September 14, 2007
Cover Story
Dare To Share
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Liz Morrison
Iowa farmers Roger Zylstra and Bryce Engbers have a simple formula for efficiency: they share. Engbers and Zylstra have been sharing machinery and labor for more than 20 years... More
Features
Macromanaging Micronutrients
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Jen Bennett
While more bushels of corn may be a boon to the pocketbook, are they harming the soil? Not really, according to Emerson Nafziger, Extension agronomist... More
Meet Your Next Tank Of Gas
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Liz Morrison
Someday, your car might run on oline. Grasses are among the most promising new energy crops. Miscanthus, sorghum and switchgrass are all being developed as feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol... More
How Far Off Are Farm Robots?
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Susan Winsor
Are you ready to give up driving your tractor? Engineers are perfecting driverless autonomous, or independent, tractors and robots... More
Tried And True Cotton Marketing
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
Sell your cotton and buy calls. That's a strategy that has been successful time and time again, says Joe O'Neill, New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) senior vice president of marketing... More
Iowa Rules: New ASA and NCGA leaders sound off on the future.
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Greg Lamp
After this year's loss of 11 million soybean acres, it's no secret that new American Soybean Association (ASA) president John Hoffman is all about changing that scenario next year... More
Protecting Grain Is Savvy Investment
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Grain producers need to consider that question every fall, said Ted Funk, a University of Illinois Extension agricultural and biological engineer... More
Prices Keep Swinging
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
With an average price swing of up to 20 a day in corn futures, getting the 2007 crop marketed has been a chore for Ross Porter, his son, Curt, and other... More
Corn Ethanol In The Crosshairs
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By John Pocock
U.S. corn growers have some odd allies and uncharacteristic opponents in their efforts to maintain or expand the nation's ethanol production... More
Exploding Myths About Ethanol
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Ron Lamberty; American Coalition for Ethanol
Ever been hit up about ethanol questions you couldn't quite answer or defend? For example, mainstream media often questions the economic and environmental feasibility of ethanol. Here are some rebuttals that will help you explain the other side of these arguments... More
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
It's September 2006. Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures starts moving up, something uncommon at harvest. They push $3/bu. for '07, '08 and even '09... More
Southern Corn
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
Pray for rain. If you're a southern farmer without irrigation, or in some cases with, that's about the best advice Jean and Jeff Davis can give those who've foregone cotton in favor of the higher profit potential yielder corn... More
Is Cotton The Fabric Or Fuel Of Our Lives?
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
A nation thirsty for biofuels has everything from switchgrass to mesquite trees mentioned as a potential feedstock for ethanol or biodiesel production.... More
Options Are For Beans
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
John McFarland usually isn't sold on using options to market soybeans. But with $8/bu. on the table and the chance for higher prices in early 2008, he changed his mind this year... More
Strips Prove Profitable
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By John Pocock
Strip-till corn yields often are equal to or better than yields from corn grown under other common tillage systems, according to university research conducted... More
Combat Armyworms
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
They don't attack every year. But when they do, fall armyworms can cause major boll damage after they've chomped on your corn. To make it worse, Bt cotton... More
Farming For Carbon
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Jodi DeJong-Hughes
Carbon, especially carbon dioxide, has received a lot of attention from policy makers and the press lately. But what is carbon and how does crop management... More
My View
Don't Back Off On Low Cost
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Greg Lamp, Editor
You'd think $4 or even $3.50/bu. corn would allow you to sit back, kick your feet up and enjoy the ride. Hardly. The more responsible reaction, experts say... More
News
Largest Biodiesel Plant Opens
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
The biodiesel industry has come of age with the opening of Imperium Renewables' 100-million-gallon-per-year (mgy) biodiesel facility. The Grays Harbor, WA, plant will meet or exceed... More
Higher Nitrogen Prices
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
Further increases in natural gas prices could lead to a continuous decline in U.S. ammonia production, and a further increase in ammonia imports, USDA... More
Ethanol Production and Use Increasing
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
Ethanol demand in California is expected to nearly double. The California Air Resources Board has resolved that all gas sold in the state contain at least 10% ethanol... More
Minnesota Mandates B20 Biodiesel
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
Minnesota hopes to boost the level of biodiesel sold there from 2% today to 20% by 2015. Governor Tim Pawlenty will bring this B2 to B20 plan to the legislature... More
Ohio: 0 to 394 MGY
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
Ohio is the only major corn-producing state without any operating ethanol plants. Next year, though, up to five corn-based plants are expected to come online in the state... More
Ethanol from Sorghum Plants
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
Gulf Ethanol Corp. is pushing ahead with plans to build an ethanol refinery on the Texas coast that will use a new variety of sorghum expected to thrive... More
Farm Internet Use Rises
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | Compiled By Jen Bennett
Internet access on farms continues to increase and improve, USDA reports. Gains in high-speed access were noted versus its last survey in 2005... More
What I do for Fun
What I do for Fun: Clowning Around
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Karen Bernick
A smile spreads across a young girl's face as Yancy leans in for a hug. Nearby, a boy waves his arms in excitement as he toots Danno's gold, glinty horn... More
Our Farm
Big Jump In Our Acreage
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Tyler Bruch
The last time I wrote about Brazil was nearly five months ago, and a lot has changed and happened since then. Soybean harvest here finished up around the end of April; we had perfect weather at harvesttime, and only a few days of rain kept us out of the field... More
Brazil
New Friends, New Fuel
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By James Thompson
The food vs. fuel game has everyone dashing to take sides. On the pro-ethanol side, there's George Bush and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying ethanol is a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil... More
Products
New 23-36-Inch Disk Harrows
Sep 1, 2007 1:53 PM
Great Plains became a full-line tillage equipment company with the introduction of the 3000 and 4000 series disk harrows. Six models range in cutting width from... More
Tractor Engine Redesign
Sep 1, 2007 1:50 PM
Redesigned Agco RT Series Generation A tractors now incorporate an advanced engine design that boosts power, saves fuel and meets or exceeds latest EPA Tier III emission standards... More
Large 4WD Articulated Tractor
Sep 1, 2007 1:46 PM
The industry's largest 4WD articulated tractor, the MT900B, is available from Challenger. The line of tractors features Tier III-compliant Caterpillar ACERT engines ranging from... More
New Flail Shredder
The new Hiniker AR-2000 high-speed flail shredder is designed for high residue levels and tougher stalks... More
New Planters
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Kinze Manufacturing introduces two new planters: 3600 V Twin-Line: Available in 12-row N and 16-row N sizes with mechanical or vacuum seed metering... More
New Tractors
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM
McCormick International USA has expanded its XTX series tractors with the new XTX 145 (142 hp/139 pto hp) and XTX 165 (165 hp/155 pto hp). Both models... More
One-Man Harvesting
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup
In a year when corn acres are up and cotton acres are down by 20%, new combines can be slim pickins'. But cotton pickers, well, there might be some good bargains out there... More
Profits
Putting Your Plan To Use
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Moe Russell
In the last couple issues we discussed how to develop a simple and useful business plan that includes the key components of developing a vision statement, mission statement, objectives, goals and tactics... More
Global Financial Meltdown
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Alan Kluis
Farm prices and profits have been impacted by the recent volatility in global equity markets, but there may be a silver lining. The August crash in the sub-prime mortgage... More
Farmland - Worth Its Weight In Gold
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM | By Richard Brock
That statement could be close to correct. The rocket ship ride in farmland values over the last five years has many investors, analysts and farmers scratching their heads as to whether this trend can continue... More
