AgDaily

1 week ago | agdaily.com | Liza Thuy Nguyen

With today’s rising agricultural input costs narrowing the already razor-thin profit margins that producers face, many are looking for innovative ways to ensure a healthy and high yield for their crop. So some growers are exploring biological products, naturally derived substances that have been used for centuries to control pests and ensure crop productivity. These products can be as simple as homemade compost, or more commercialized products like Advancing Eco Agriculture’s suite of offerings.

1 week ago | agdaily.com | Frida Garza

“This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.”In parts of California’s Central Valley, so much groundwater has been pumped out of the ground to deal with the region’s persistent drought that the land is starting to sink in. Underground aquifers — layers of sand, gravel, clay, and water — are vital resources that communities can turn to when surface water is scarce.

1 week ago | agdaily.com | Heidi Crnkovic

By May, not just flowers start blooming all over the countryside — so do straw cowboy hats. Traditionally, the transition from felt to straw hats happens at Easter and lasts up to Labor Day, which coincides with rising temperatures and longer days. But as is typical with all things cowboy, practicality trumps tradition. Some swap out simply depending on the weather rather than the calendar.

1 week ago | agdaily.com | Ryan Tipps

No matter whether your farm is big or small, commercial or hobby, or focused on crops or livestock, there’s one tool that people in the agricultural industry universally carry: a knife. That trusty sharpened blade has a multitude of uses, and it’s rare that you’ll ever see me without one on my hip. While we all have personal preferences about blade shape and choosing a fixed blade vs. a folding knife, it’s not uncommon to hear the question asked: Which are the best knives for farmers and ranchers?

2 weeks ago | agdaily.com | Cami Koons

WARREN COUNTY, Iowa — Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor and the U.S. secretary of agriculture during the Obama and Biden administrations, spoke Tuesday with farmers and rural Iowans about his ideas to grow rural communities. In the pine-paneled Middleswart Lodge, looking out over Lake Ahquabi State Park, Vilsack explained policies he started, and hoped would continue, that make a farm — rather than a farmer — work harder.