Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Jodi Henke We’ve been talking about the extreme shortage of new and used machinery all year and how hard it is to find what you’re looking for. There are some pieces of equipment on dealer’s lots – but just some. And good luck finding anything at auction. Dave Mowitz is the executive machinery editor […]

By: Dave Mowitz A $20 million problem resides in combine engine compartments, warns John Shutske of the University of Wisconsin. Most combine fires start in the engine compartment, he explains. These fires appear to be on the rise, possibly due to the increased age of combines as a result of lower new harvester sales since […]

By: Jodi Henke Harvest machinery is getting larger and heavier, which means an increased risk of compacting the soil as it travels through the field. Soil compaction has a significant impact on water infiltration, root development, and even yield losses the next year. Jodi Dejong-Hughes is a regional extension educator at the University of Minnesota. […]

By: Jodi Henke Combines are impressive machines. Following harvest of an individual field, as much as 150 pounds of biomaterial is captured, including chaff, grain, and weed seed from escapes that made it through the season. Once the weed seeds go through your machine, you’re unintentionally planting next year’s weed crop. Angie Johnson is the […]

By: Laurie Bedord In the past 50 years, more than 900 instances of grain engulfment have been reported, according to researchers at Purdue University. Of those incidents, 62% were fatal. In 2020, grain entrapments led to 20 deaths. “It only takes seconds, or a simple mistake, for an adult to sink in the quicksand-like flow […]

By: Todd Janzen Farmers are given many reasons to collect ag data about their farming practices, but using that data in court is rarely one of them. However, at a recent trial about crop damage, we proved just how useful ag data can be to help a court understand complex multi-year, multi-field farming operations. Our […]

By: Dave Mowitz Take a look at these three Midwest farm shops after undergoing innovative structural changes that improve working conditions for their owners. Raise-the-roof Remodel Nathan Todd is one of those people who makes a first-rate make-do engineer. The Madrid, Iowa, farmer wanted a shop and found the structure he needed in a post-and-beam […]

By: Raylene Nickel After earning a master’s degree in engineering, Kate Edwards, Iowa City, Iowa, did an about-face on career choice and decided what she wanted most for her life’s work was farming. She’d come to love it while spending time with her farmer-grandparents as a kid. But she’d grown up thinking farming was out […]

By: Jodi Henke The old, wooden barn that’s been on your family’s land for decades is a relic of the past and has emotional value. However, after years of standing up to the brutal forces of Mother Nature and possibly neglect, it’s showing its age and a decision needs to be made. Do you tear […]

By: Chuck Abbott While U.S. farmers spent several years in the doldrums, agriculture in the rest of the world “appears to be in a sustained period of prosperity dating to the early 2000s,” said agricultural economist Carl Zulauf of Ohio State University. Growers overseas have steadily expanded the amount of land harvested for grains and […]