Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Jon Stika If you have spent any amount of time around a 3-year-old child, you know that their favorite question is, “Why?” A young child asks this question over and over in order to understand everything in the world around them because everything is new to them. As we mature, we begin to take […]

By: Avinash Nehemiah More than 9 million square miles of the Earth’s surface is covered by farm land. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, neither Europe nor North America have much room for agricultural expansion. With the population expected to grow from today’s 7.6 billion to a staggering 9.8 billion […]

By: Cindy Zimmerman The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) has launched the Monarch Fueling Station Project to help ethanol and biodiesel producers across the state establish monarch butterfly habitats on green spaces surrounding their plants. “Because of their migratory patterns, monarchs need small patches of habitat throughout the state,” said IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw. […]

By: Gene Johnston Do you check your rain gauge every day? Then here’s a feel-good job for you: Be a precipitation reporter for a national network called Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network – CoCoRaHS for short. This network of rain, hail, and snow observers is now 20,000 strong, and it is the largest […]

By: Tina M. Johnson Nitrogen is an important and expensive input for corn production, with fertilizer expenses including nitrogen comprising 37 to 45 percent of annual total operating expenses for corn in the United States between 2010 and 2016. Researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture studied the effects of replacing ammonium nitrate fertilizer […]

By: Natalina Sents Dicamba news dominated headlines in December. Here’s a recap of what you need to know about the weed killer. Monsanto Co will give cash back to U.S. farmers who buy a weed killer that has been linked to widespread crop damage, offering an incentive to apply its product even as regulators in […]

By: Dave Mowitz In 1912, John Deere faced a huge challenge. While the company was highly successful producing implements and resided as the number one manufacturer of plows in the world, it lacked a tractor to complete its product lineup. The pressure from dealers to include a tractor to that equipment line was considerable. The […]

By: Successful Farming Rob and Christy Leeds of Ostrander, Ohio, know a thing or two about teaching kids and adults about agriculture. Both have day jobs as Extension educators with Ohio State University. Christy guides 4-H and youth development programs for Union County, while Rob helps farmers in Delaware County learn about farm management, direct […]

By: Dave Mowitz The advent of tractors in the Deere family brought with it the desire on Charles Wiman’s part to raise the bar for harvesting machines. Wiman, Deere’s president, asked his engineers to create a homegrown combine that fit the needs of the average farmer in the Midwest. At this time, the market was […]

By: Dave Mowitz In March 2015, I was covering a Ritchie Bros. auction outside of Chicago, Illinois. On occasion, the auctioneer calling the sale would mention where the buyer for a piece of equipment was located. I particularly remember that when it came to the sale of large construction equipment, he would mention it was […]