One trillion is one thousand billion or one million million.

The year was 2013, and I came upon the crime scene accidentally on a hot July day.

Farm operators in United States overwhelmingly selected the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) farm program choice for 2019 and 2020 for most eligible commodity crops, except soybeans. The Agricultural Risk Coverage-County (ARC-CO) farm program choice was the predominant choice for soybeans for the 2…

I have known Larry Ust since forever. Larry grew up on a neighborhood farm, coached 4-H softball for our two sons and delivered our mail for 25 years.

One of the side effects of the COVID-19 crisis has been to highlight the importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known by its former name: Food stamps, even though the current administration tried to reduce its reach by allowing states to set work requirements f…

7/28/20 - U.S. crops continue to impress as far as yield capability in spite of below normal rainfall much of the summer for much of the U.S. Temps have also been above normal for most of the last six weeks, which normally can hurt a crop as well. But despite some obstacles, the 2020 crop so…

I have often described myself as a recovering dairy farmer. There have been some minor stumbles marring my recovery, such as acquiring a handful of Jersey steers that we keep in our cattle yard and, eventually, in our freezer.

Never in recent memory has it been so important to help one another. The pandemic has changed lives, and many are struggling. Food pantries are overwhelmed in many communities, and gardeners can help.

“I’ll have the garlic mashed potatoes and green beans as my two sides,” my younger daughter said.

Having cleaned up from the afternoon’s small chute job out in the country, it was time to settle into an office chair and look through the phone messages our secretary at the vet clinic had for me.

Two generations ago, no one in the cattle business ever thought “herd immunity” was a solution to bovine brucellosis. Instead, farmers and ranchers, often with the help of U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarians, blood-tested every animal they could find to discover, trace and isolate t…

The most difficult part was breaking the news to my dearly beloved. How do you tell someone that you have found another?

While most county and state fairs are Covid casualties this year, a giant, buzzing Ferris wheel—America’s relationship with China—continues to spin at such a dizzying pace that, sooner or later, it will break to harm riders and bystanders alike.

How’s your flower knowledge? Do you know the difference between a lily and a daylily, and can you recognize which is which in a flower garden?

As we put the 4th of July holiday behind us, it always seems that summer winds down quickly. Producers across South Dakota are beginning to harvest small grains; these crops provide an excellent window for adding a cover crop into your rotation. Whether you grow a small grain or would like t…

Crop market traders and industry analysts watch the weather forecasts and crop condition ratings very closely during July and August.

“Well, Mom, you did it again,” my older daughter said.

There it was before me: A sunny pasture scene, pairs lazily grazing on still-green grass, as the river flowed by. A picture of serenity.

As a young college student majoring in English, it never even occurred to me that I might someday have a job that paid me to read all day (though the kid in me who stayed up all night reading books by flashlight under the sheets certainly had his hopes).

Click.

For thousands of years, we humans have celebrated weddings with sacred ceremonies, solemn vows, and DJ music that’s loud enough to curl your shoelaces.

In late June 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration issued Interim Guidance for “Protecting Seafood Processing Workers from COVID-19” (IG-PSPW) (https://tinyurl.com/yb…

Researchers from SDSU and the Ecdysis Foundation under the direction of Jon Lundgren continue to work on improving our understanding of the role of dung beetles and other insects in pasture management and the relationship between forage quality, livestock, soil health, insects, and chemical …

Mid-July was always summer’s sweet spot on the southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth.

I barely recognized my daughter at first when I walked into the store.

In this column, I often try to make sense of the world by sharing an old story. It’s an old Southern habit I’ve never managed to shake.

7/07/20 — It’s that time of year again — the time when there are three important market factors for grains: Weather, weather and weather. We could sell 50% more exports per week in summer, and the impact of that pales in comparison to the effect on supply and demand with weather. For example…

Could you use a break from a few yard and garden tasks? We can all ease up a bit, with a clear conscience, because it’s Independence Day for gardeners.

The late June USDA Acreage Report is always highly anticipated, because it becomes the first “hard data” after the March USDA Plantings Intentions Report to give an indication of crop production levels for a given growing season. Many times, the June USDA Report can have a big impact on grai…

My wife and I were at the farm supply store the other day when a small glass cabinet caught my eye.

I always looked forward to picnics when I was a kid.

On the Fourth of July we celebrate the declaration of our nation’s independence with picnics and fireworks and with the great American tradition of going to furniture stores and taking advantage of their low, low prices on mattresses. The Fourth is essentially an all-you-can-eat potluck matt…

For generations, the standard measure for corn growth was “knee-high by July 4th”, which meant that the corn plant should be able to produce a crop for that year. Of course, most farmers a couple of generations ago had much lower yield goals for their corn than the farmers of today. Today, “…

As African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks sweep through China and other countries, swine producers and their leaders have become fixated on keeping it out of our national swine herd. Should the unthinkable happen and ASF breaks through our firewalls, however, rapid detection of the first infect…

6/23/20 — Weather forecasts have improved recently, and markets that were rallying have stalled almost immediately. They are waiting to see how this more recent pattern of cooler and wetter weather will play out. Will it just be a temporary period in an otherwise dry summer? Or will it be a …

Sign-up for the Caronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments began on May 26 at local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices and will continue through Aug. 28. The amount of CFAP payments being processed has varied from state-to-state, as well as from county-to-county within states. This i…

There has been much talk lately about our nation’s flagging economy. To hear some say it, the economy is like a man crawling across a vast desert under a burning sun, mumbling through parched lips, “Water! Water! But first, can you tell me whether or not this store has been restocked with to…

Much has not been made of Frank H. Knight’s 1921 famous distinction between risk and uncertainty.

I have a healthy respect for grills.

Farmers are often frustrated with the attitudes of urban dwellers who by their words or actions indicate that they really do not understand the issues that the rural/agricultural community faces on a daily basis.

Much of the state has experienced hot, windy weather recently. From my interactions, some individuals appreciate the drying weather and others are praying for rain and a reprieve from the wind to get some spraying done. Although growth stages of crops vary from region to region, many fields …

While the coronavirus pandemic was hammering global trade earlier this year, the various U.S. bureaucracies devoted to trade barely skipped a beat before returning to their usual grind.

Why didn’t the two worms go into Noah’s Ark inside an apple? Because Noah told them they had to go in pairs.

Just about every farmer I’ve spoken to who sprays dicamba over soybeans likes to tell me about how close they’ve sprayed it to other crops without causing any damage. If you follow the label, they say, it stays put, and the risk of off-target damage is minimal.

6/16/20 — The last few weeks have brought an increasing chance that 2020 crops will be adversely affected by drought. We are in an extremely dry pattern, with almost no rain in the Corn Belt the past week at a time of year when the highest rainfall amounts typically fall. Farmers are becomin…

“You have a lot of food in here,” our son commented the other day.

As a little kid growing up on the farm, I was scared to death of tetanus. All the information I had privy to back then was very clear about one thing: if you stepped on a rusty nail you would get tetanus. Your jaw would lock up and you would no longer be able to drink chocolate milk and you …

Did you hear about the guy who enrolled in the patience seminar? He couldn’t wait for it to begin.

I would often see her sitting there alone, grimy, decrepit, languishing. I would look the other way as I walked by, tying to ignore the wretched castoff in my own backyard.

The USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released on June 11 was pretty much “non-eventful” from a grain marketing standpoint, with very little change from the May estimates. The number of 2020 planted corn and soybean acres, the national average yields, and the…