Wanted: Renter seeking tropical adventure farming up to 15,000 acres north of the equator in Boa Vista, Roriama, the northern most state in Brazil. No, I'm not kidding, the rent is only $6 per acre for potential 50-bu.
The first crop of genetically modified poplar trees are expected to be used to produce ethanol at a Flemish-Dutch pilot plant owned by Bio Base Europe, according to Biofuels International.
While romantics like to remind us that absence makes the heart grow fonder, realists may be closer to the truth when it comes to the international meat trade: Absence makes the appetite grow dull and change.
After visiting Argentina back in January, I felt that soybean crop forecasts at the time, at between 48 and 50 million metric tons (mmt), were a little on the low side.
Fighting air and water pollution from manure runoff is a good thing, but regulators and courts need a better understanding of the problem and the possible solutions than the popular notion that all we need to do is shut down "factory farms."
Warm weather in early March is good news for northern Michigan's residents but can be bad news for the region's farmers, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported on Saturday. Early fruit and crop development can leave orchards and fields susceptible to frost and other weather damage later on.
3/16 1:54PM A solid rally in the bean complex tied to the weakening U.S. dollar index sparked a solid rally in the grain markets Tuesday.
Weather
Mostly Dry Wednesday, Except MO3/16 1:59PM Wednesday will continue to be mainly dry except for very light showers in Missouri.
Crops
The 2010 season could tell the tale whether rootworms are becoming tolerant or resistant to current Bt traits. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer file photo by Jim Patrico)
Rootworms Strike Back
High Insect Counts, Crop Damage, Show in Some Bt Fields 3/11 10:36AM Entomologists are baffled why some Bt corn fields had rootworm damage in 2009. What they do stress is that problems continue to increase as the number of farmers planting insect-resistance-management refuges remains at less-that-desirable levels.
"With a management-intensive grazing system superimposed on the newest biotechnology in grass farming, we are able to utilize our land for 365 days of the year if Mother Nature lets us," Schuette says. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Jim Patrico)
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:05 AM CDT Officials kicked off the first of five meetings scheduled this year on antitrust and competition issues in agriculture. Topics ranged from the Packers and Stockyards Act to seed patents.
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:12 AM CDT Distillers dried grains prices continued their downhill slide last week.
Land Management
Agriculture in Iroquois County, Ill., has a lot going for it, which is why it is ranked near the top of counties in Illinois for production of farm goods. (Progressive Farmer image by Jim Patrico)
Your Best Farm
Markets On The Horizon3/16 2:49PM Part one of our series that originally ran in the February issue of "The Progressive Farmer."
While fisticuffs do happen, farming families would be more productive to deal with any conflicts before it gets to that point. (Photo courtesy Wayne Short)
Farm Family Matters
How to Handle a Bum Brother 3/16 11:21AM Few farm families give themselves a performance review. If a partner isn't pulling his weight, make expectations known before tensions escalate, advises farm and business mediator Lance Woodbury.
Hydraulic systems have their enemies. They are dirt, vibration, water and heat. We might squeeze one more in there: the lack of preventative maintenance. It is a difficult exercise to shut down work to maintain a system that appears to be functioning perfectly well. But preventative maintenance is a practice that pays off with your hydraulic system. (Progressive Farmer image by Benjamin Krain)
Make Cents of Hydraulics
Here's How to Deal With the Enemies of Hydraulics3/8 2:01PM The great flexibility of hydraulics applications comes from the physical fact that fluid doesn't compress, but changes shape. Hydraulic oil can be forced under pressure to change into any shape as it travels from the oil reservoir, through the pump and then on to anywhere in the tractor and out to its implements before it recycles back to the reservoir.
Mon Mar 8, 2010 02:05 PM CST Vernon Nelson has been installing center-pivot irrigation units on his 3,000 Nebraska acres for years. More recently, he has put four more units in place???this time with some federal help.
Mon Mar 8, 2010 02:12 PM CST At first glance, Bill Schroeder's shop looks like most other buildings of its kind???rectangular and open. Walk around, however, and you'll discover features that serve Schroeder's needs.
Ag Policy
Rice, and its insurance coverage, may be a problem as southern farmers talk to their bankers. (DTN file photo by Marcia Taylor)
South Seeks Safety Net Solutions
Producers Face Losses From Last Year, But No Protection 2/24 7:42AM Rice and cotton farmers heard sympathetic words from House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., about their lack of a safety net. But they are having a hard time getting backing for a disaster package.
Most accidents are preventable. Accident victims nearly always tell us the same two things. One: ???I was in too much of a hurry.??? Two: ???I should have stopped the machine before I started working on it.??? (DTN/Progressive Farmer illustration by Ray E. Watkins Jr.)
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:20 AM CDT While most on-farm deaths, such as tractor overturns and power-take-off shaft incidents, are decreasing, the number of children and adults being engulfed in grain is rising every year, reports Bill Field, Purdue University Extension safety specialist. In 2008 there were 34 grain entrapments natiionwide compared to 33 in 2007.
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:30 AM CDT The Dakota County farmer shows up at schools, community festivals and even the Minnesota State Fair dressed in a hard hat, goggles, white lab coat and huge fireman's boots.
3/16 11:19AM Many believe expected 2010 corn acres won't or can't be planted as the snow-battered Corn Belt is wet and soggy with some fields still sporting unharvested corn. This argument has been heard before, and despite popular belief, it is likely that intended acres will get planted and off to a good start as spring rolls on.
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Farmers Find Surprises as They Check Bins
