In Pursuit Of Precision 

By Karl Ohm

Just a few years ago Gerald Thompson, a cash grain producer near Colfax, IL, began using a global positioning system (GPS) and auto-steer...

A Till Tale 

By Liz Morrison

Strip-tillage helped one young Minnesota farmer get started in agriculture from the ground up. Keith Landwehr grew up on a farm, but didn't have the option...

Shop-Built And Slick 

Last winter Andy Hart didn't have any luck finding a strip-till machine big enough to do what he wanted on his rolling hills...

Ethanol Fuels Land Prices 

By Susan Winsor

Would you pay $5,073 for an acre of prime Iowa farmland? That was the average November Scott County figure reported by Iowa State's annual survey of land...

More Tillage, More Profit? 

By John Pocock

The moldboard plow is making a comebackin corn-on-corn rotations with $3 corn. Yields increase significantly by using a moldboard plow in the fall...

Plant And Scout At The Same Time 

By Tyler Bruch

Editor's Note: Next in a series from Iowa farmer Tyler Bruch whose family farms 10,500 acres in Bahia, Brazil. The planting season carried on from last...

Don't Underplant 

By Edward Clark

For growers who haven't increased their corn population rates over the past five years, now might be a good time to reassess. And for two important reasons,...

Virtual Farming Comes Of Age 

By Karl Ohm

You could say John Norman has gone underground. His fascination with cause and effect has led the University of Wisconsin soil physicist to model water's...

Pioneering No-Till Chicken Litter 

Alan Newport

Jay Franklin pioneered no-till farming in his corner of northeast Oklahoma 20 years ago and now he's forging ahead with another unorthodox practice...

Letters 

(In reference to Trans Fat Debate Heats Up, page 4, November 2006.) We commend your decision to cover trans fat; this is an issue we as farmers need to...

5 Ways To Trim Fertilizer Costs 

By James Ritchie

Going for broke may not always be the most policy when it comes to nitrogen (N). But keep in mind that you need a certain minimum amount of fertilizer...

Wishing Virtual Prices Were Real 

By Larry Stalcup

MarketMaxx was played by about 5,000 people in 2006. Chris Schnell was one of them and relied on the game to help guide him through volatile market moves...

Brazil's Ear Pressure 

By James Thompson

Jos Joaquim Rodrigues, 52, says it's a good year to plant corn in Brazil. Last year he produced 75 hectares, but this year, he's planted more than 250...

Sizing Up Glyphosate Complaints 

By David Howe

What's behind grower complaints that glyphosate has lost some of its over the past five or six years? Many growers who have used it alone for weed control...

And The MarketMaxx Winners Are 

By Larry Stalcup & Greg Lamp

From a grower also running for the state legislature to another with interest in a forklift business, winners in MarketMaxx 2006 had a host of backgrounds...

More Spores? 

By Doreen Muzzi

One plant pathologist likens Asian soybean rust to other potentially devastating crop diseases and says the threat remains, despite recent history...

What I Do For Fun 

By Rick Mooney

No doubt about it. Managing a 3,200-acre cropping operation and 1,200-cow dairy can be a pressure-packed job. When Blake Heller, Alma Center, WI, finds frustrations...

Keeping Your Options Open 

By Edward Clark

Many farmers could increase their profitability by using options in a less conventional way. That's the view of Richard Brock...

Bullish On Beans? 

By Larry Stalcup

With the wild run-up in corn markets recently, not too many have been excited about soybean prices. But Walt Traudt is optimistic about beans, at least...

Triple-Stacked In Your Favor 

By John Pocock

Although costlier than other seed corn choices, triple-stacked transgenic hybrids proved worth the added expense for Craig Weber...

Soy2020 Sets Sights On Future 

By Greg Lamp

When you think about strategic planning, most of us now have been trained to think pretty short term. In today's business world, looking two years out...

Get A GRIP On Risk 

By Tim McKim

Crop revenue insurance has swept across corn and soybean country since debuting 10 years ago. According to the Risk Management Agency (RMA), more than...

Rethinking Nitrogen 

By Liz Morrison

Forget the old rule of thumb: 1.2 lbs. of N/bu. of expected yield, minus credits for soybeans. That approach has been discarded. The latest nitrogen...

Get Green, Grow Green, Stay Green 

By Moe Russell

In last month's column I began a discussion about future trends I see in production agriculture and how you can position yourself to capitalize on them...

Too Much Of A Good Thing 

By Doug McInnis

Few things have taken off like the ethanol industry. The number of ethanol production plants has almost doubled from 50 to 97 since 1999, and 33 more...