4 Ways to Get More Value Out of Agriculture Equipment and Technology
Looking and planning ahead to this winter, we can make the most out of the tagalong equipment and technology that may be around for several more years. Agronomic and technological tools are often thought of as too expensive or inaccessible, but there are many ways to upgrade equipment without buying brand now.
Looking and planning ahead to this winter, we can make the most out of the tagalong equipment and technology that may be around for several more years. Agronomic and technological tools are often thought of as too expensive or inaccessible, but there are many ways to upgrade equipment without buying brand now.
5 Ways Precision Ag Can Benefit Growers
Precision ag has been a hot topic in the farming industry since the early 1990s, coinciding with the universal adoption of GPS (global positioning systems) and rapid growth of computing power. If a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle had advanced at the pace of personal computers over the past 34 years, today we could go 300,000 miles per hour with that car and get 2 million miles per gallon of gas — all for the mere cost of 4 cents. And GPS technology not only allows us to get quick and easy driving directions on our cell phones and fuel hundreds of everyday business and personal uses, but it also gives us new ways to better manage farm data and applications.
Adding extra value to dry fertilizer
Few combinations benefit improved pastures and hay fields as much as fertilizer with weed control.
It’s been common to include herbicide with liquid fertilizer, but more recently, it’s become possible with dry fertilizer in select states.
Advice for Growing Strawberries in 2020
It’s the time of year when strawberries should begin to wake up from their winter dormancy. Wait! Did we even have a winter?!? Did the strawberries even go dormant?
A new twist on talc
A rare Arctic weather system dipped into the deep South in mid-February, plunging temperatures into historic lows and covering much of West and Middle Tennessee in a dangerous layer of snow and ice. While most Tennesseans hunkered down in the safety of their homes, farmers like Gibson County row-cropper Ryan Sims headed for their shops, preparing their machinery and planning for the upcoming planting season.
Another good year in the books
Three Tennessee farms are flourishing thanks to hard work, family input, and local Co-ops.
An ounce of prevention
The first seven months of 2022 have evaporated, and mid-South farmers now find themselves within a stone’s throw of harvest season. Gone are the days of relying on time-worn hunches, a can of WD-40, and the Farmer’s Almanac when preparing for the season. In today’s high-tech farming, a pre-harvest checklist for combine set-up and calibration is mandatory for producing the accurate data that will inform next year’s high yields.
Answer Plots
As summer winds down and we move closer to fall, many farmers occasionally find themselves with a little extra time on their hands. No doubt many of you will enjoy some much-needed time away from the farm during this “lull” between the crops being laid by and the beginning of harvest. However, sometimes breaking away from our normal everyday is an essential part developing new ideas and ways of thinking that can make us better. Spending a few hours at your local Answer Plot with your Co-op sales person can be a great way to experience a change of scenery and do some hands-on learning while sharpening your agronomic skills.
A Year in Review -- Forages
Brett Jones, an agronomist for Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, shares his statewide take-aways from the 2019 hay season.