One of the most instructive websites for tracking solar cycles is SpaceWeatherLive.com. This link takes you to a page showing historic solar cycles. The general guideline is that Earth’s global temperatures often turn cooler in prolonged periods of low sunspot activity, an index of solar magnetic storms. Less incoming geomagnetic energy wraps around our planet during those […]

Just over 50 years ago on a story assignment, I thought I’d discovered an Illinois farmer who had the answer to farming’s toughest problems. My senior editors gently brushed the story aside. “Too radical.” November 16, 2018  By Jerry Carlson — It was summer, 1964. My first field trip for Farm Journal led me to

This fall’s “data harvest” of field trial results is proving as frustrating for researchers as the too-dry, then too-wet season was for farmers. Wide yield differences across test strips and plots imposed such data variance that discerning effects of treatments was often futile. November 16, 2018 — We’ve contended with plot variability for over a decade. Finding a statistically significant 5-bu.

Over the years, we’ve commissioned research agronomist James Porterfield for several field tests into the performance of WakeUP products. He’s a thorough field trial designer and analyst. One of his passions is finding the “perfect soil” — with emphasis on the mineral analysis. November 14, 2018 — But this week, Jim sent us a research

Germans, Swiss and other Europeans have always managed their forests thoughtfully. They see forestry as a foundation of environmental health and a precious resource. Perhaps the U.S. Forest Service and other forest managers could adapt a German technique — Hugelkultur — into a tool for enhancing American forest wildlife, improving timber production, and managing wildfires. November 13, 2018 — Gardeners

A 25-bu. soybean yield gain resulting from any kind of product catches your attention. When the product is an inoculant, that’s hard to believe. But in this case, the University of Guelph shows this result from the average of 18 replications of the inoculant, compared with 6 replications of untreated control plots. The numbers: 62.6 bu.

Gardens used to be the world’s most-tilled, “flowerpot seedbed” patches of dirt. Now, as biological knowledge multiplies and organic home-grown food enthusiasm spreads, gardeners are looking for ways to aerate soil without molesting the mycorrhizal fungi down under. November 8, 2018  By Jerry Carlson — Our 20-acre Renewable Farming farm has essentially been converted from

Here’s another benefit from growing a wide array of cover crops in your no-till or minimum tillage system: That deep-rooted network reaching down from multiple cover species builds a firmer soil profile. When your combine and grain cart absolutely, positively must get through before corn goes down, you can roll. Even through standing water. November 5, 2018  By Jerry Carlson —

Consulting agronomist Bob Streit describes the fungal invasion of many Midwest soybean fields, and suggests some remedial answers for healthier crops in future seasons. Oct. 31, 2018   By Bob Streit — The latest NASS figures tell that corn harvest still has about 40% left to go. Bean harvest is further along and with the shorter