Search results for 'AZ'

How Brazilian Big Agriculture is Destroying the Brazilian Amazon

By Maria Dampman

Published 12 months ago

The rampant deforestation of the Amazon began in the 1970s when the government of Brazil determined they needed to build over 9,000 miles of roads help integrate the rainforest with the populated bordering areas... Farmers, loggers and cattle ranchers cleared forest to create grazing land as well as to grow highly profitable crops like soy... Widespread contamination of Brazil’s soil and water, the marked decrease of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere and the extinction of countless plants and animals made scientists extremely concerned about the planet’s future... At its worst, Brazilian deforestation claimed over 11,000 square miles a year. With education, advocacy, and widespread support of the Brazilian government, the destruction of the vital forests dropped 84% to 1,700 square miles in 2012...

Direct Driller Magazine Issue 3 is out now...

By Chris Fellows

Published 5 months ago

Direct Driller Issue 3 Issue 3 Of Direct Driller magazine. The conservation agriculture magazine created by farmers for farmers... com/register/ All the magazines have been sent out to the farmers on the distribution list... 47 Grazing Cropped Land ... A PDF of the Magazine is also available to download here:...

Categories: Cover Crops

Direct Driller Magazine Issue 4 is out now

By Chris Fellows

Published 2 months ago

Direct Driller Magazine Issue 4 Direct Driller Issue 4 is out now! You can read the digital version here: Direct Driller - Issue 4 - January 2019 The first 3 issues have had a great reception and we hope that Issue 4 keeps the standard high... Here are some of the articles in the Winter edition: Soil Calcium and Soil Heath – the connection? Getting the best out of a 750A Field Pea Demonstration Trial Options to improve water-use efficiency Featured Farmer: Mark Lea Pushing Performance with Biostimulants Companion Cropping Boosts No-Till Profits Farmer Focus: Steve Lear Grazing Cropped Land Lifting Whole Farm Profits at Howick Using Temporary Electric Fencing Soil and Water Creating a Smarter Water Catchment What's most important in your soil Plowman's Folly: Part 2 Farmer Focus: Clive Bailye AHDB: Why Does Healthy Soil Matter AHDB: Aphids and BYDV management AHDB: Assessing Machinery Policy 3000ha per Year with a 3m Drill Comparison of “standard row“ and “wide row“ ADAS - How to do an on Farm Trial Project Xaver Overbury Estate Open Day Calcium Conference Highlights NOCC 2018 Visit to Victors Disc Verses Tine Lessons from STAR and NFS We want this to be a magazine that you actually want to read, content heavy and something that challenges you, a magazine you keep on your shelf and refer back to at a later date... PDF Version We have also had some requests from our overseas readers to be able to download a PDF version of the magazine so they can print it out for themselves. So here is the link to the PDF: PDF Version of Direct Driller Issue 4 Register for the MagazineIf you would like the magazine delivered to your door or to your inbox then please register using the link below... The Ethos As a new farming magazine, Direct Driller has been designed by farmers for farmers to educate and inform ourselves and the industry about soil health and systems of reduced tillage...

Categories: Cover Crops

How Yield Champions Use Cover Crops for Growing Higher Bushels

By Laura Barrera

Published 10 months ago

There are many factors that can influence corn yield. In fact, Fred Below, a plant physiologist at the University of Illinois, identified seven of them, which he dubbed the “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World. ”The seven wonders, ranked in order of most influence on yield, are:WeatherNitrogenHybridPrevious cropPlant populationTillageGrowth regulatorsWhile Below was referring to the cash crop rotation in the fourth wonder, some farmers are taking it one step further by seeding cover crops. The benefit of added crop diversity along with improvements to soil health is paying off, as some of these farmers are achieving the highest yields in the country... He only made one pass on the crop, which included his burndown application of gramoxone, atrazine and simazine, while also topdressing nitrogen...

A New Era of Farm Employees: Farm Technicians vs. Farm Hands?

By Gregory Heilers

Published 10 months ago

Traditional agricultural skills that made civilization possible are still alive and in use today. At the same time, hundreds of farm technician job listings across the US, and the rise of precision agriculture and software, clearly evidence the need for technologically-savvy farm technicians in the 21st century agricultural industry. It’s no surprise that tech-friendly millennials interested in farming are encouraged by these developments, which may make farming less labor intensive than in generations past. Technology may even be the antidote to a number of ills plaguing modern agriculture, which have led to a drastic decrease in the number of farms across the United States. Satellite technology provides a broader view of agricultureTo assess the current state of affairs across the globe, I solicited the expert advice from one of the preeminent farmers in the United States, Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farm, and John Fargher, co-founder and COO of Australia-based cutting-edge farm management software, AgriWebb...

The Story of AgFuse

By Pat Rogers

Published 8 months ago

In July of 2014, I sat in the audience on the last day of the InfoAg Conference in St Louis. It was my first major farm conference trip outside of somewhat local events that had been put on near my home in the Carolinas. Frankly, my mind was blown with this experience. I had taken in more new information in a three-day period than I had in the previous five years combined. By attending that conference, I was afforded the opportunity to hear some of the smartest minds in agriculture speak on and demonstrate how precision farming was going to change the industry as we knew it...

4 Steps to Building Soil Organic Matter in the South

By Laura Barrera

Published 8 months ago

As we learn more about what goes on in the world beneath our feet, increased attention has been placed on soil organic matter. And for good reason. While it only makes up a small percentage of most soils, the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) says it’s the “very foundation for healthy and productive soils” — and the more organic matter there is, the better the results. Consider the following findings from SARE and the NRCS:A study of soils in Michigan demonstrated potential crop-yield increases of about 12% for every 1% organic matter. When organic matter increased from 0...

On the Offensive with Cover Crops

By Pat Rogers

Published 1 years, 2 months ago

In the past few years, we have made a concerted effort to increase the usage of cover crops and other conservation practices on our farm. I have learned a lot of lessons from this experience but one stands out above the rest. Being a good steward of the environment and aiming to produce high yields don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, I would argue that if intensively managed, conservation practices should significantly enhance yields. The cornerstone of any good crop production system involving conservation techniques is the establishment of cover crops...

7 Ways to Measure Soil Health Improvements

By Laura Barrera

Published 2 weeks ago

While there are numerous reasons for using cover crops, a primary one is improving soil health. In fact, it’s the one benefit most farmers using cover crops have experienced: In the most recent Cover Crop Survey Annual Report, of those who rated the statement, “Using cover crops has improved soil health on my farm,” 86% agreed or strongly agreed. The report notes that it’s interesting and heartening that “soil health reflects an embrace of a long-term, hard-to-quantify benefit of cover crops, and that for the past two surveys, it has achieved the top spot by garnering 86% of the responses. ”While soil health may be harder to quantify than benefits like biomass production or input savings, there are ways of measuring how cover crops are making a difference in your soil. 1...

Categories: Cover Crops

Early Cover Crop Benefits: What Can You Expect in the First Year?

By Laura Barrera

Published 10 months ago

In 1995, Pennsylvania farmer Steve Groff was speaking at an event when he asked the audience the question: Do cover crops pay off?His thinking at the time was that he had been no-tilling since 1982, and maybe if he no-tilled long enough, he wouldn’t need them. Ray Weil, a soil ecologist with the University of Maryland, happened to hear his question and approached Groff about doing a cover crop study on his farm. It turned into a 12-year project, from 1995 to 2007. It was in 1999, four years into it, Groff got the answer to his question. That was the year he had a drought, and the corn that was grown on previously cover-cropped ground out-yielded the corn on non-cover cropped ground by 28 bushels per acre...

Categories: Cover Crops