Of the three main fertilizer nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium – P is doing the poorest job of returning to lower pre-pandemic price levels. A number of global factors influences P price (which I’ll evaluate in a later column). P is also the most limiting crop nutrient in Northeast soil...

Awhile ago, my friend Tom Kilcer (a certified crop advisor, whose wisdom I seek frequently) was giving a lecture at a Midwest crop growers’ conference. He explained how corn populations can be reduced without hurting yields – in fact, possibly increasing yields, if plant crowding had been an issue. ...

Four basic inputs are required for successful crop production: solar radiation, moisture, warmth (soil and air) and soil nutrients. All equally important, if any one factor is seriously limiting, crop production is greatly undermined. The input category threatened most by wildfire smoke is solar rad...

Normally I try to give crop-growing readers an update on the global fertilizer situation once every quarter. I get much of my information from an online industry publication titled “Argus North American Fertilizer Newsletter.” My friend and associate Jeff Cassim subscribes to this twice-monthly peri...

The Dec. 10, 2025 issue of Country Folks listed 11 advertisements for hay crops, one of which was for organic hay. This is relevant, because one year ago our paper posted approximately 30 hay crop ads, roughly 10 of which were for organic forages. I believe that these numbers provide a report card o...

Occasionally the bottom drops out, temperature-wise, in Central New York during the last week of November. Three or four years ago, Thanksgiving Day in our area saw the mercury drop to -25º F. Fortunately, most places had already been blessed with at least a half-foot of protective snow, but it turn...

As I’m writing this column on the first day of December, it’s about three weeks until days start lengthening in the northern hemisphere. Recently, most of the Northeast had been gathering just a few occasional snowflakes. But that changed the day after Thanksgiving, when the Mohawk Valley got about ...

As I wrote this column, the actual holiday was three days away. The happening should be considered more a season, not just a single square on a calendar page displaying the fourth Thursday of each November. A look at early colonial history in Massachusetts supports my reasoning. The first Thanksgivi...

An article titled “Attack of the Superweeds” was written by H. Claire Brown in the New York Times four years ago. The sub-heading read “Herbicides are losing the war…and agriculture might never be the same again.” Brown began by explaining the concept of superweeds: “Weeds that have evolved characte...

Scientists define hydrology as “the scientific study of the movement, distribution and management of water on Earth, including the water cycle, water resources and drainage basin sustainability.” A common misconception is that drought’s impacts on society are limited to semi-arid regions, but drough...

Northeast corn silage growers are currently about three-quarters done with chopping. Corn grain growers are about one-quarter done with combining. This is a good time to conduct a small experiment while the person doing the chopping or combining waits for an empty forage wagon or gravity wagon to be...

Northeast corn silage growers are currently about three-quarters done with chopping. Corn grain growers are about one-quarter done with combining. This is a good time to conduct a small experiment while the person doing the chopping or combining waits for an empty forage wagon or gravity wagon to be...

On Sept. 8, much of Central New York received light frosts. Fearing that such might take place, I had covered my frost-sensitive crops with tarps. Doing so proved to be a wise idea, since, come dawn, the hood of our car showed a very thin layer of ice crystals. When those melted away, I removed the ...

The last few days of September, I saw early plantings of winter rye sprouting nicely in some Central New York counties. Happily, I see more corn growers planting autumn cover crops. The more productive title for these late season plantings is “winter forage,” a mindset which acknowledges that someth...

On Sept. 18, Jim, an organic dairy farmer, called me to discuss possible corn silage toxicity issues that worried him. He milks about 70 cows in Genesee County (NY), and his farm is “regular” organic (not grass-fed). I’ve been advising him on his crop program for several years. He grows corn for sil...