Video: What is Center Pivot Irrigation?
Not sure how many times I’ve had people ask me about these “big spoke things” going across fields, otherwise known as a center pivot and and used in center pivot irrigation. They are definitely easier to understand if a center pivot is running. They are intriguing I admit, and with a span that covers hundreds [...]
New Corn Technologies Are Taking Down Some Major Pests
If you ask many corn farmers, aside from weather, pests are at the top of the list of factors that hurt their yields. Corn Earworm, Fall Armyworm, and Western Bean Cutworm can all impact yields due to destruction of corn kernels. Lucky for these corn farmers, scientists like the ones at Monsanto are working hard [...]
Video: Managing Glyphosate Resistant Pigweed – A Success Story
Field days are part of the rural landscape. There are various sorts throughout the summer and for me, they are just getting started. A field day is an opportunity to get a number of people together in one place to see how things are done on a research plot or farm. My first field day [...]
A Quick Lesson in Detasseling
If you’re a farmer or farm kid, you know what detasseling is. If you’re not, this video courtesy of reporter Mike Brooks at WICS in Springfield, Ill., gives you a good background on detasseling and why seed companies like Monsanto do it. Detasseling Corn Alive and Well – Fox 55/27 Springfield, ILL This Twitter search [...]
Video: Planting Drags Out, Moisture Issues at Every Turn
It seems like forever since we had an update on what was happening on Bob Walker’s cotton, corn and soybean farm. Planting that started back in mid-April faced torrential rains in early May. Planting started so long ago and the blog about it was written so long ago, that people have likely forgotten about it. [...]
The Farming May Be Different, But the End Goal is the Same
By Jillian My favorite thing to do on a summer morning is to take a walk down my dirt road. Most summer days I sleep in but there are a few when I get up right after sunrise. The air is always moist with the sweet smell of earth, the birds are singing and the [...]
Muscatine Ag Students Take Hands On Learning to the Extreme
By Kate Most farmers don’t have to worry about getting the crops in and making time for their algebra homework but at the Muscatine Ag Learning center in Muscatine, IA, the students face that very time crunch. The Muscatine Agriculture Learning Center is a unique center that serves Muscatine High School and the community college. [...]
The Race Against Mother Nature
By Tyne It’s a race against Mother Nature every spring and fall for farmers across the U.S. This season, some may argue Mother Nature has pulled ahead over the past month. What started out to be a great year for planting with above normal temperatures in many areas across the country, has turned into a [...]
The Photo Tells the Story
I read a lot of farm publications, mostly online, to see what’s happening in agriculture, follow issues and trends, see what’s happening politically in Washington and the state capitals and generally to understand the news environment of this big complex industry we call agriculture. Every so often, I’ll find a story that isn’t about any [...]
Flash Flooding in the U.S.: The Challenges Farmers are Facing
The first weekend in May is always a big one in the Memphis area. It is the start of the month-long Memphis in May festival, and for those of us in the cotton business, it generally signals the start of planting in small communities all around. But this year, the stormy weather threw us a [...]
Seeing Double? Must Be Twin-Row Corn!
Driving down a state road, it can be so picturesque to see row after row of a crop in the field. That’s certainly the case right now as young corn, soybean and cotton plants have had a great start with great moisture conditions in so many areas. But driving down roads in some areas may [...]
When It Comes to Planting, Mother Nature Holds the Cards
Monday began with a rain shower in the St. Louis area. No planting at the Jerseyville farm for the next two days, I thought. After getting settled in at work, I sent an email to the crew at the farm, asking, “Do you think you’ll get in the fields later this week?” To my surprise, [...]
Thinking Through Planting, One Task at a Time
Until I worked in agriculture, I really didn’t know what kind of work went into planting the fields that I’d drive by everyday. Man, have I learned a lot and yet there are so many things I’m still learning. Farmers like Bob Walker of Somerville, Tenn. have a lot to consider when planting. For quite [...]
Video: Farming – An 8 to 5 Job? Not Quite.
By Tyne With the introduction of so many different types of new technology in agriculture and farming, one might think farming has become easier. All farmers have to do is plant the seed, watch it grow and then harvest when the time comes, right? Well, not exactly. Farming may be more advanced, but farmers still [...]
737 Love Songs for the American Farm Mom
Over at the corporate web site and elsewhere, Monsanto today announced the five regional finalists for the Farm Mom contest and instructions for voting for the one national winner, to be announced around Mother’s Day. The five regional finalists are: · Erika Forsbach, Savannah, Tennessee. · Carol Cowan of Watonga, Oklahoma. · Sue Roohr, Cookstown, [...]
An Official Update at the Unofficial Start of 2010 Planting
Co-authored by Janice Person and Nick Weber The unofficial start of planting season got under way today, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its 2010 Prospective Plantings report. It’s an annual report that the agency issues each March 31 as its best estimates on what farmers may plant for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and [...]
Farm Mom – A View from Here
Note from Mica: With our America’s Farmers Farm Mom of the Year contest in full swing with over 170 submissions so far, I asked my good friend and colleague Tami Craig Schilling to write a guest post for the blog, reflecting on what it means to be a farm mom. Tami is a full-time Monsanto [...]
Farmers Manage Risks during Flooding
Every nine out of 10 years, Iowa farmer Dave Sieck expects the Missouri River to stay in its banks near his farmland in Glenwood, Iowa, about 15 miles south of Council Bluffs. But lately, it’s been a rough run. This is the third year in a run some Sieck and Midwest farmers are facing the [...]
The Perfect Week to Thank a Farmer, National Agriculture Week
As someone that didn’t grow up in agriculture (the closest I got was the 5 cow dairy farm up the street from my subdivision) I seldom thought about the importance of farming in my everyday life before I graduated college. Now that I work for Monsanto, I have had the opportunity to meet with farmers [...]
Video:One in a Million, One in 700, or Even Better Odds?
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to host a group of guests from Greece for a tour of the U.S. The group was made up of cotton ginners, textile mill personnel, a few agronomists and others in the Greek cotton industry. I ended up being the person who accompanied the group throughout their tour. [...]
The Face — And Voice — Of American Agriculture
His name is Cal Dalton. He’s a retailer-customer of Monsanto’s, and he is a manager for the Landmark Services Cooperative in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. He recently received the Agri-Communicator Award at the Corn/Soy Expo, held in Wisconsin Dells. The award is given to a grower who tells agriculture’s story. The award is sponsored by Wisconsin [...]
Many factors lead to better weed control for farmers
If there’s one thing I’ve learned by talking with farmers, it’s that they have a great sense and appreciation of their farm’s history. And as a result, they have an even greater sense of how the present state of farming is better than it used to be. Marvin Borg and Jeffrey Larson are two examples [...]
Video: Farmers Giving the Consumers What They Want – A Healthy Heart
In 2009 there was a lot of buzz around trans-fat free foods when places like New York City passed regulations that pushed the use of healthier oils. It may be hard to imagine, but that decision affected farmers like John Buck, who farms in Ohio in the small town of New Bloomington. Although trans-fat foods [...]
Farmers: Environmentalists That Are Making a Difference
I spend time each day looking through online farm publications. I have a list that I follow, ranging from news aggregators to the web versions of farm magazines, and I’m usually looking for so-called “hard news.” Recently, I was looking at Indiana Prairie Farmer, and I almost passed this headline by: Five Farm Families Receive [...]
