Rich Keller
13 farm groups issue farm bill statement
Most of the nation’s commodity farm organizations issued a joint statement Thursday after two days of discussing ways to influence the passage of a new farm bill.
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Crop input costs will be higher in 2012
The outlook was succinctly announced to a room full of growers earlier this month in Prairie County, Ark., by Scott Stiles, Extension economist for the University of Arkansas.
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Higher Corn Population Will Increase Yield
Corn plant population is definitely a component of yield potential for any field of corn. It comes down to simple math in calculating the number of plants that yield a quality ear of corn in each acre of the field, and quality means an ear of respectable size with large kernels.
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UPDATED: Arrests related to hacking, and police put heat on Greenpeace
Twenty-one members of the Anonymous network of computer system hackers, including some that could have been involved in hacking minimally sensitive Monsanto files, were arrested by police in the United States, England and the Netherlands this week.
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Biotech crops/food losing ground in Europe
The European Union Parliament voted this week on draft legislation to give individual countries more authority and sovereignty in banning production of genetically modified (GM) crops. Expectation is for companies to be forced out. Countries will also be labeling food as GM.
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Rural Americans told democracy requires their involvement
Inspirational speakers who specialize in preaching to the choir of agricultural producers and professionals are a dime a dozen, but one guy I’ve seen a couple times lately, most recently at the annual meeting of the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants, really gets the crowd fired up.
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Using Property Rights Is A Trick Against Biotech Crops
Some politicians wrap themselves in the flag to justify their positions, and then there is Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack appealing to farmers and ranchers’ belief in “private property rights” to justify limiting biotech crop production.
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Growing Corn For Ethanol Is Water Wasteful
Water use regulations should be tightened against growing corn for ethanol, if we act according to common sense. Water is wasted everywhere by the general public, industry and agriculture, but using water in areas of the country where water is limited for corn ethanol production seems to make little sense.
Because growing crops requires so much water, agricultural use of water is the first to be targeted for recouping water for use by other segments of the U.S. economy, and corn is one of the most water-consumptive crops to grow.
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Water Pollution Blamed On Farmers
A news release from Cornell University puts the blame on farmers for water pollution and dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico in the lead sentence. “If you want to grow a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, you first need to plant a seed in the rich farmland of the upper Mississippi River basin,” starts the news release.
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The Fact Of Global Warming Is Being Ignored
Global warming is occurring and just because nearly half the population doesn’t believe it doesn’t change the facts. The planet has been warming at an erratic pace ever since the glaciers began melting 20,000 years ago.
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People’s Gardens Should Not Be USDA Focus
It’s officially farmers’ market and “People’s Gardens” season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I’m sure all you farmers and ranchers are really proud that the USDA is using limited resources in a budget-challenged time to promote and conduct programs emphasizing urban citizens growing garden vegetables and consumers buying locally grown vegetables and fruits.
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- Wet U.S. Midwest sections may lead to fewer corn acres
- U.S. revises meat-labeling rules to satisfy WTO ruling
- Where’s the rain? Parched states can’t shake the drought
- U.S. House votes to force approval of Keystone pipeline
- Alltech Symposium challenges agribusiness to make an impact
- USDA reports no change in pork exports
