How Brazilian Big Agriculture is Destroying the Brazilian Amazon

The rampant deforestation of the Amazon began in the 1970s when the government of Brazil determined they needed to build over 9,000 miles of roads help integrate the rainforest with the populated bordering areas. As the…

Blockchain Technology: A Lifeline to Small-Scale Farmers

Technology has been an integral part of agriculture since at least 5,000 years ago, documented through the use of ploughs in ancient Sumeria. Today, drone and GPS farming is old news.

Recent College Grad? Why Now Is The Perfect Time To Pursue A Career In Farming

The U.S. agricultural industry finds itself at a precarious professional crossroads. Recent decades have resulted in a steady and significant decline in the number of working farmers in our…

How to Source Farm Interns

The Keenans were up to their elbows in infrastructure projects, animal husbandry, and a burgeoning farmstay business, and needed help in a bad way. Balancing a post and beam, lime plaster home construction project against caretaking goats and chickens, while juggling four human…

Health Insurance — Options for one of America’s most dangerous occupations

Farming is a risky business. But this article isn’t about the financial side of things. Instead, it is a physically risky business. Farming ranks in the top ten most dangerous occupations in the United…

Value Added Products — The future for farms of all sizes?

Many farmers have felt the pinch of falling food prices over the past year. Some sectors of the ag industry, especially dairy, are in a free fall, with our fellow farm friends hurting badly as low prices, consolidation, and other…

Irrigation Preventative Maintenance and Start-up

Ben Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” -This practice can be applied to many aspects of your life and business, and certainly applies to irrigation on your farm and money in your wallet..

On the Offensive with Cover Crops

In the past few years, we have made a concerted effort to increase the usage of cover crops and other conservation practices on our farm. I have learned a lot of lessons from this experience but one stands out above the rest. Being a good steward of the environment and…

Become more profitable by understanding and controlling transaction costs

Imagine your farm or business handles six hundred thousand dollars per year. The transactions vary in size from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars for the most part. Thousands and thousands of…

Profit per? Ways to think about, measure, and factors that impact fruit and vegetable profits

Profit. It is what all good farmers are after. Unfortunately, it is something the majority don’t achieve. There are a number of ways to look at profit and a number of…

Controlling input costs — one of the best returns on investment

The importance of controlling your costs

One of my favorite stories involves a lady and a farmer. The farmer sold milk right off the farm for about $4.00 a gallon. The lady would, each week, load…