Spring 2019 delivered a surprise to many homeowners who finally got out to inspect their trees and shrubs — a lot of rabbit damage!

I recently looked back on the topics I covered in 2019 and found – not surprisingly – that weather-related animal health problems and challenges were frequent subjects! From wet calving pens and scours to foot problems in cattle on flooded pastures to moldy sweet clover hay, these problems s…

FARGO, N.D. — If you see it on the internet, it must be true, right?

I had a meeting approaching in just minutes while I was at work, and my stomach alerted me that it wanted food.

When talking about the seriousness of the downturn in the farm economy since the 2013 peak, most analysts use the USDA’s calculation of net farm income (NFI) (https://tinyurl.com/vafwly8) as the measuring stick. In most cases, the analysis deals with the change in NFI at the national level.

In grad school, the university loaned me the use of an old analog bag phone, but after that, I had no form of mobile phone for 15 years.

12/10/19 — It’s been a rather slow past few weeks in grain trade, with some decent gains in soybeans, but more docile in the other major commodities as we head towards the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. There is the potential for explosive news this month yet with the Dec. 15 deadline fo…

My little sister gave birth to her second daughter on Nov. 22. They named her Emma Evangeline — Evangeline for our Gramma Edith’s middle name.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced an open sign-up period for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) from December 9, 2019 through February 20, 2020. This will be the first sign-up period for the General CRP program since the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill and …

My wife and I recently “did lunch” with a friend at a local restaurant. As we prepared to leave, a lady who had been seated at a nearby table asked, “Are you that dear county agent guy?”

No major American daily newspaper features sharper, more poisonous pens than the market-focused writers at the Wall Street Journal. When these opinion peddlers go after you in print, they hit hard, fast, and—most of the time—with inarguable fact.

“Well, this would make a good introduction to your column,” my husband said.

The world is getting hot, but what does soil have anything to do with it? Quite a lot, in fact! In the years to come, one of the most important jobs of soil will be to help us recapture the very thing making our world too warm, carbon.

Social media can be a great way for people in agriculture to connect with one another as well as with their consumers.

12/03/19 — It has been another disappointing week in commodities, with mostly lower prices dragging the market back down near August/September lows. However, a bright spot last week was Friday’s 7c gain in corn, which effectively helped form an upside weekly reversal in corn. The only proble…

If you’re a beef or pork producer, you’ve likely been certified through a quality assurance program such as Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) or Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA Plus). These programs work to enhance producers’ understanding of what it takes to produce high quality and safe beef or pork.

FARGO, N.D. — Remember the Christmas trees of your childhood? The holidays bring back memories, and it’s fun to reminisce about our past trees.

Once harvest is completed in any given year, farm operators and non-farm landowners begin the tenuous task of negotiating annual land rental rates for the following crop year. Approximately 60-70 percent of the crop land in the Upper Midwest is under a land rental agreement, and most rental …

MEDINA, N.D. — I got a call from my husband the other day in which he said some words I’m pretty sure he had never said in that combination before and doesn’t want to ever have to say again:

Much ado is in the news and social media referring to some younger folks as an entitlement generation. On some issues I agree with this a bit, but is it just because I’m getting old myself? Born in 1965, I am a bit young to be a baby boomer, but grew up with them. A bit old to be generation …

It’s that time of year when we are becoming increasingly worried about what a certain person might think of us. And no, I don’t mean that ex whom you recently friended on Facebook.

While many in the U.S. dairy sector focus on why the nation’s largest milk bottler, Dean Foods, filed for bankruptcy Nov. 12, the smart money — if there is any smart money left after four years of crushingly low milk prices—is focused on what’s next.

“I’ve bought and wrapped gifts for myself,” one of the meeting attendees said.

With increases in the number of farm bankruptcy proceedings and suicides among farmers it seems like we have been transported back to the 1980s and the farm crisis.

Even ignoring the impact of the current trade dispute with China, we are now in the 7th year of generally declining crop prices. In addition, significant trade adjustment payments and general farm program payments are not enough to stanch the flow of red ink across the financial records of m…

Last Friday night the Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee hosted an evening of recognition and entertainment to honor farmers and ranchers in northeastern South Dakota.

