New Tractors 

McCormick International USA has expanded its XTX series tractors with the new XTX 145 (142 hp/139 pto hp) and XTX 165 (165 hp/155 pto hp). Both models...

What I do for Fun: Clowning Around 

By Karen Bernick

A smile spreads across a young girl's face as Yancy leans in for a hug. Nearby, a boy waves his arms in excitement as he toots Danno's gold, glinty horn...

Macromanaging Micronutrients 

By Jen Bennett

While more bushels of corn may be a boon to the pocketbook, are they harming the soil? Not really, according to Emerson Nafziger, Extension agronomist...

Largest Biodiesel Plant Opens 

Compiled By Jen Bennett

The biodiesel industry has come of age with the opening of Imperium Renewables' 100-million-gallon-per-year (mgy) biodiesel facility. The Grays Harbor, WA, plant will meet or exceed...

Big Jump In Our Acreage 

By Tyler Bruch

The last time I wrote about Brazil was nearly five months ago, and a lot has changed and happened since then. Soybean harvest here finished up around the end of April; we had perfect weather at harvesttime, and only a few days of rain kept us out of the field...

Dare To Share 

By Liz Morrison

Iowa farmers Roger Zylstra and Bryce Engbers have a simple formula for efficiency: they share. Engbers and Zylstra have been sharing machinery and labor for more than 20 years...

Corn Ethanol In The Crosshairs 

By John Pocock

U.S. corn growers have some odd allies and uncharacteristic opponents in their efforts to maintain or expand the nation's ethanol production...

New Friends, New Fuel 

By James Thompson

The food vs. fuel game has everyone dashing to take sides. On the pro-ethanol side, there's George Bush and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying ethanol is a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil...

Higher Nitrogen Prices 

Compiled By Jen Bennett

Further increases in natural gas prices could lead to a continuous decline in U.S. ammonia production, and a further increase in ammonia imports, USDA...

Global Financial Meltdown 

By Alan Kluis

Farm prices and profits have been impacted by the recent volatility in global equity markets, but there may be a silver lining. The August crash in the sub-prime mortgage...

Ethanol Production and Use Increasing 

Compiled By Jen Bennett

Ethanol demand in California is expected to nearly double. The California Air Resources Board has resolved that all gas sold in the state contain at least 10% ethanol...

One-Man Harvesting 

By Larry Stalcup

In a year when corn acres are up and cotton acres are down by 20%, new combines can be slim pickins'. But cotton pickers, well, there might be some good bargains out there...

Exploding Myths About Ethanol 

By Ron Lamberty; American Coalition for Ethanol

Ever been hit up about ethanol questions you couldn't quite answer or defend? For example, mainstream media often questions the economic and environmental feasibility of ethanol. Here are some rebuttals that will help you explain the other side of these arguments...

Farmland - Worth Its Weight In Gold 

By Richard Brock

That statement could be close to correct. The rocket ship ride in farmland values over the last five years has many investors, analysts and farmers scratching their heads as to whether this trend can continue...

Minnesota Mandates B20 Biodiesel 

Compiled By Jen Bennett

Minnesota hopes to boost the level of biodiesel sold there from 2% today to 20% by 2015. Governor Tim Pawlenty will bring this B2 to B20 plan to the legislature...

Prices Keep Swinging 

By Larry Stalcup

With an average price swing of up to 20 a day in corn futures, getting the 2007 crop marketed has been a chore for Ross Porter, his son, Curt, and other...

Signed, Sealed, Delivered 

By Larry Stalcup

It's September 2006. Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures starts moving up, something uncommon at harvest. They push $3/bu. for '07, '08 and even '09...

Options Are For Beans 

By Larry Stalcup

John McFarland usually isn't sold on using options to market soybeans. But with $8/bu. on the table and the chance for higher prices in early 2008, he changed his mind this year...

Ohio: 0 to 394 MGY 

Compiled By Jen Bennett

Ohio is the only major corn-producing state without any operating ethanol plants. Next year, though, up to five corn-based plants are expected to come online in the state...

Strips Prove Profitable 

By John Pocock

Strip-till corn yields often are equal to or better than yields from corn grown under other common tillage systems, according to university research conducted...

Don't Back Off On Low Cost 

By Greg Lamp, Editor

You'd think $4 or even $3.50/bu. corn would allow you to sit back, kick your feet up and enjoy the ride. Hardly. The more responsible reaction, experts say...

Southern Corn 

By Larry Stalcup

Pray for rain. If you're a southern farmer without irrigation, or in some cases with, that's about the best advice Jean and Jeff Davis can give those who've foregone cotton in favor of the higher profit potential yielder corn...

Tried And True Cotton Marketing 

By Larry Stalcup

Sell your cotton and buy calls. That's a strategy that has been successful time and time again, says Joe O'Neill, New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) senior vice president of marketing...

Set Specific Goals And Objectives 

By Moe Russell

In the April issue we outlined how planning can help transform organizations to what they want to be if the plan is simple and useful. To do that...

Distilled Gains: Ethanol's Top 10 Winners 

By John Pocock

An enormous expansion in the U.S. ethanol industry has helped to strengthen and invigorate America's heartland. Ethanol investors, cropland owners, row-crop...