: Brazil's harve
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This railroad line is the only one in Mato Grosso -- Brazil's largest soybean-producing state -- leading to the Port of Santos.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's Porto Velho, in the state of Rondonia. This is one of many export market outlets for soybeans raised in Mato Grosso.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's not an easy trip from Mato Grosso to Porto Velho, though, especially with antiquated roadways and trucks increasing in size and capacity.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's a field in Mato Grosso do Sul in west-central Brazil. This was planted early and has raised above-average yields.
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Fortunately, those fields in the same state that were planted later still have yielded well, farmers say.
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Now, let's move on to Parana, a state south of Mato Grosso do Sul. This field was also planted later, and the farmer expects to glean a good yield.
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another field in western Parana where expectations are high for an above-average yield.
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
These pods filled well after a growing season with adequate -- but not excessive, unlike some areas -- moisture during the growing season. This field was planted early as well.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been a rough week for the grain markets as rains fall abroad (though not enough to boost crop conditions much, some experts say). That hasn't stopped experts from pegging farm incomes at high ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Crop profits look to continue well into the next year, according to a long-term outlook released by USDA officials earlier this week. And, if demand stays strong and the macroeconomy continues to strengthen ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
That bullish profit outlook comes on the heels of a year when the crop insurance paid out a record-high sum to farmers on account of drought. The industry's been able to handle the $14 billion load ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Crop insurance is just one sector of the overall farm policy arena that could come under fire as the political year advances, especially the effects of overall budget cuts on direct payments and other current ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though it's raining a little in some key crop areas of the world, it's not enough to boost crop potential that much. But, in the absence of much other news to "feed the bulls," it's enough to ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, what exactly is going on in some of those key crop regions? Rain is falling in Argentina, and that's taken a bite out of soybean and corn prices in the last week. But, is there a price reversal in ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though the rainfall may not be enough to restore conditions to 100% potential in parts of South America, there is some immense improvement in former Soviet Union (FSU) nations. As a result, there could be more ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Back home in the U.S., new information out this week shows producers in the southern Plains -- the epicenter of last summer's drought and resulting slashes to the cow herd -- weren't the only ones to ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
On the crop front, it's warmed up in much of the Corn Belt this week, and that's stoking new concerns that mycotoxins in stored grain could be flaring up again. It's a good time to reacquaint ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This week, the epicenter of the farm machinery world is Louisville, Kentucky, home of the annual National Farm Machinery Show. Check out some of the new machinery and tools being unveiled at this year's ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, is the farmland price boom going to continue? That's been a hot topic this week in Marketing Talk on Agriculture.com. Is the current land price drive going to continue to be sustainable, or will it ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Spring is right around the corner! To help welcome the season, check out these vintage Successful Farming magazine covers from the last century!- Check out the vintage spring covers
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The waiting's just about over (it already is for some) for corn and soybean farmers around the nation. The last week's seen a lot of potential crop size numbers, drought talk and crop input debates ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While farmers in the Midwest are waiting to get their planters rolling, that's already happening in the deep South. "Well folks, let the games and guessing begin," says one farmer of the start of planting ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, early planting strides may not be too long in the near term, anyway, says one analyst who says there could be a lot of planting delays on account of a weather rarity in the last couple of years: Too much ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Recent moisture in some key growing areas has led some optimism that maybe the drought's on its way out. But, how much moisture's still needed before we can say the drought is behind us? And ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though outlooks are seemingly brightening for crop prospects this year, that didn't stop one large crop forecasting firm from trimming back earlier expectations for this year's corn crop size. And ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Price will have a lot to do with how this spring's acreage balance shakes out, and there are some numbers ahead that will have some major influence on those prices. At the end of the month, USDA will ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This year's crops could face more severe weed pressures than ever before, making it important to act quickly to nail down your chemical needs for the year, specialists say. Another compounding factor this ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another key input that could be in tight supply in some areas this year is seed. Though general supplies aren't short, the specific hybrids catered to particular areas may be, company representatives say ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The cost for things like seed and chemical are just pieces of the overall equation that could add up to tighter crop margins this year, according to a report released this week. That will be especially true if ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Land is still a hot commodity and regardless of the direction of crop profits in the coming year, don't rule out another double-digit climb in land values in the Corn Belt, land price experts said this ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
(Click image at left to enlarge)- See more Corn Time- Go back to Agriculture.com
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Rain has fallen in the parched parts of South America, and the market responded to word of the precipitation by putting a lot of downward pressure on last week. But, was the rain enough to improve crop ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The last month has been a dry one for much of Argentina, but it's far from consistent. "The rains helped in a few spots, but conditions there are very much still variable," says MDA Weather Services ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This field's about 20 miles south of Chacabuco, which is 130 miles west of Buenos Aires. That's where Mauricio Torres is a crop advisor with BLD, a large consulting firm based in Rosario, Santa Fe ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This farmer is "very concerned, as most farmers in Argentina" about his soybean potential after this year's tough growing conditions, so much so that he's only forward-contracted 10% of his normal ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
As a result, farmers like this customer of Torres' will likely miss out on profit potential not just because of lower yields, but also a seasonal nadir in grain prices. "They had to pass when they had ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Looking ahead, Keeney says he expects the hit-and-miss pattern to dominate the critical soybean and corn areas of Argentina for at least the near future, though rainfall chances improve in the next few days ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Harvest is upon many soybean farmers in Brazil, but they're suffering from the opposite natural extreme as their peers in nearby Argentina. Excessive rainfall has the crop deteriorating rapidly and ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Ten days of consecutive rainfall have done a lot of damage to fields like this one near the city of Campina da Lagoa. This field also was hit by a recent hail storm.
