Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Cheryl Anderson Ranchers who use prescribed burns to control invasive plant species on their pastures could soon receive some help from above. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a prototype unmanned aerial vehicle — commonly called a drone — capable of safely igniting prescribed burns. Developed at UNL’s Nebraska Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems […]

By: Russ Quinn Jason Schielke, an IT specialist for Frahm Farmland in Colby, Kansas, is a patient person. It’s a good thing he is: Wireless data transfers from the field can take time where Internet connectivity is weak. “We have spotty coverage here through the cellular service which John Deere uses,” Schielke told DTN. “We […]

By: Dan Miller You may have seen the low-profile Thunder Creek fuel trailers out in the field feeding fuel-hungry tractors and combines. Thunder Creek has upped its game with a new Fuel Service Trailer (FST) line. The FST line is three, fuel service trailers with the capacity for 500, 750 and 990 gallons of diesel […]

By: Marcia Taylor Steve Hess may be the grandfather of nine, but when it comes to farming, he is a millennial at heart. In fact, Hess, his wife Phyllis and their son Marcus are adopting cutting-edge technology this season they hope will help lift their Bushnell, Illinois, grain yields and profit margins through 2016 and […]

  By: Victoria G. Myers Some Midwestern corn and soybean producers may want to get into the cattle business, but with land still averaging more than $8,000 an acre, it’s impossible to pencil in a profit using traditional methods. Jeff Morse, Council Bluffs, Iowa, did that math a few years back, and he couldn’t make […]

By: Farm Progress,Nebraska Farmer Farmers markets in Nebraska are a great opportunity for vegetable and fruit growers in the state to sell to consumers seeking locally produced products. “We continue to see considerable growth in the number of farmers markets in the state, and don’t expect that trend to end anytime as consumer demand for […]

By: Rosalie Trump Last week, I wrote an article about the racoon problem we’ve had on our farm and the live traps we’ve used to catch some of them. We have been using marshmallows as bait, which some people have great success with, but so far the only thing I’ve caught using marshmallows is barn […]

By: David Ekstrom In recent years, the popularity of storage has grown as farmers have taken advantage of higher commodity prices. Yet, only a small percentage of today’s bins are equipped with technology to protect a farmer’s investment. Laurie Bedord talks with IntelliFarms about its current automated bin technology. Then Dave Mowitz heads to an […]

By: Agronomy Insider How Resistance Spreads Surprised at how a field full of herbicide-resistant weeds results? It had its origins years earlier. Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, as the old Cole Porter song goes. So why can’t waterhemp (or weeds) do it? That last line probably isn’t funny if […]

By: Ray Bohacz Successful Farming Engine Man Ray Bohacz has engine grease and field dirt under his fingernails from a life spent repairing vehicles and running a farm. When he’s not busy in the shop, he’s working on maintenance articles and videos for Successful Farming magazine and answering questions from readers. The following is a letter […]