There’s a quotation that sustainable agriculturists (real and wannabe) throw at listeners during philosophical discussions: “The best fertilizer is the footprint of the farmer.” Nobody knows who was the first person to say that (or write it). But President Lyndon Johnson tweaked the truism into the ...

Recently, Thomas called me with some questions regarding soil tests results coming from five fields which he had sampled in late-June. On all the fields the soil type was primarily Mardin silt loam. According to the website https://soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov , “The Mardin series consists of very de...

My Canadian cyber-sentry E. Ann Clark, PhD… retired agronomy professor from Ontario’s Guelph University… e-mailed me an article titled “Former ‘Billion Dollar Bug’ is Mounting a Come-back”. The sub-title read: “The corn rootworm pest has developed resistance to GM (genetically modified) Bt insectici...

This morning (Tuesday) Frank, one of my crop program advisees, called to tell me that he had finished first cutting. This Central New York farmer crops about 150 acres of mixed mostly grass hay baleage; most of that land is rented. He raises a few beef cattle, and works some off-farm at a machinery ...

On Dec. 15, 2017 a U.S. government weather forecaster said that La Niña conditions were predicted to continue in the Northern Hemisphere throughout Winter 2017-2018. During early autumn, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service… in its monthly bulletin… stated: ...