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The result of these conditions is a "green carpet" on the ground comprising soybean seedlings from the fallen damaged soybean pods.
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though not representative of Brazil's entire crop, this field experienced some seed sprouting from the heavy moisture. About 1/4 of the crop's already out of the ground in Brazil, but moisture levels ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmers are not just concerned by poor crop conditions, but the prospect that any delays in harvest now could eat into planting time for the "Safrinha," or second crop of the year.
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though this field's in good shape, it shows just how wide the planting window was for this soybean crop. This was one of the later-planted fields in Parana.
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Parana's got its fair share of corn, too. Here's one field that's ready for the combine.
15 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While it's less of a worry in other parts of the nation, farmers in Mato Grosso have more to worry about with excessive moisture.
16 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, the later the crops were planted in Mato Grosso, in the west-central part of the country, the more they're benefiting from recent rainfall.
17 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's another late-planted field in Mato Grosso that has gotten a boost from recent rainfall.
18 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, just like everywhere else around the country, soybeans that were planted early, like in this field, have been damaged from the recent heavy rains.
19 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Regardless of the crop quality, the issues don't end with harvest. Getting the soybeans to points of delivery is a precarious venture on roads like BR-163, shown here in Mato Grosso.
20 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though harvest has only begun, truck traffic is already intense along Mato Grosso's BR-163.
21 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Further north toward the port of Porto Velho, conditions on BR-163 are even worse.
22 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here in northern Mato Grosso, drivers are warned that the pavement's about to end shortly.- Go back to Agriculture.com
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been another week of weather extremes in key crop-growing regions of the world as officials in Washington D.C. look ahead to how this year's crop output and incomes will stack up. They're ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Eighteen states have been affected by a winter weather system this week. Farmers in the Plains have had in excess of a foot of snow as the system -- which will be followed by another winter blast early next ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While the snow falls in the Plains & Midwest, ag officials are meeting in Washington, D.C., this week for their annual Agricultural Outlook Forum. The main message: Crop prices are and will remain high ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While it's snow that's the big weather story in the U.S., it's moisture extremes of both varieties in South America. In Argentina, farmers are battling dry conditions while farmers in Brazil are ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, the weather's not the only issue causing trouble in Brazil. It's compounding existing problems with infrastructure for farmers working to get their crops from the field to the point of ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The issues in South America are mainly affecting the soybean crop. But, some experts say there's still a whale of a crop coming out of the field there. And, despite this week's upward move in the ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, longer-term, how will soybean prices shake out? Another expert says the USDA Prospective Plantings report next month will go a long way to determining whether prices will be closer to $11 or $15. - Long
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Volatility like that in the range of potential soybean prices likely isn't going away anytime soon. In fact, it's likely to become the "new normal," one prominent agribusiness leader said this week ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, not all volatility should come without some protection. That's one of the outcomes of the MF Global case, which is nearing its final resolution. Will the case lead to the formation of an entity ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Elsewhere in the last week, Agriculture.com's John Walter sat down with the founder of Twitter and Nebraska farmboy Evan Williams, who says the entrepreneurial nature of farmers isn't too unlike that ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though it may not quite appear that way when you look out the window right now, spring's on its way! If the cabin fever is eating away at you too badly, maybe these vintage Successful Farming magazine ...
