agriculture

With the decline in bee populations there is a lot of attention on the importance of bees pollinating a lot of fruit and vegetable crops. Many farmers are planting pollinator seed in some of their CRP acres to try and provide more habitat for the bees...

The 2017 Minnesota Grown Directory contains more than 1,000 listings, making it the largest directory ever. Issued by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the directory lists local growers and farmers markets. Minnesota products include fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, wines, nurseries, decor, Christmas trees, berries and more...

There is still a lot of confusion with the Minnesota buffer law and just what practices are approved for the buffer strips. "Minnesota's buffer law is designed to be flexible while delivering improved water quality benefits for future generations" Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources Executive Director John Jaschke said...

In March, the state of Kansas suffered devastating wildfires resulting in not only destruction to homes and buildings but also loss of life. Many farmers lost not only their animals but also their feed. The fire caused thousands of people to be evacuated as it stretched into 21 counties...

Farmers are hearing a lot in the news about the proposed law requiring that landowners will have to apply for a permit to mow the road ditch along state highways. In addition, mowing would not be permitted during the primary nesting season...

The University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system issued their annual study of farm income Wednesday. Across all types of Minnesota farms, the median net farm income was about $35,000, up from $27,000 in 2015...

The University of Minnesota Extension Service will be sponsoring the 12th annual Rice and Steele County Organic Crops Day this afternoon in Owatonna. The program will be held at the Steele County Community Center on the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna from 2:30-8PM...

This morning I was at the Steele County Corn and Soybean Growers annual meeting in Owatonna. There was a short business meeting and reports from our regional representatives from the Minnesota Corn Growers and Minnesota Soybean Growers associations...

The Steele County Corn and Soybean Growers will hold their annual meeting this morning at the VFW in Owatonna. There will be a short business meeting and then the speakers. Lisa Behnken will be there to talk about weed management and resistance; there will be a talk on using the new Round-Up ready 2 Xtend technology...

It was a great 2017 North American Farm and Power Show in Owatonna this week! In terms of attendance it had to be one of the best in many years. Because the show is free there are no hard numbers on attendance. However, every year I get to the show at the same time every morning...