Jerry Carlson

It is the start of a brand new year and many areas with agriculture start with a clean slate. In many realms the slate is not clean and there are more unknowns that normal. There are lots of supply chain and input supply questions that we may not have final answers on or about until […]

Historically, independent farm families have always provided the backbone of freedom and democracy in America. Yet today, many of our farm-based friends tell us their greatest anxiety is not making a profit, it’s the divisive dictates pouring out of Washington. These mandates divide us, discourage us, and threaten to disable us. Your neighbor may say, “But I can’t do anything

Prices for most ag chemicals and fertilizer are soaring. But our WakeUP price from March 1 through the 2022 season remains unchanged: $90 per gallon in 2.5-gal. jugs. We’ve been able to keep WakeUP profitable for you since 2009 by enhancing our efficiency and volume.  It gets even better for you: Pre-season orders paid by

As 2022 opens, an encouraging sight here in northeast Iowa is bright green cover-crop fields scattered among fall-tilled cornfields and bare fields of soybean stubble. Our guess is about five out of 100 fields of corn or soybeans were planted to covers this fall. Mostly cereal rye. January 3, 2022:  When we encourage our WakeUP clients to

On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev signed a pact officially dissolving the Soviet Union and ending his role as President of the USSR. I was in Moscow that December. I’d planned to report how Russia intended to privatize 700 million acres of communist-controlled farmland. Instead, I filed Pro farmer reports on the USSR’s catastrophic collapse. December 30, 2021 By Jerry Carlson Amid the past two years

Washington, IA ag consultant Mitchell Hora has been honored in Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 under 30” list for 2022. It’s more than a recognition for a third-generation farmer/innovator. It’s recognition of renewable farming’s potential for social and environmental impact nationwide. Dec. 21, 2021: By Jerry Carlson   Since 2019, we’ve videotaped and interviewed Mitch Hora at ag seminars. The most current

We’re guesstimating that one of our mid-Iowa WakeUP clients added at least $100 per acre to his corn profit on the strips where he spread 15 tons of dry feedlot manure last spring.  December 14, 2021 Fortunately a large feedlot is about 5 minutes away from this field, and the lot operator was willing to deliver and

We’ve emphasized that your farm or ranch is the safest refuge in a pandemic of mandated mRNA injections and lockdowns for Covid-19. Until now you haven’t been forced to take the gene-altering shots for permission to keep farming. But your reprieve could be temporary.  December 4, 2021  By Jerry Carlson  For a decade at Renewable Farming, we’ve focused on helping

Twice recently we’ve reminded farmers and ranchers that their home in the country is the best place to live and make a living in this time of tumult. One of the best affirmations of that is a Thanksgiving Day, 2018 report which I’m posting again here: November 25, 2021  By Jerry Carlson (originally written November 22, 2018)  There

These three charts of corn and soybean yields show again that excellent mineral nutrition equips corn and soybeans to cope with fungal diseases. Often, yields with mineral nutrition exceed benefits of fungicide. November 15, 2021  Iowa State University microbiologist and plant pathologist Dr. Alison Roberts conducted these three random-rep trials. The nutritional products are from Spraytec, based