The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act on Dec. 11, 2019. The bill now heads to the Senate, where proponents are hopeful that the bipartisan support the bill received in the House will be replicated. The bill, designed to stabilize today’s agricultural workforce...

Cooperatives play a major role in the agricultural industry, and in rural areas in general. From electrical cooperatives to the local credit union, cooperative business organizations are familiar to farmers across the country. What is the role cooperatives play in the market? Why are they formed, an...

If winter weather hasn’t made an appearance on your farm yet, it will soon. Most field work is finished, but livestock still have to be fed, equipment must be repaired and there’s plenty to do in the farm shop. Just as they do the rest of the year, farmers will be working outside, often in less than...

With new exotic pests making headlines, pests that have been around longer don’t always get the same attention. Dr. Nate Siegert, USDA Forest Service in New Hampshire, continues to gather data and study emerald ash borer (EAB) infestations. “Here in the Northeast, we’re on the leading edge of the EA...

The popularity of food trucks, CSA and meal kit delivery services have provided additional means for farmers to sell what they raise. To enter these various means of sales, farmers need to consider how this type of selling is different from wholesale and other means of retail sales, including strate...

John Brasfield has been retired for 11 years, but like most who have livestock, he hasn’t stopped working. After serving as a livestock Extension agent and county Extension director, Brasfield started expanding his flock. “I did my research in sheep nutrition,” said Brasfield, who attended Virginia ...

Not long ago, Sasha Hayes and Madison Horn were working in careers unrelated to production agriculture. Although they didn’t envision themselves operating a goat dairy, that’s what they’re doing today. Their first goats were Horn’s mother’s Nigerian dwarfs, which are usually kept as pets, but today,...

Raising dairy heifers is different today. Rather than being relegated to distant lots and fed poor quality hay, heifers are fed and housed to prepare them for future production. Most changes in raising heifers are a matter of economics, with a fine line between profit and loss. But a heifer is not a...

Get the most out of pregnancy diagnostics I can still remember some of my college professors say that a “pregnancy check” on a cow is really an “open check” so that she can be inseminated again as quickly and efficiently as possible. I agree with that statement, but there may be a bit more informati...