Wheat needs technological investments to ensure long-term sustainability
For thousands of years, wheat has been relied on as a key crop due to its versatility, nutritional value, and ability to be grown across a variety of climates and conditions. Even though overall wheat production gains have fallen behind corn and rice in recent years, wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in [...]
Wagner Farms Focuses on Flexibility & the Future
Seeing the presentation farmer & rancher Val Wagner gave at the #140conf Small Town, some people naturally wondered about her farm. She took a little time to give me an overview of Wagner Farms (Monango, ND) after our presentations were completed. I wanted to hear how she and Mark ran their farm. And I wondered [...]
Why would a farmer or rancher create a blog?
The title of this post is a question I’ve been asked several times. It seems people don’t understand what would lead a farmer to set up and maintain a blog. That sort of writing and content creation used to be the sort of thing communications professionals laid claim to. The process seemed intimidating to others. [...]
Video: Passion for Sustainable Squash & Supporting Growers
Bill Johnson is a breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. He breeds squash for key vegetable markets around the globe. Bill explains the importance of breeding squash to meet different cultural expectations and shares his lifelong passion for squash, which equals the passion he sees from vegetable growers who are committed to producing the best possible products.
Video: Sustainable Tomato Breeding Helps Meet Demand
James Frantz is a tomato breeder. He gives us some background on the popularity of the tomato and how this popularity makes for challenging opportunities to help tomato growers meet constant demand by providing them the agriculture tools to grow consistent, sustainable products across various season and geographies. Disease resistance is one of those important sustainable agriculture tools.
What Can Farmers & Small Towns Gain Through Social Media?
More than 100 million people are said to be using Twitter. With all the buzz around the service – challenges about how many followers people have, tweeted photos appearing on the big screen in major stadiums, and every business having a twitter icon on their homepage – one would have to wonder what would small [...]
Farmers Learning from Each Other
I happened to be in one of the fields Johnny Dodson farms near Four Points, Tennessee with soybean farmers from the Midwest who came down south to see the issues on weed resistance that Johnny and his neighbors are facing.
What’s a Farmer to Do When Weed Resistance Threatens the Farm?
In a previous post, we learned a bit about Johnny Dodson and his Halls, Tennessee farm. In that post, things at the farm may have seemed idyllic. As he talked, the birds chirped and all seemed right with the world. But reality is, Johnny is in the epicenter of weed resistance. Having grown 30 crops [...]
On the Farm with Tennessee Farmer Johnny Dodson
This trip was long overdue. I’ve been lucky enough to talk to Halls, Tennessee farmer Johnny Dodson several times before – I vividly remember some Midwestern soybean farmers borrowing a cotton boll to show Johnny he wasn’t the only cotton person in Kansas City for a meeting and other chances to talk with him about [...]
Indian Farmers Producing More, Conserving More and Improving Lives with Better Technology
Through innovative technology and a partnership between farmers, Monsanto and an Indian NGO, farmers are growing more, on the same amount of land, using less seed and less water. This is improving farmer’s lives, and the lives of those in the surrounding communities.
Golden Tower Pepper Improves the Lives of 30,000 Chinese Growers
Hongge Cai is a 49-year-old Chinese grower who used to feed his family by working on a two-hectare parcel of land growing corn. He, his wife, and two sons barely survived on $2,000 a year. But switching to a hybrid pepper on their farm improved their lives-along with 30,000 others.
Impacts Flooding and Levee Breaks Have on Farms
Last May, Tennessee had flash-flooding conditions which caused some levees to break (see post and video here). We had a chance to visit Bob Walker in Somerville at the time to see how his cotton, corn and soybean farm would recuperate. Yesterday, Bob and I talked about some of the issues farmers will be facing [...]
Rain Delay Provides Weed Management Training Time
With the wet weather that’s crossing much of the middle of the country, farmers may be finding themselves in the field less than they would like. The progress that was underway has been stopped much like a rain delay in a favorite team’s baseball game. So, time normally spent on field work and planting is [...]
Biotech and Weed Resistance Learnings
This time of year is when farmers are making final decisions on cropping, seed varieties/hybrids, crop marketing and other things. With such important decisions in the balance, now is the time when farmers are making sure they have all the information available to make good decisions. Recently I had the chance to talk to the [...]
What Does a Family Farmer Know?
The following blog post was submitted to us by Glen Groth, a family farmer in Ridgeway, Minnesota who has dairy cows and raises corn & soybeans. Glen has become active on social media (@GrothFarms on Twitter) and has seen various conversations that make him want to speak up about the things he knows to be [...]
The 2010 ISAAA Report on Biotech Crops
“Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2010.” It’s a rather calm-sounding official title for an important compilation of data on what’s happening with agricultural biotechnology around the world. On Tuesday, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its annual report. This one also provides a 15-year overview, with the first biotech [...]
Purdue Study Finds Benefit to No-Till Farming
Researchers at Purdue University reported last month the results of a study on no-till farming and crop rotation – that using these practices in farm fields can significantly reduce field emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. Specifically, no-till farming – leaving crop residue on the soil and not using a tractor to turn it [...]
Industrial Farming Gives Freedom of Choice for Farmers
From Mica: I discovered my colleague, Ed Umbaugh, through Twitter a few months ago. His Twitter bio intrigued me: “Ed Umbaugh lives on a very small farm where we raise grass fed lamb. I am a Tech at a Monsanto soybean seed plant.” I asked him if he’d be willing to share insight into his [...]
Sudden Death Syndrome Making its Mark in Soybeans
I couldn’t cut it as a farmer—for a multitude of reasons—but primarily, I couldn’t stomach the business risks involved. There are risks such as weather and disease that are completely out of your hands no matter how much forethought and planning you do. It appears that U.S. soybean farmers are facing one such risk this [...]
Video: What is Center Pivot Irrigation?
Not sure how many times I’ve had people ask me about these “big spoke things” going across fields, otherwise known as a center pivot and and used in center pivot irrigation. They are definitely easier to understand if a center pivot is running. They are intriguing I admit, and with a span that covers hundreds [...]
New Corn Technologies Are Taking Down Some Major Pests
If you ask many corn farmers, aside from weather, pests are at the top of the list of factors that hurt their yields. Corn Earworm, Fall Armyworm, and Western Bean Cutworm can all impact yields due to destruction of corn kernels. Lucky for these corn farmers, scientists like the ones at Monsanto are working hard [...]
A Young Alabama Farmer’s Lifelong Balancing Act
By Jillian Very few college students look forward to waking up early on the weekends. Even fewer look forward to waking up to a day of manual labor in the humidity and in nearly 100 degree weather. My fiancé, Jared Etress,doesn’t mind waking up early—or working. Born and raised in Southeast Alabama, farming has always [...]
Video: Managing Glyphosate Resistant Pigweed – A Success Story
Field days are part of the rural landscape. There are various sorts throughout the summer and for me, they are just getting started. A field day is an opportunity to get a number of people together in one place to see how things are done on a research plot or farm. My first field day [...]
A Quick Lesson in Detasseling
If you’re a farmer or farm kid, you know what detasseling is. If you’re not, this video courtesy of reporter Mike Brooks at WICS in Springfield, Ill., gives you a good background on detasseling and why seed companies like Monsanto do it. Detasseling Corn Alive and Well – Fox 55/27 Springfield, ILL This Twitter search [...]
