Search results for 'NY'

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

By Gregory Heilers

Published 1 years, 3 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... ” Since that time, John’s family farm has not undergone any “fundamental change in the daily operation of the business... ” As Joel explained, these obstacles “keep many would-be farmers from being successful, because most of us hate paperwork and just want to farm...

How Yield Champions Use Cover Crops for Growing Higher Bushels

By Laura Barrera

Published 1 years, 3 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... “If I can save those passes, I’m avoiding compaction and it’s not costing me anything... We farm about 4,000 acres and most of our fields are anywhere from 100-200 acres a plot...

Celebrate national dairy month with Nationwide

By Nationwide Farm Insurance

Published 3 months ago

Celebrate national dairy month by creating a safe dairy operation This June, dairy leaders, farmers and communities from across America will celebrate National Dairy Month... Taking proper precautions can prevent many accidents... By working as a partner with your farm insurance agent, we can help prevent many accidents from happening... Fuels/ChemicalsProperly label fuel storage tanks to show contentsLocate fuel/chemical tanks at least 25 feet from any farm buildingPut in place a documented plan for disposing of empty containers or leftover chemicalsMachinery/Farm equipmentInspect all power equipment for proper shielding and guardingRequire all drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts while operating trucks and carsKeep children and non-workers off of and away from machinery and wagonsCreating more safety on your dairy operation is really something to celebrate during National Dairy Month! For more safety information for your dairy, talk to your Nationwide Agribusiness farm agent... Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and its employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with any suggestions or information contained herein...

Categories: Agribusiness

Amending vs. Fertilizing

By Accidental Agronomist

Published 1 years, 2 months ago

This past winter I spoke at the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture(PASA) and NOFA NJ 2018 Winter conferences. What an honor to be able to talk to so many enthusiastic like-minded people. In this article, which was initially published in Week 5 of the 52 Weeks of Agronomy Series, I talked about one of the things I presented on at those conferences. You can find it along with other articles at News | The Accidental Agronomist I spoke about the concept of amending vs. fertilizing and understanding the differences between the two...

4 Steps to Building Soil Organic Matter in the South

By Laura Barrera

Published 1 years, 1 month ago

“It’s going to eat anything that is carbon based and basically turn it into carbon dioxide, thereby reducing soil carbon, and by definition, soil organic matter. So anything dead it’s going to decompose pretty rapidly and turn into CO2... In addition to organic matter increasing, Kloot discovered that nutrient levels and pH on the five farmers’ soils were quite stable — remaining practically unchanged, despite being in full production and not having any commercial fertilizer applied, except for nitrogen to grass crops, which Kloot says was typically applied at lower rates... 5% without any manure, while another working in a loamy sand soil saw his levels increase from 1% to 1... Kloot says that while species like grass crops tend to bring more carbon into the soil because they have more biomass, continuously growing grasses without any additional diversity will cause productivity in the soil to go down...

Ten Ways to Increase Your Farm's Profits in 2019

By AgFuse Exclusive Content

Published 11 months ago

And Accompanying Crop Rotations What Is Equipment Efficiency? What Scale-Related Questions Do You Need to Ask Yourself? When Does It Make Sense to Add Equipment? Part 1: Know Your True Cost of Production Want to make more money farming in 2019? Step one is to know your true cost of production (TCOP)... You may not know what the markets are going to do in any given growing season, but knowing your TCOP can make sales decisions easier and more profitable... The good news is that, once you’ve done this exercise for your farm, you can review the numbers annually and make quick changes by tweaking any necessary information about your operation... There are so many emotional factors that come into play with marketing and these can cause you to miss the forest for the trees... If I don’t have any price alerts and a new marketing month has come into play, my calendar reminder helps with making any necessary defensive sales...

Categories: Agribusiness, Marketing, Cover Crops

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

By Laura Barrera

Published 1 years, 3 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... While covers can help any soil, Groff, who now runs a cover crop consulting business, says that cover crops seem to help a poorer soil quicker... “If they’re in no-till and they don’t have any significant erosion problems, then they may not notice that kind of benefit... “I know some of our weed scientists at Purdue get very concerned with people saying ‘You’ve got cover crops, you don’t need any kind of herbicide or weed control, that’s all you need,’” she says... Anyone starting out with cover crops should find a mentor, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be a personal relationship, Groff says...

Categories: Cover Crops

What Farmers Need to Know About Mycorrhizae

By Laura Barrera

Published 10 months ago

But did you know that for many crops, those roots aren’t working alone?That’s because most plant species associate with mycorrhizal fungi... 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... And barring anything extreme that’s happened to your fields — such as mining or a toxic spill — your soils should already have AMF in it, says Miranda Hart, a soil microbial ecologist at the University of British Columbia... 26,” explains that while root hairs can only extend a few millimeters, the hyphae of some AMF can extend many centimeters away... When Mycorrhizae Becomes ParasiticWhile AMF can provide many benefits for plants, Cahill says that in some situations the relationship can be parasitic...

Categories: Cover Crops

Learn about wildfire safety and fire prevention tips

By Nationwide Farm Insurance

Published 3 months ago

The combination of increased risk and high-value assets makes fire protection at farms and ranches a high priority. The first step in minimizing the fire and wildfire risk is increased knowledge and awareness. It's never too early to prepare... Welders, grinders and cutting torches should only be used in clean areas, at least 35 feet away from any flammable and combustible materials... (IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MO, NE, OH) (PDF)Great Lakes (MI, MN, WI) (PDF)Mid-Atlantic & Northeast (CT, DE, ME, MD, NH, NY, PA, RI, WV, VT, VA) (PDF)Pacific Northwest (ID, Northern CA, OR, WA) (PDF)Rocky Mountain (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY) (PDF)Southern California (PDF)Southeast (AL, AR, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN) (PDF)Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK, TX) (PDF)Wildfire safety and risk management brochures Learn how to create defensible space and decrease wildfire risk around your property with the following quick reference brochures:Reducing wildfire risk for farms and ranches (PDF)Reducing wildfire risk for homeowners (PDF)Learn more about protecting your business from wildfires...

Categories: Agribusiness

What’s the function of Mycorrhiza?

By Darren Chan

Published 8 months ago

Introduction of MycorrhizaExcessive dependence on chemical fertilizers can result in the destruction of a large number of beneficial microbial communities in the soil and a decrease in soil activity. To improve the current soil ecosystem with serious damage and improve soil fertility, it is imperative to supplement soil beneficial microorganisms... Around the roots of the plants, there are many free myceliums, which we call externalhyphae... Enhance plant disease resistanceMany studies have shown that some ectomycorrhizal fungi have obvious “antagonistic” effects on certain plant pathogenic bacteria... In addition, many studies have also shown that mycorrhiza can also improve other stress resistance of plants, such as drought resistance, cold resistance, salt and alkali resistance, and heavy metal pollution...

Categories: Agribusiness, Beef Cattle, Corn