004 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There's an art to the natural surroundings on the farm, and that was the inspiration for a series of Successful Farming magazine covers in the early decades of the 20th century. See a few of the classic ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's the May 1925 cover that borrows from the impressionist movement of the 19th century. - Download a high-resolution PDF
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This cover from December 1931 shows that all creatures on the rural landscape may get into the holiday spirit.- Download a high-resolut
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Arthur Bade's work appeared quite a few times on the magazine's cover in the 1930s, like this cover from February 1936.- Download a high
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
After his work for Successful Farming, like this cover from April 1936, Bade designed futuristic covers for Science and Mechanics magazine in the 1940s and 1950s.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's Bade's look at the younger helpers on the farm, featured on the June 1936 magazine cover.- Download a high-resolution PDF
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This one pays homage to not just the work on the farms of the 1930s, but the occasional leisure activities, like this farmer and his dog out on a hunt.
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Check out some of the latest creations of Successful Farming magazine Art Director Matt Strelecki.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
October 2010- Click here to download a high-resolution PDF
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
September 2011- Click here to download a high-resolution PDF
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
May/June 2012- Click here to download a high-resolution PDF
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
December 2012- Click here to download a high-resolution PDF
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Mid-February 2013- Click here to download a high-resolution PDF
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The 2013 Commodity Classic has converged on Kissimmee, Florida, this week. The annual meeting of national corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum producers includes a trade show featuring some of the latest ag ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Weather -- namely, whether the drought continues in the coming growing season -- is on top of many minds as spring planting approaches. One company, Sarasota, Florida-based Statweather -- is using new means to ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"I think farmers look at historical weather data when planning their operations. We put that in a mathematical algorithm that says historically what the probability of certain patterns are," says Statweather ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If the drought does continue, the growth of irrigation in the last year will likely continue, says Reinke's Mike Mills, who adds there's been "a tremendous amount of demand" for center pivot ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Under effective, efficient irrigation, Mills says crop yields can improve by 50% to 200% "depending on management practices and your crop. Your return on investment, factoring in commodity prices, can be as ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A growing issue over the last few years -- one that's sure to continue in the near future -- is how farmers handle corn crop residue after the crop's been removed from the field. The Hector ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The machine uses a belt drive to move residue into 1 or 2 windrows, making it easier for balers to handle. "You have to get rid of the stalks somehow, and with triple-stack hybrids and strong stalks, this is ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Technology's huge at this year's Commodity Classic. And, one company -- DuPont Pioneer -- is rolling out 2 new mobile apps this week to help farmers make critical management decisions. "We're ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Diversification of specific jobs easily handled by mobile devices has been crucial to the growth mobile apps in ag. "We're seeing adoption of smartphones and tablets, like Android phones and iPhones," ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Will the drought continue this year? That's the $64,000 question at this year's Commodity Classic happening this week in Kissimmee, Florida. There's a general tone of caution with a bit of ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Not all farmers are worried about the drought. Darryl Gibson farms near Ripley, Ontario, and he says despite the drier-than-normal conditions last year, his corn, soybean and wheat acres got a boost from ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It wasn't quite as productive on Wayne Jeardoe's farm near Concordia, Kansas. He raises irrigated corn and soybeans as well as dryland sorghum and wheat. The few dryland corn acres he had last year ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's practically a different world in central Ohio, where Bret Davis (here with wife Janie) farms near Delaware, Ohio. That part of the Corn Belt has recovered from drought thanks to a wet fall and winter ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's been wet the last couple of years around Bryant, South Dakota, where Douglas Noem (here with wife Kathy) farms. That yielded "the best year ever" last year, he says. This year, considering the proven ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
It's still very dry on Jim and Julie Reed's Monticello, Illinois, farm. Though Jim thinks the drought will end this year, he's still looking at planting drought-tolerant corn and continuing ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A possible shift to spring-like weather, volatile farm income factors and trends for the next few months were all big stories in agriculture in the last week.