WATFORD CITY, N.D. — We sold our calves last week.

As this year’s harvest winds down, it might be tempting to just square up the books and get ready for another round next year. In fact, many of you have already invested money towards the 2020 crop with early purchases of seed, fertilizer, or chemical. I think it is also important to invest …

Near the fence in our cattle yard lies a curious old relic. It’s a rusty steel apparatus that’s roughly shaped like the letter “u,” albeit a letter that has been treated roughly. Not just due to the rust, but also because one leg of the letter sits at a 45-degree angle.

Ask a farmer what their profit levels from crop farming are in 2019, and the answers can range from “fairly good” to “reduced” to “right down terrible”. Any of those answers could be correct, even in the same area, depending where the farms are located and how the erratic 2019 weather condit…

Thanksgiving was the kickoff to a month of bookkeeping, depreciation schedules, and checkbook balancing for my parents on the southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth. It culminated in an afternoon meeting, usually the week after Christmas, where my father would detail the farm’s annual perf…

WATFORD CITY, N.D. — It’s fall. Shipping season.

A number of years back, before I had kids and possibly before I was married, a lady at Faith Evangelical Church in Crystal Springs, N.D., asked me if I would be able to come help out at a kuchen baking fundraising for a team raising money to go on a mission trip. The church sends out such te…

“I’m kind of a germophobe,” the woman said. “Do you want a sanitizing wipe?”

It’s hard not to love Thanksgiving. It’s about family, friends, and gratitude.

11/19/19 — It has been an awful past two months for farmers as commodity prices have drifted lower while they struggle with harvesting a crop that is anything but a bumper crop. In fact, there will be a large percentage of soybeans and corn that will likely not be able to be harvested in 201…

USDA has announced that the second portion of the direct aid payments under the 2019 “Market Facilitation Program” (MFP2) will be made in late November or early December. The MFP payments provide financial support for producers of a wide range of crops, including corn, soybeans, and wheat, a…

I wasn’t used to seeing Max like this.

I was driving to town recently, and about a mile east of our farm I saw a wild turkey — the bird kind, not the bottled kind — at the edge of the gravel road. This caused me to realize that it’s turkey time, that season in our great nation when we gobble gobblers until our collective belts be…

Mother Nature turned a colorful, late fall into a bitterly cold, early winter as if to prove—after a planting, growing, and harvest season marked by floods, drought, and mud—that she’s still in charge and still not happy.

“Would you like me to pick up some pizza for you?” I called down the steps to the half-dozen teenagers in our newly updated basement family room.

The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis held a hearing titled, “Solving the Climate Crisis: Opportunities in Agriculture,” on October 30, 2019 (https://tinyurl.com/yxbu375t). In her opening statement, Committee Chair Kathy Castor said that agriculture not only experiences the impact…

11/12/19 — The past few weeks have brought a lull to the grain market, with most grains flowing lower since mid-October. The weakest of all the major markets is corn, which has lost 25c in that time frame. Soybeans are down 38c since 10/14, and Dec. wheat down 17c (since 10/21 highs). So gra…

It was a memorable steak supper under the stars. Live music played in the background and I thought to myself, “I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed this much.”

As many grain marketing experts expected, USDA lowered the projected corn U.S. average yield for the 2019 crop year, based on the USDA Crop Production Report released on November 8. USDA decreased the expected 2019 national average corn yield by 1.4 bushels per acre and decreased the total 2…

Like many kids, I dreamed of flying. And like most kids, I longed to do things without interference from pesky authorities such as parents or the Federal Aviation Administration.

Several years ago, when Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Tom Friedman was asked to choose which rising Asian nation, China or India, he’d bet the farm on, Friedman didn’t hesitate to pick India.

I leaned over and looked at my alarm clock.

In this column, the third in a series (http://www.agpolicy.org/articles19.htm, 998 and 999) that examines the operational challenges of the APAC/TFU (Agricultural Policy Analysis Center/Texas Farmers Union) supply management proposal (http://www.agpolicy.org/articles17.htm, 890-897)—original…