Four basic inputs are required for successful crop production: solar radiation, moisture, warmth (soil and air) and soil nutrients. All equally important, if any one factor is seriously limiting, crop production is greatly undermined. The input category threatened most by wildfire smoke is solar rad...

With recent acceleration of the digital world and artificial intelligence (AI) seeing increased use in nearly every industry, there’s a growing need for data centers to manage the processing, storage and transmission of digital information. Data centers require significant land, power and water, and...

Planning on hosting a music festival on your commercial farm? Or a wedding? Or a different agritourism event? According to Lindsey Pashow, to reduce the chance of agritourism-related conflicts with municipalities and neighbors, there are several factors to consider. Pashow is an agriculture business...

Reflective safety vests, flannel shirts and calloused hands are the staples of putting water quality practices on the ground for the residents and watersheds in Madison County. For the 15th year, the Madison County Soil & Water Conservation District celebrated the many work collaborations and connec...

Normally I try to give crop-growing readers an update on the global fertilizer situation once every quarter. I get much of my information from an online industry publication titled “Argus North American Fertilizer Newsletter.” My friend and associate Jeff Cassim subscribes to this twice-monthly peri...

The American Dairy Coalition , which focuses on federal dairy policy, met virtually this December to wrap up 2025 and look ahead to 2026. GT Thompson, chair of the House Ag Committee, opened the session. “It’s an exciting time for dairy,” said Thompson. “A lot of good things are happening. We will b...

"About 25% of a dairy’s production costs are going to be in raising heifer replacements. So, they are not actually paying the bills right now, but they are costing a fair amount of money,” said Gail Carpenter. Carpenter is an assistant professor of Extension and outreach in the Department of Animal ...

“Coming down and kicking the tires” on something is a colloquial invitation for someone to come and inspect or test a product or service before buying it. For farmers and the folks who help them, this premise extends to the practice of bale grazing on the land. Whether in a checkerboard pattern, rol...

The Dec. 10, 2025 issue of Country Folks listed 11 advertisements for hay crops, one of which was for organic hay. This is relevant, because one year ago our paper posted approximately 30 hay crop ads, roughly 10 of which were for organic forages. I believe that these numbers provide a report card o...

This year’s Keystone Farm Show is one of the largest in its 28-year history. Started in 1998, the Keystone Farm Show carved out an important marketing niche for the agri-businesses in Pennsylvania. While the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg is a great show to educate the people about the importa...

"More than 70% of cyber attacks are aimed at businesses with less than 100 employees. "They’re not going for the big guys because the big guys can afford the big cybersecurity firms,” said IRS employee Sheba Gonzalez. At an event hosted by USDA, Gonzalez and her colleagues, all IRS specialists in ta...

When Dr. Jennie Ivey was doing graduate work at West Virginia University in 2008, she saw many emaciated horses and became interested in what happens in horses’ bodies during reduced nutrient intake. Today, Ivey, associate professor of animal science at the University Tennessee, helps teach horse ow...

Benjamin Barnett’s grandfather started a dairy farm in Pennsylvania in 1952 with $1,200 and 14 cows. Today the farm is 700 acres and 200 cows. “It still wasn’t big enough for me to stay when I graduated college,” said Barnett, who operates the farm today with his wife Kelsey. “I went to work as a ma...

In a forward-focused webinar presented by the International Dairy, Deli & Bakery Association (IDDBA), Dr. Armin Pearn delivered a resonant message about the future of dairy farming. As a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and the head of data science and strategic marketing for Dairy Data Warehouse (DDW)...

Pest management is one of the most pernicious problems faced by farmers, thanks to the fact that we are not alone in what we consider to be delicious and nutritious. Bugs, slugs and mice think our fields have been grown as an all-you-can-eat buffets just for them, and defending crops against their b...