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A year ago, Mother Nature was flirting with high temperatures more typical of May than March in parts of the Midwest. Though they won't top out that high, one forecaster said this week a warmup is on its ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
But, how will the soil emerge from winter? Though there's been much-needed snowfall in much of the nation's center in the last 2 weeks, that snow's likely not doing as much to improve soil ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The dry soils made their way into the policy sector this week, too. Earlier this week, lawmakers introduced bills to slash federal funding for crop insurance, which saw record payouts last year because of the ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
When the CME Group expanded its trading hours a few months ago, reactions from the farm and trading communities were lukewarm. After "comprehensive outreach," CME Group officials announced this week ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Regardless of the trading hours, many farmers say they've yet to forward-contract any 2013 corn bushels. "I'm honestly scratching my head for the right strategy," says one farmer in a recent ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Today's grain marketplace has a lot of moving parts in play and is "digesting a lot of information while waiting for the next shoe to drop." It points to the value of solid risk management, analysts say ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another component to today's volatile ag marketplace is the land market. While prices continue to soar skyward in the Corn Belt, that doesn't mean it's going to continue in the long term ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The future of the land market is just one wildcard in the business of farming over the next few years. See what a group of agribusiness professionals said is on their industry radar looking into the future ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you're a hog farmer and were planning on some expansion this spring in response to what experts said would be a shift toward profitability, you might want to hold off, one economist said this week ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One market that had a big week is the equities. The stock market hit a record high earlier this week, but there's reason to view that with "mild trepidation," because the economy's far from out of ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Were you able to get to Florida for the 2013 Commodity Classic last week? The annual meeting of national commodity groups and trade show broke attendance records and featured a lot of discussion about new ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
(Click image at left to enlarge)- See more from Corn Time - Go back to
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Put extensions to workBy using his set of 72-inch pallet fork extensions, Dale Scheiderer makes easy work of installing a portable bin sweep in his 27-foot bin. The Marysville, Ohio, farmer says he sets the ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A step near the tire for refueling“No one should have to risk falling off a tire and getting hurt. So I’ve made a safe place to stand when fueling up or checking the radiator on my tractors,” says Harold ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Hydraulic hookup helpScott City, Kansas, farmer George Armantrout developed a solution for stubborn hydraulic cylinder hookups. To give himself more force on the fitting than was possible by gripping the hose ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Robert Nourse came across a discarded construction-type stepladder, took a look at it, and saw a way to make the climb into his semi cab much easier. “This stepladder was wider than usual, like the kind a ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Longer lever = more forceThe space around Worthin Grattan’s water hydrant is tight. It’s located between his shop and a light pole on his Grinnell, Iowa, farm. So, he made the lever handle easier to lift ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Cart truck tires with ease“Truck tires can be real back burners,” says Levi Hofer, Lake Andes, South Dakota. His tool eliminates heavy and awkward lifting. The 4-foot-long handle is welded about 45° to a ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The mid-March issue of Successful Farming's hot off the presses! See some of the top features in the new issue, from drought outlooks and the new faces of farming, to how to manage profits for your cattle ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"It’s a great time to be in agriculture. The past five years have been prosperous for many – but not all – sectors of agriculture," says Successful Farming editorial content director Dave Kurns. "That ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
After the 2012 drought, the nation's worst since the 1950s, some farmers are preparing for a tough 2013. See what some farmers are doing to stay ahead of potential drought as this year's crop season ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Weather and climate aren’t the same, but near-term weather cycles and longer-term changes in climate have this in common: Both will bring more extremes of wet and dry years. So far, farmers are adapting to ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
They are different, yet united by a toughness that farming demands. They are among the newest faces on the nation’s landscape, yet many have a long heritage in growing food. Meet some of the diverse new ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
"In the 30-plus years that I have traded corn and soybean futures, I have never seen such bullish and bearish price potential at the same time," says Market Analyst Al Kluis. "It will take a disciplined ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
This year could be a big one for weed pressures in corn and soybeans all around the nation. But, you can keep them in check with these tips. Check out these '7 ways to win' when it comes to weeds in ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Part of that weed control is having an accurate, well-tuned sprayer. Check out these 4 tips to get your sprayer calibrated and ready for the busy growing season.- Calibrate your sprayer
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Mixed properly, pesticides, adjuvants, and drift-reduction additives pass flawlessly from the mixing vat and inductor into your sprayer and onto your crops. This minimizes field trips and offtarget movement ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There's an easy way to do things on the farm and in the farm shop, and there's a hard way. Check out this collection of farmer ideas to avoid doing things the hard way, all from All Around the Farm.- ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
One farmer's done just that by creating an upright storage rack for large sheets of steel in his farm shop. Now, he's able to easily see and get ahold of just the right piece when he needs it, saving ...
12 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
A 1991 John Deere 4455 tractor recently sold for $155,000...but not at auction, the usual location for Machinery Pete. This sale involved a seller in New York, a buyer in Mexico and something of an adventure ...
13 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
“Holistic management is about people, land, and money. And it is helping us make room for the next generation,” says one Saskatchewan rancher. Find out how he and his family are using the management system ...
