MONROE, NC – When you farm close to 12,000 acres of double cropped corn, wheat and beans, you have to pay close attention to every detail. When you raise several varieties of those crops – with each variety demanding its own management approach – you’ve got to be focused and attentive. Driven and de...

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) summer business meeting recently took place in Reno, NV, providing an opportunity for representatives from throughout the nation to discuss issues affecting the beef industry. Colin Woodall, NCBA CEO, said the summer meeting is about developing policy...

Weather, pests, diseases, finances, equipment breakdowns, family dynamics – farmers have plenty of sources of stress. Although it’s not possible to eliminate them all, farmers can mitigate the effects of stress through stress management tools. PA Farm Link recently hosted Jennifer Schwytzer, a NY Fa...

In an effort to combat high inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates – again. As of July 27, federal interest rates are now set to a range of2.25% to 2.5%, which is much higher than their near-zero setting at the start of 2022 but still probably low enough to stoke the economy, accor...

If you haven’t had labor issues in the past 24 months, you will, but a lot of autonomous equipment is coming down the pike for smaller farms, not just those with thousands of acres. That’s according to Mark Ledebuhr, principal of Application Insight LLC, an organization focused on the design and eva...

There are many tools to help manage the birds that can damage a farmer’s crops. With help from Dr. Page Klug, a research wildlife biologist with the USDA National Wildlife Research Center, we are offered a plethora of suggestions as to how to make it work safely. According to Klug, “successful bird ...

There are plenty of unwritten rules among those who live in farming communities, and one involves what neighbors do when livestock end up somewhere other than their home farm. Perhaps a tree fell on a fence, a gate was left unlatched or lightning hit the fence charger. Animals find their way out, th...

Those who attended the North American Manure Expo recently in Chambersburg, PA, had a unique opportunity to learn about an important topic they hope will never happen. Robb Meinen, Penn State, and Jerry Clark, University of Wisconsin, tag-teamed to present a real-time scenario on how to manage a man...

It’s that time of year when you hear “It’s really hot and dry out there” and “I hope we get some rain soon.” In many regions of the Northeast, extended dry periods have been commonplace in 2022, interrupted by a quick-hitting batch of rain (in some cases, a deluge event). However, these stressful ti...