Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Chelsea Dinterman Stuart Mager is no stranger to agriculture. He’s been passionate about farm-ing since childhood. “I would have rather driven a tractor than go to school,” he says. Inspired by their grandfathers, Stuart and his brother, Drew, are now the fourth generation to operate the family farm near Rockville, Indiana. “Stuart and his […]

By: Successful Farming Staff q What’s going on in the weed world right now, why are farmers having to look at these more creative weed management tactics? a Yeah so the weed side world & the weed control spectrum as far as growers are concerned is always evolving, probably due to the evolvement of resistance […]

By: Karen Jones CES started in 1967 with 250 exhibitors and has grown to showcase the latest technology from more than 3,000 companies. While I only had time to scratch the surface of the show, I was able to see some interesting exhibits to keep an eye on for agriculture. On-road trucking technology Walking into […]

By: Alex Gray Yarbo, a company developing multi-purpose, autonomous yard cleaning robots, has announced the launch of the Yarbo Snow Blower S1. Yarbo started development of the autonomous snow blower in 2017 and went through five years of development ahead of the launch of the beta version in 2022. Following the beta, Yarbo raised $3.45 […]

By: Karen Jones & Dave Mowitz Planter maintenance is one of the most important things you can do to set your crops up for success. Variations in ideal spacing and depth can cause a corn yield loss anywhere from 7-25 bushels an acre, according to an AGCO study. Spending time servicing your planter during the […]

By: Megan Schilling Since inheriting their northeast Iowa family farm in 2009, Carol Bouska, Peg Bouska, Ann Novak, and Sally McCoy have forged a future for the land and the next generations by establishing a strong vision and defined goals. While none of them live on Highland Farm today, it is the family’s heart and […]

By: Mark McLaughlin Problem: Our off-farm children want to inherit land and rent it to our farming son; do we really need farm succession planning? Our son farms with us and has grown our operation. Our other three children say they will keep their share of the land and just rent it back to him. […]

By: Myron Friesen PROBLEM In our current plan, we give our farming child an option to buy out their three siblings for 80% of fair market value on a contract. Our 800 acres were worth about $8,000 an acre when we did that, and now they are $15,000 per acre. The terms of the contract […]

By: Laurie Bedord From an early age, Grant Hilbert was determined to one day become a farmer. He also thought it would take decades to raise the capital necessary to realize that dream. Playing video games on YouTube would help the Iowa native achieve that goal much sooner than he anticipated. “Today, the cost to […]

By: Mark McLaughlin My parents are in their 70s and own 1,200 acres. I have two off-farm siblings. Every time I talk about farm succession, Mom says, “I’m sure everyone will just get along.” Dad jokes, “Just let ’em fight it out!” Dad suffered a heart attack last spring, and we’re not laughing anymore. Our […]