Mowing. It may be last on your to-do list, but the grass is relentless, especially after the moisture- rich winter the upper Midwest has experienced.
A survey of 2,000 Americans, who represent a sample of the U.S. population that opted to respond to a national poll, indicated that spiritual fulfillment may be the key to happiness. The poll was conducted in November 2022 by the market research company One Poll.
Do you remember the first time you told a joke and no one laughed?
The problem with land transition in the current marketplace is the amount of subsidization required for land purchases and the limited number of individuals who have the means to purchase the land at market value.
As of July 1, 2022, all-terrain vehicles and utility task vehicles, collectively known as Off-Road Vehicles, are legally allowed to be driven on unpaved county roads and many paved public roads under certain conditions in the state of Iowa.
As a 10-year-old boy, I enjoyed major league baseball. Sitting on the living room floor in front of the massive console television with a small, snowy 17-inch picture, I watched the baseball greats of the day — Mantle, Berra, Musial, Aaron, Banks, Maris, Williams.
While some might point to the return of red-wing blackbirds dive- bombing a local cattail ditch as a sure sign of spring, there’s a more reliable indicator: The appearance in late winter of compact tractor ads on early morning TV news programs.
His mother had named him Zedekiah, but his friends all called him Zeke.
A new Farm Bill is being developed by legislators in the House and Senate, along with input from lobbyists and the Biden administration. The current 2018 Farm Bill expires at the end of 2023.
Been running the planter tractor over the past couple of weeks or so? How fast were you putting seed in the ground — 8-, 10-mph, higher? Remember just a few years back your knuckles would turn white just bumping the speed up to 6 mph.
Mitigating issues before they become conflict is an important step in keeping land in your family. The instance of conflict has risen at an increasing rate in the last few years.
I am not a follower of Eastern religions, but there is an element of Buddhism in which I believe. It’s a phenomenon called “karma.”
Although stratospheric fertilizer prices have fallen back to earth over the past few months, the cost of N-P-K is still at historic highs. Seed prices also continue to defy gravity — where $400 a bag for today’s hybrids has become as commonplace as $3 eggs.
If you have spent time with young people working in agriculture, be it through FFA, 4-H or your own family, you probably came away feeling pretty good about the future of farming. That is certainly true for Gary Stripe in Garden Grove, Iowa, who is proud to have two grandsons, ages 19 and 15…
In the early years of my childhood home, my parents regularly conversed in Low German as did my grandparents and many other relatives. Their Low German was from East Friesland, and in that dialect it is called “plat duuts” (pronounced “plot doots”).
Sue watched as the sun flowed in the bedroom window illuminating the wall on the far side of the room. With the arrival of spring, there was a certain amount of excitement and anticipation of another new year.
We have found through trial and error over 30 years that there are three fundamental areas of concern in an estate and farm transition plan that each family should independently address — cost of administration, creditor protection and transition plans for land and operating assets.
While clearing nearly 6 inches of snow from my driveway recently, I got to thinking about my years of snow removal work. As close as I can determine, I’ve been removing (shoveling, pushing, snow blowing) snow for more than 65 years.
If you have ever caught a whiff of ammonia while cleaning your kitchen or bathroom, you will know it has a strong, pungent smell that resembles the smell of urine. Likewise, when you are outside you can smell anhydrous ammonia (or NH3) at low concentrations, around 25 ppm (parts per million).
It was an exciting day when Joe Jackson was born. The oldest of five kids, Joe was always a favorite of his father. He was even named after his father, and it didn’t take long before he became known as Little Joe. It was better than Joe Junior or just Junior.
With only a few weeks before the planters start to roll, a good number of Midwest growers use this lull to head to places like Arizona or Florida where they bask in the sunshine and warmth — and maybe even enjoy a few rounds of golf. Others, though, head to the National Farm Machinery Show i…
As a young advertising salesperson in Sioux City one of my clients was a local nursing home, and on this day I had an appointment with the administrator. Having arrived at the care center early for an 8 a.m. appointment, the receptionist asked me to have a seat in the solarium.
You’d think that when it comes to the oldest equipment category in agriculture — tillage — that most of the new ideas and innovation occurred decades ago. But new generation tillage tools are creating a new category of super- versatile tools — multi-talented, multi-season implements that mig…
Farming, logging, and forestry, were rated as the happiest, most meaningful, and least stressful by workers in these and 17 other occupations, according to an article in the January 6, 2023, edition of the Washington Post. The author, Andrew Van Dam, drew on survey data from the Bureau of La…
In 1992, I had the good fortune to meet my business mentor at my very first college interview. He told me 10 years in the future, I would be the same person that I was that day with the exception of the books I read and the people I would align with.