Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Paula Barbour On his last Christmas break from school, Alvin Homier, 15, didn’t play a lot of video games. Instead, in one week of working full days, he built a rolling steel storage rack for his dad’s farm and commercial shop. Homier used mainly scrap metal for materials: two old harrows, scrap rasp bars, […]

By: Raylene Nickel Hettinger, North Dakota, ranchers Sean and Kat Weinert learned at the outset of their ranching career that they would have to ignore the negative outside messages boxing them in if they were going to have a fighting chance at opening the doors to a life of ranching. For Sean, who grew up […]

By: Harlen Persinger Dave Barlogio’s touchstone of tradition is a Cat 30 that’s not very pretty to look at. For Barlogio, though, the crawler embodies the memory of his grandfather, Giacomo (James), and his wife, Angelica. The Cat 30, the Paso Robles, California, farmer points out, has anchored this operation since the day it came […]

By: Megan Vollstedt With a resurgence of soil health practices on the farm, ag tech companies are seizing the opportunity to dive deep into soil health data to measure the productivity of soil in real time. Yet, testing for soil health is still relatively new and complicated. Shane Bugeja, Extension educator with the University of […]

By: Dave Mowitz That LED lights provide superior illumination on machinery is testified to by the fact that most manufacturers are equipping their high-horsepower tractors, combines, self-propelled sprayers, and forage harvesters with this lighting either as standard or optional equipment. The popularity of upgrading older machinery to LEDs is rapidly growing due to the myriad […]

By: Laurie Bedord It can be difficult to justify the cost of technology when commodity prices are low. However, experts say it’s actually the best time to invest. “When crop prices are low, farmers tend to freeze all spending – even on technology,” says Guillermo Perez-Iturbe, marketing director for Trimble Agriculture. “However, that can be […]

By: Myron Friesen At 63, I have started planning in my head, but I don’t have the legal documents done. Sometimes when I’m in the tractor doing fieldwork, I try to dream up the perfect plan for my retirement and farm distribution. My wife laughs at me when I list everything off. Here are the […]

By: Paula Barbour Preferring not to use herbicide to kill his cover crops, Stephen Aberle built a roller that terminates rye, triticale, and oats. The rolls are mounted with hydraulic cylinders. Extending six cylinders about two thirds of the way allows the rolls to flex to follow the contour of his terraced land. At 40 […]

By: Successful Farming Every spring for the past century, ranches have set out to gear up for the annual prescribed burn season. Here’s a look at how and why pasture land in the Flint Hills is managed this way. Read More

By: Jodi Henke Technology is always changing in agriculture and the next phase can help alleviate labor shortages, give farmers volumes of information, and increase food production. Engineers and students at Kansas State University are developing prototypes of robots that will serve specific purposes in crop production. Read More