Staying vigilant when it comes to irrigation equipment maintenance and inspection can help farmers keep their costs down. During the active part of your year, carve out a little time to make a thorough inspection of your irrigation system and create a maintenance plan. Be sure to document and take p...

As crop growers approach the beginning of August, especially across the northern U.S. and southern Canada, they become very aware of night temperatures starting to drop. This occurrence starts slowing the production of the warm season crops – soybean, corn, sorghum, sudangrass, their hybrids and mil...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been a disease of concern for poultry producers for the past several years. While the virus remains a serious threat to poultry producers, farmers who raise other livestock weren’t too concerned until the virus jumped species and infected dairy cattle. Th...

Earlier this year, Jake Tomlinson with Penn State’s Center for Agricultural Conservation Assistance Training presented a session on streambank stabilization and what implementation of it looks like on the farm. Stream erosion is naturally occurring, though sometimes expedited by certain stressors. T...

In the quest for reliable, economical energy sources, biofuels have long been praised as a potential tool in the fight against carbon emissions. However, a study published in February 2022 suggested that America’s reliance on corn-based ethanol fuel might be doing more harm than good. This is accord...

Dan Neenan, director of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety , is also a rural firefighter and paramedic. Unfortunately, he has responded to skid steer incidents. While skid steers are basic equipment on many farms, they’re often used unsafely. “Skid steers are little Sherman tanks,...

Normally, the process of converting organic waste into organic matter (OM) is a slow and often unseen one. Organisms as large as earthworms and as tiny as bacteria break down dropped leaves, cornstalks and more at an almost glacial pace. However, one particular insect is really, really good at creat...

Who doesn’t like a David vs. Goliath story (with a happy ending… unless you’re a Goliath enthusiast)? Such an article appeared in my inbox very recently, having been published on June 28, 2024 by Mexico News Daily. The article’s headline: “Great news out of Mexico: The country has sent the ag chemic...

Wearable tech in ag can help keep farmworkers safe. According to Dr. Aaron Yoder, wearable devices can help keep people safe, but only if folks listen to the reminders and heed the warnings. Yoder is an associate professor at the University of Nebraska and also works with AgrAbility, a Purdue Univer...