Search results for 'Changshu City'

Spring is about to pop - Benton City, WA

By #SoilMatters

Published Mar 14, 2018

Soil temperatures have risen 4-6F in the past week. This has signaled these Chelan #cherry buds to swell. This is an early ripening variety. Which means the number of days a farmer has to grow and nurture the crop are limited. This means every day counts from bloom until harvest and are critical to develop the fruit in preparation of harvest...

What Farmers Need to Know About Mycorrhizae

By Laura Barrera

Published Nov 2, 2018

If someone asked you, “How do plants take up the water and nutrients they need?” you’d probably tell them through the roots. But did you know that for many crops, those roots aren’t working alone?That’s because most plant species associate with mycorrhizal fungi. What is mycorrhizal fungi? University of Alberta biological scientist JC Cahill says that mycorrhizas are actually the interaction between a fungus and a plant. Although there are many different types of mycorrhizae, the only one crop farmers need to be concerned about is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), as 65% of plant species associate with it... “We know that adding fertilizer doesn’t always increase crop yield because there are going to be some farms and conditions that have enough fertilizer, or you get toxicity,” he explains...

Categories: Cover Crops

How Yield Champions Use Cover Crops for Growing Higher Bushels

By Laura Barrera

Published Jun 1, 2018

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... His goal for using cover crops is to increase organic matter — which on most fields has gone from 2% or less to 7% and higher — break up the soil hardpan and increase the soil’s water-holding capacity...

Ten Ways to Increase Your Farm's Profits in 2019

By AgFuse Exclusive Content

Published Oct 10, 2018

So, what about smaller purchases that you know will make you more efficient, purchases that you’ve been putting off because times are tight? You can easily become more efficient by upgrading your nurse tank capacity or buying a portable welder... What Is Equipment Efficiency? There is an optimal size for your farm based on whatever acreage capacity your equipment currently has... To gain field capacity, you want to optimally go wider with these machines rather than adding additional units... When we look at this cropping system annually, we ask ourselves where the bottleneck is based on our current equipment capacity... The 800 acres for each is optimal based on our current equipment capacity...

Categories: Agribusiness, Marketing, Cover Crops

5 reasons to choose chitosan oligosaccharide in organic agriculture

By Darren Chan

Published Jan 22

In the application of agricultural production, chitosan oligosaccharides not only make crops grow better and robust, but also has obvious effects in stress resistance and pest resistance. Numerous studies have shown that chitosan oligosaccharides can induce broad-spectrum resistance, enhance the plant’s own defense ability, inhibit the growth of a variety of plant pathogenic microorganisms, and it is non-toxic and can be microbial degradation, and will not pollute the environment. This makes it an important role in agricultural production as a new type of green production. 1... The role of chitosan oligosaccharides in agricultureChitosan oligosaccharides have wide adaptability to plants, good affinity, no toxicity, no side effects, no harm to humans and animals, biodegradability, no soiling in the soil, slow degradation to small molecular carbohydrates, no pollution to the environment, an excellent pure natural ecological preparation...

Categories: Agribusiness, Irrigation, Organic

21st Century American Ag: Sourcing Successors and Finding Farmland

By Gregory Heilers

Published Jul 26, 2018

It’s no secret that America’s farmers are aging... The harsh reality is that today, the land price to production capacity ratio is completely different than it was in the previous generation... That’s a land cost:production capacity of 1:2. ”Today, Polyface Farms is worth $7,000 an acre, yet the steer is worth only $700; the ratio of land cost to production capacity has shifted to 10:1. Land Value to Production Capacity (Per Acre) - Polyface Farms1961 – $90:$180 - 1:22018 – $7,000:$700 - 10:1Joel explained that “ratio change is why grandpa’s situation cannot be duplicated today...

Tips to Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

By Nationwide Farm Insurance

Published Apr 1

Use these tips to help avoid and recognize the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning Think about the gas-powered engines you might use on a daily basis, like a generator, pump, pressure-washer, tractor or truck. All of these essential machines produce carbon monoxide (CO). They can become deadly if used indoors with little or no ventilation. The risk of CO poisoning exists outdoors, too... Whenever possible and safe, use tools powered by electricity...

Categories: Agribusiness

What The Intelligent Investor Can Teach Us About Farming

By The Crossover

Published Apr 20, 2018

The Intelligent Investor, a book by Benjamin Graham, is widely considered to be the best book on value investing ever written. The book (and it's author) had a profound effect on the way people think about investing. Graham was extremely influential to many titans in the world of investing. ... Every small incremental change you make in your operation to cut costs or increase yields or increase your market price combines in a multiplicative capacity...

Million Dollar Dirt

By Amanda Allworth

Published Jul 10, 2018

Dirt. It’s arguably a farmer’s most valuable natural resource... Inherent soil characteristicsExamples of inherent soil characteristics include soil texture, drainage class and cation exchange capacity (CEC)... Soil organic matter content, microbial populations, bulk density, infiltration rate, soil water and nutrient holding capacity are examples of dynamic soil characteristics that change over a shorter time period with or without human intervention... Organic matter content influences a number of soil characteristics, including soil bulk density (a measure of compaction), soil water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity and nutrient availability...

Grain Drying Technology Using Paddy Husk

By SUNCUE Grain Dryer

Published Mar 28

Burning paddy husk in a rice husk furnace can be a complete substitute for gas or diesel by burning paddy husk to provide necessary thermal energy. This not only increases the millers/farmer’s income through significantly reducing drying cost and improving grain quality, it is also an important 21st century drying industry breakthrough... Consider a 30 tonne capacity dryer containing around one billion paddy kernels for example... There are hundreds of systems implemented successfully worldwide ranging from several tonnes to several thousands of tonnes of handling capacity every day. For satisfying big capacity corndrying customers, SUNCUE also has there-circulating dryer especially for maize...

Categories: Agribusiness, Grain Sorghum, Rice