Of all the headline items in ag equipment news over the past year, one stood out — autonomous machines. Deere officially launched its autonomous 8R tractor at the massive and influential Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Joe and Sue had been married for 45 years. It had been an exceptionally good partnership.
Sixty years ago I learned to drive in a town of 200 where the biggest challenge for motorists was when two pick-up trucks stopped in the middle of Main Street in front of Woody and Ethel’s Tavern so the drivers could chat.
Harvest is over at Bohr Farms. The last of our harvested corn this year was stored in a 45-bushel tote and shipped to a company in western Iowa that makes whiskey from local-grown corn.
With the fall harvest wrapped up — or winding down — you most likely just want to park your combine(s) in the machine shed and move on to other field chores (or maybe spend a little time in a deer stand).
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a column that appeared online September 30.
As some will no doubt remember, it was during the summer of 1972 the U.S. negotiated a massive grain deal with the Soviet Union which agreed to buy (on credit) some 440 million bushels of wheat for $750 million over a three-year period. Instead of purchasing over the three years per the agre…
As a youngster I noticed that many older folks were still using old things. My paternal grandparents, for instance, still used an ancient oscillating fan that had a minimal guard around the blades. Our parents warned us boys to not get our fingers in the way of the blades. Curious little bro…
Agriculture and the well-being of consumers will improve together with advances in sustainable farming, according to scientific experts from around the world who met to exchange information during a conference in Odense, Denmark, this past August. The conference was entitled Public and Occup…
We often joke about our “job titles” on the farm. In the fall, my title is Director of Logistics, which translates into semi driver and grain cart operator. In the spring, my job is Manager of Seed Deposition (planter operator).
If farm equipment were an item on a lunch menu, the big-shouldered four-wheel-drives would be the roast beef sandwich and mashed potatoes — smothered with gravy. Awesome, down-to-earth, belly-pleasing power! And with fall seeding and tillage work at hand, it’s time to unleash these acre-eati…
Just last night I was traveling home on my gravel road after dark. I could see headlights of an approaching vehicle, which I thought was a pickup. As we passed each other, I startled a bit as I realized it was actually a tractor and was much wider than I anticipated.
As new trends and challenges in crop production emerge — adoption of strip till, managing higher residue levels, new requirements for soil and nutrient management — tillage tools continue to transform and evolve. And while they don’t garner the headlines of a new EV tractor, these new develo…
Tom and his wife, Beth, were and always had been dairy farmers. Their two older children, a son and daughter, had both joined the farming operation after college. Their youngest son became a pharmacist, which was fine with Tom as he believed each child should get to a vocation they enjoyed.
Now more than ever, there is strong demand for a transition plan that can meet a family’s definition of a “fair” plan for land transition yet is flexible enough to change with the planning environment.
One of the scarier events of the past 40 years for some of us older baby boomers was the advent of the personal computer. We saw them coming in the ’70s, and by the ’80s many of us were expected to actually learn how to operate a PC.
A few years ago a farming friend told me during one of our periodic conversations over morning coffee, “If you want to know a little bit about something, just ask me — I only know a little bit.”
Jeff was excited to start his new building project. Two years had passed since he and his wife moved off the home farm, allowing his son to take over his operation. They had purchased an acreage just a few miles away with a nice house and a few small, outdated buildings.
As I’ve grown older, I have avoided becoming a grumpy old man. For the most part.
I was heading north along I-35 through central Iowa on a blistering hot August day when I came upon the flashing yellow caution lights and tattered red flags of a lumbering oversize semi load. Even from a quarter mile away, this load looked unusual … and way larger than most.
The tiny village of Westphalia, Iowa, my home town, celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on July 3. Westphalia has held an annual two-day celebration of Independence Day for as long as I can remember. The event is still called the St. Boniface Parish Picnic even though the commun…
Stop! Please stop with the public land auctions. This may not be a popular statement in certain circles, and I will probably take some heat from my auctioneer friends, but someone needs to say it.
It may be hard to imagine but the ProFarmer crop tour gets underway next week, Farm Progress kicks off at the end of the month, and harvest is coming at you as fast as a Patrick Mahomes pass.
Don wondered if he had perhaps over-committed himself. In a moment of temporary insanity, he agreed to host an evening at his farm for 25 youth from his wife’s 4-H group. Don’s own kids were grown up, and he felt somewhat out of touch with what young people liked to do.
My three brothers celebrate their birthdays within a span of about three weeks in late-June to mid-July.
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