14 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
With their Gordon, Nebraska, ranch in the grip of severe and prolonged drought last spring, Nancy and Rex Peterson took stock of resources and long-term goals. They defined two critical goals.- Managing aro
15 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Bovine respiratory disease accounts for 90% of cattle health problems in one feedlot manager's operation. So, he's working with veterinarians to help deliminate the disease. Find out how.- How to ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The grain markets have ridden waves of fundamentals and macro-economic factors up and down this week as spring planting inches north and weather nerves rattle. They're just some of what's big in ag ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Farmers in the Corn Belt are preparing for this spring's planting rush, but many say they're not in as much of a rush as they were at this time a year ago, when conditions were much more conducive to ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
While farmers are waiting for things to warm up before they start thinking too much about planting, anxieties about a possible long, drawn-out planting season because of cool, wet weather are starting to ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
There's another worry perking up for some farmers: Soybean seed supply. "I talked with my soybean seed supplier today. He had some bad news for me. Several varieties of beans are coming in at 80% germ," ...
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, is the drought over? Some farmers say it is and others say it isn't; it appears to be turning into a regional issue. So, what does this do to the prospects of returning to trendline corn yields this ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Though there's been a lot of talk about the drought's end being near, there's still a lot of anxiety about it. But, it's not anxiety without action. See how some farmers have taken action ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
So, what does this variability in drought outlooks mean to grain market prices? That's a hot topic this week: The idea that, because of drought, "short crops have long tails." So, how will prices respond ...
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Another part of the world crop picture right now is an increasing bottleneck in Brazil, where soybean harvest is underway and farmers are lining up filled trucks for miles trying to break the infrastructure ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Back home, another big part of the farm income equation continues to catch the spotlight: A recent report explores which is a better place for investment money, the farmland or stock market. Most farmers still ...
10 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Did you sell cattle prematurely last year because of the drought? If you did, you may be eligible for a tax break. Producers have a couple of different options if they meet certain IRS requirements. See what ...
11 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The mid-March issue of Successful Farming's hot off the presses! See some of the top features in the new issue, from drought outlooks and the new faces of farming, to how to manage profits for your cattle ...
001 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
If you could create a dream pickup, what would it look like? That’s what Ford management asked its design engineers...and then turned them loose to create the pickup of the near future. The fruits of their ...
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Based on the F-150 platform, the Atlas is a beauty to behold to be sure. But looks are skin deep. This truck is still designed to work having been equipped with Ford’s tried-and-true EcoBoost powertrain. ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The interior is themed with structural styling cues offering thin, lightweight leather seating,extra legroom for rear passengers, “floating” instrument pods and glove-friendly buttons and control. And ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Beyond featuring 110-volt electrical outlets in the box that can be used to charge power tools, the tailgate offers a combination tailgate step and cargo cradle. Plus, the bed offers loading ramps which stow ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Atlas's wheel rims feature automatically-operated shutters which close at highway speed to improve aerodynamics.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The pickup's grill also features automatic shutters that stay open when extra engine cooling is needed, such as during low-speed stop-and-go driving or while working in hot weather. Finally, a drop-down ...
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Advanced LED lighting offers better road illumination than conventional halogen or HID lights and lasts longer. LED lamps in the tailgate also offer near- instant response, giving valuable extra warning time ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Other unique Atlas features, which might be appearing on pickups in the future, include:- Automatic Running Boards- Dynamic Hitch Assist- 360-Degree Point-of-View Camera
01 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Alex Shaw's hobby is computers. But now, he's putting that hobby to work on his farm, in the process helping his Oneida, Illinois, farm family keep tabs on just about everything that's going on ...
02 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Shaw, an Iowa State University Management Information Systems (MIS) student, operates a website, wireless Internet infrastructure and web camera system on the farm that allows him and others in the family to ...
03 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The cameras in those 3 locations stream video live onto his farm's website, which makes it easy for his family -- and absentee landowners -- to keep an eye on what's happening. "The dryer camera was ...
04 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here, Shaw's mounting the camera on top of the grain leg, which provides a wide-frame view of the farmstead. He's looking to get a better camera with more zoom functionality this summer.
05 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's one camera mounted on the family's Deere 8310 tractor. The machine's also got its own wireless Internet connection so there's web access wherever it's driven.
06 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
The Shaw farm's grain leg is the epicenter of its wireless infrastructure. There's a directional antenna (that short angled pole just to the left of the grain dryer) pointing at the web connection in ...
07 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Even wireless technology doesn't work with a little farm ingenuity, right? Here, Shaw used a loader to help install the camera for the pit for the grain leg.
08 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
Here's the server Shaw built to host the family's website and the bandwidth required by the webcams around the farm. Shaw's work to "wire" his family's farm started out as a 4-H project, he ...
09 By: Jeff Caldwell 12/31/1969 @ 11:00pm
What about mobile devices? That's part of the farm's present and future. "We have also wired up the farm so that we can turn on all of our grain system from a mobile phone anywhere in the world," ...
