When Gary Hirsch, Cynthiana, Indiana, invented his on-farm dry seed treatment system in 2006, it was out of necessity. Hirsch couldn't find a suitable treater that would dispense peat-based inoculants onto the seed accurately. So he invented his own, the G&L Seed Treater.

Clayton McCammack, now 30, always knew he wanted to farm. When and how were different matters. When he graduated from high school in 1996, Clayton enrolled in the ag economics program at Purdue University, 60 miles north of the family's Cloverdale, Indiana, operation.

Soybean rust has run rampant in Brazilian soybean fields. So far, U.S. farmers haven't faced similar rust outbreaks. Yet, the climb of soybean prices into double-digit dollars per bushel makes a potential outbreak much more costly.

A decade ago, Chris and Sherry Vinton, who run 1,000 beef cows near Whitman, Nebraska, supplemented their herd with a high-quality commercial mineral mix. The cost of $550 a ton seemed high. So they began asking questions and researching alternatives.

Four-dollar corn thrills many farmers. None of them are in the pig business. There aren't many alternatives to expensive corn for pigs, but one of them is the ethanol by-product distillers' dried grains (DDG).

The word this year is "high." High crop prices and high costs. And you can probably add high as in technology, too. It could be a year then in which farmers harness technology ever tighter, hoping to drive more efficiency into their operations and to take advantage of higher prices, farmers say. Here are seven technologies to watch this year.

Nitrogen prices are putting the squeeze on a lot of corn growers this winter. In an effort to protect expensive nitrogen, a lot of growers are taking a fresh look at nitrification inhibitors, urease inhibitors, coated urea, and other products that protect nitrogen from leaching, denitrification, and volatilization.

"Economics 101 teaches the principle that as price goes higher, demand falls and other new alternative supplies enter the market to reduce demand. As a result, eventually prices turn lower," writes market analyst Alan Kluis. "There are four factors that have caused the rally to move higher with no real reduction in demand."

"I can't prove it statistically, but farm parents seem to value higher education even more passionately than the general population," writes Editor-in-Chief Loren Kruse. "Still, many great prospects for careers in ag lack encouragers."

"With used equipment bringing such high prices on the auction block, what factors would drive farmers to buy new rather than used?" writes New Products Editor Laurie Potter. "When commodity prices were low, many farmers couldn't justify new equipment. Today, you can't walk into a dealership and expect to have the new model by spring."

"One of the first articles I wrote for Successful Farming magazine almost 28 years ago was about the nitrogen stabilizer N-Serve. In simplest terms, when conditions are right for nitrogen loss, N-Serve can help prevent nitrogen from escaping," writes Crops and Soils Editor Rich Fee. "However, when conditions are not conducive to nitrogen loss, it's not needed and represents an extra expense."

Evaluators take a fleet of all-terrain and utility vehicles to the trail and track. Learn what riders and engineers had to say about the utility vehicles they tested in this exclusive evaluation.

Check out this month's great farmer ideas, including a new way to pop the topper off your pickup and a way to preserve air hoses in your shop. Learn how you can submit your ideas for a future edition of All Around the Farm.