September 2015

Our concern now with these non-GMO Pioneer 92M72 beans planted May 30 is: When are they going to quit pushing new pods and begin to senesce? We asked our consultant, Bob Streit, that question today. “Don’t worry. There are a lot of pods, the pods are full. They’ve been given plenty of nutrition and they

AgWeb is currently reporting a University of Missouri study released last year documenting how a flowering plant sharply increased its production of mustard oils when it “hears” the sound of a chewing caterpillar.  Caterpillar on leaf The university release includes a brief video which replays the sound, so you can hear what the plant hears. The plant

From Sept. 11 through the end of September, the juxtaposition of so many prophetic or unique global events crowd these days that you’re probably seeing a burst of “prepper” warnings…  draw all your cash from the bank… stock up food.. major shock… debt collapse. Our view is that whatever happens, a farm family anchored on good land

Sept. 10 — Reports from southeast Iowa through central Illinois signaled that corn and soybeans are dying prematurely, at a rapid pace. Several agronomists offer reasons why: Warm weather, shallow rooting from a wet spring, early planting and thus early maturity. We could see yield estimates backing off. And, if corn is infected with the

Cornfields are “dying down” along Interstate 80 through Illinois and Iowa — with some exceptions. Those which are still a vibrant green from base leaves to tassel are typically fields fed late-season nitrogen.  One of the more effective ways to feed substantial amounts of 28% or 32% nitrogen is the “Y-Drop” setup: A ground sprayer

For the first time, farmers and other citizens are gaining a glimpse of the backchannel influences orchestrated by the big biotech firms. Part of the story broke Sept. 5 in a front-age New York Times feature by Eric Lipton: “Food Industry Enlisted Academics in G.M.O. Lobbying War, Emails Show.” Lipton wrote his feature based on emails and

On Sept. 4, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment published a “Notice of Intent” to list glyphosate and three other ag chemicals as known to cause cancer.  Such a listing would not bar use of the chemicals, but would require a warning label.  The details of the agency’s intended rule are shown on the state’s

Through the 1970s, media alarmists were warning the world that atmospheric pollution would soon propel our globe into a new Ice Age.  The “news” headlines grew successively more terrifying until about 1979, when a decade of very inconclusive temperature trends wore out the public’s willingness to listen to warnings about the wolf of global cooling.  The