Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Lauren Stine When it comes to apps offering farmers assistance around the farm, it’s a downloader’s market. There are countless services launching apps offering everything from assistance with figuring out the acreage in a particular area to forage identification or record keeping. Knowing which ones are worth space on your home screen can be […]

By: Tony Bailey Many farmers gave no-till a try in the late ’80s or early ’90s. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well for most. They were told to stop tilling and plant no-till. If they did, good things would happen. For some farmers, this worked well enough and they stuck with it. However, for many it was […]

By: Dave Nanda Fall 2018 and spring and fall of 2019 were very hard on soils, causing lots of soil compaction. I saw cornfields during July and August that showed the effects of soil compaction created during the spring. It is one of the most important factors that can affect soil health and reduce yields. If […]

By: DakotaFarmer From unprecedented flooding during critical planting periods leading to delays in fall harvest to the brutal winter that battered livestock operations, 2019 was a trying time for most agricultural producers. Here are four ways cover crops can help protect our most essential natural resources: 1. Preventing soil erosion According to Sustainable Agriculture Research […]

By: Rod Swoboda Seed companies continue to strive for year-over-year yield improvement in new corn and soybean varieties. In research and development, companies continue to invest time, money and other resources to bring forth the best varieties for farmers to plant. The process has come a long way since Henry A. Wallace began crossing inbred lines, […]

By: Raylene Nickel That’s the central message Jon Stika hopes will grab the attention of everyone who reads his book, A Soil Owner’s Manual: How to Restore and Maintain Soil Health (available through Amazon). Written in his retirement, the 80-page paperback is the culmination of Stika’s 30-year career as a soil conservationist and soil health educator […]

By: Know More Grow More Cheap herbicides may sound like a bargain, but they can turn out to cost more than you think. At the end of the day, it’s not just about what you save; it’s about what you risk losing. And when you consider the cost of lower yields and the potential for […]

By: Laurie Bedford The benefits of automated steering are widely known. Yet, not all farmers operate machines that come factory-equipped with this technology. In order to provide more farmers with the opportunity to take advantage of automated steering, John Deere is expanding its AutoTrac Controller 300 to a variety of nonguidance-ready machine platforms. “This solution […]

By: Gil Gullickson If there’s any spring that farmers would like to forget, it’s 2019. Rampant rainfall in many areas made field operations downright miserable and, in some cases, impossible. So what now? Once harvest is done, 2020 beckons. To raise bumper-corn yields, farmers need a sound fertility strategy. Following are four fertility factors to keep […]

By: Jodi Henke A Florida start-up company called Anuvia is recycling a wide range of organic waste materials into high-value slow-release crop fertilizers. The process creates a pound of fertilizer for each pound of material used. Compared to conventional fertilizers, a study of the product by Environmental Resources Management says this new technology will feed crops and […]