Pivotal Issues Blog

By Tom Bechman One year ago by this time, there was lots of chatter about disease across most of the east-central Corn Belt. There are some reports this year, especially of northern corn leaf blight in some areas. But based on the Crop Watch ’16 field, located on the same farm and a mile away […]

By Farm Progress Kansas Farmer Hot, wet weather like Kansas has seen for the last month is good for plant growth. But it also helps pests flourish and evidence of that abounds in corn and alfalfa fields across Kansas. Kansas State University and Extension crop specialists are observing insect pests currently in Kansas, including potato leafhoppers, […]

By: Sonja Begemann Foreign government approvals hold up U.S.-approved technology Think back to the biotech revolution of the mid-90s to now. Today, more than 90% of corn and soybean acres are planted to biotech crops, many of which are stacked with multiple biotech traits. It’s hard to believe the technology didn’t exist for farmers for […]

By Robert Coats USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service 2016 U.S. harvested acreage projections released June 30 demonstrate the productive capacity of U.S. rice, cotton, and grain producers. Long-grain rice – second largest in current 11 years at 2.449 million acres (Chart 18). Soybeans – largest on record at 83.037 million acres (Chart 22). Cotton – fourth […]

By Bruce Anderson, Nebraska Extension Forage Specialist Rained-on hay plagues all of us eventually. This year maybe more than usual. The “windrow disease” that often follows presents lingering problems. Windrow disease—that’s the name I give to the striped appearance in fields where alfalfa windrows remained so long that regrowth was delayed. Usually it’s due to […]

By Paul Bergener Cost of production budgets with the ability to make changes on the fly will offer farmers flexibility when doing cash flow planning this winter. Historically, crop budgets have been a static publication that could be used to get a rough idea of costs on a farm, but could not be easily manipulated […]

By Tyne Morgan On the cusp of suburbia, in the middle of fertile farmland, you can find Christy Kirtley cutting hay and raising cattle. “For us to put fence posts through black dirt, I think they thought we were going crazy to be honest with you,” she says. That didn’t stop them from striving to […]

By Paul Bergener Combines may be the most expensive of all the machines used on many farms, and are used for fewer days than much of the machinery inventory. Some farm owners, while exploring alternative revenue streams such as new casinos not on GamStop 2025, still recognize that the decision to purchase or forgo a […]

By Farm Futures This year’s high grain prices make your bottom line even more sensitive to yield losses due to insects, disease or weeds. Yet, making that decision to treat can be difficult. Kevin Dhuyvetter and Doug Jardine of Kansas State University developed a spreadsheet to make your decision easier. It considers the cost of […]

By Gary Woodruff 1. Determine wet bin and dryer capacity correctly. Farmers often calculate how many bushels they harvest per hour, or the total number of bushels harvested per day divided by 24 hours. The drawback to that approach, Woodruff says, is that it’s difficult for a dryer to run consistently every day for 24 hours. […]