Pivotal Issues Blog

By Russ Quinn When I was kid, my dad and uncle farmed a farm that was owned by one of my great-aunts. Everything else they farmed was in the typical rolling hills of eastern Nebraska, but this particular farm was in the bottoms of the nearby Elkhorn River valley. They farmed it for many decades […]

By Don Jenkins Idaho’s agriculture director, Celia Gould, told a House subcommittee Tuesday that distant federal agencies frequently foil Western states by issuing top-down orders, undermining carefully crafted homegrown policies. “This pattern has to change,” said Gould, chairwoman of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Gould was one of several witnesses who testified […]

By Tim Hearden ORLAND, Calif. — Almond growers in California expect to produce a 2 billion pound crop this year, a nearly 6 percent increase from 2015, according to a government report. The National Agricultural Statistics Service cites a robust almond blossom in forecasting a yield of 2,220 pounds per acre, up 4.7 percent from […]

By Ching Lee Thanks to improved rainfall and recovering reservoirs, farmers in Northern California say they are back to planting a more-normal amount of rice this season, after water shortages forced them to reduce production the last two years. But the additional plantings come as the global rice market is struggling, with large supplies weighing […]

By Terry Munz We haven’t had much rain this year. I grow a forage mix for the horse market—mainly grain and hay. I’m cutting it right now. I’m probably going to cut about half of what I planted. It’s pretty poor, even that. Last year wasn’t too bad, but for the last five years, it’s […]

By Dan Miller Rural crime costs farmers and their insurance companies more than $5 billion a year. Popular targets for theft are livestock, timber, saddles and tack, chemicals and fertilizer. Equipment tops the wish list for enterprising thieves. There is a rich market for stolen equipment in the United States, Mexico and even overseas in […]

By Paula Mohr Honey bee colonies for operations with five or more colonies in Minnesota as of January 1, 2016 totaled 37,000 colonies, according to the Minnesota Field Office of USDA’s National Ag Statistics Service. This is 32% above the 28,000 colonies on January 1, 2015. However, by the end of the first quarters in […]

By Jim Ochterski Old habits die hard. Sometimes they don’t ever die, even if they come at an obvious cost. Author Douglas Adams wrote three principles about new technologies that could fit most farm CEO’s looking into new management technologies for farm operations: Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and […]

By Aimee Cope Kubota Corporation said Friday that it plans to buy Great Plains Manufacturing Inc., of Salina, Kansas. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but once final, the purchase will include all five Great Plains divisions, including: Great Plains Ag, Land Pride, Great Plains International, Great Plains Trucking and Great Plains Acceptance […]

By Greg Peterson Everywhere I go, traveling through the U.S. and Canada covering the used farm equipment market, I run into amazing people and amazing stories. Hard working, creative folks who often times find a better way of doing something and quite often do special things for their friends, neighbors or customers. Guys like Joe […]