This Week in Ag #35

October 10, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Last week I was a guest on the TopSoil Webinar series hosted by Mitchell Hora of Continuum Ag (you can check it out here). I mentioned how western growers seem further along in their regenerative agriculture journey. That’s largely driven by regional attitudes and the food companies, who have pledged to sell products grown using regen ag practices. This has motivated growers of crops such as potatoes, onions, apples, and blueberries to hasten their adoption. But in the Heartland, where commodity crops fill the landscape, these growers have lacked many of the market-driven economic incentives. Until now. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #34

October 3, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Earl Butz, one of the most famous and popular US Secretaries of Agriculture, once told me that a key competitive advantage for US farmers in the global marketplace is our built-in natural infrastructure. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #33

September 26, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

In commodity crop production, we talk a lot about bushels per acre. Because that’s how farmers get paid. But what exactly does bushels per acre mean? A bushel is the unit of measure we use in the USA (other parts of the world use tons or metric tons) to calculate yield, verify shipments and set pricing standards for crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, canola, rice and sorghum. There’s a good chance your grandparents had a bushel basket laying around their house, garage, or barn. If you were to fill that basket to the brim with corn, you’d have one bushel’s worth. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #32

September 19, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Everyone remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. One of my most vivid memories was the week after. I was farming with my dad at the time. He had just started cutting soybeans in a field owned by my wife’s family, situated next to Interstate 74 in western Illinois. I was driving to the field to meet him and take a load into the elevator, but I couldn’t help but hear a steady cadence of horns blasting from the cars and trucks traveling along the adjacent interstate. Then I noticed several hands waving at him, from those passersby. As I drove closer to the combine, I felt goosebumps, then a sense of pride rushed over me. Instantly, I knew what all the fuss was about. Dad had affixed an American flag to the grain platform of our combine. And a brisk autumn wind waved Old Glory across the scenic backdrop of the family farm. This was truly a vision of Americana. At the perfect time. Today, you see a fair number of farmers displaying the Stars & Stripes on their equipment, which always brings a smile to my face and a memory to my heart. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #31

September 12, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

#Harvest23 is here! If all goes well, I should be harvesting my corn plot this week. The beginning of fall brings excitement and optimism to the farm. But this year, those feelings appear tempered. Farmer sentiment dropped 8 points last month  (according to the Purdue Ag Economy Barometer) as producers shared a dimming view of happenings on their own farms as well as the ag economy. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #18

June 13, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

In the sports of track and swimming, relay races are often the most exciting events of the meets. You know the concept: a team of usually four athletes races as they follow each other in succession, showcasing performance and precision. For a split moment, while handing a baton or projecting yourself toward the pool as your teammate touches the wall (while your toe remains on the block) both athletes are simultaneously performing. There’s a similar practice in farming called relay cropping. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #12

May 2, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics, Inc.

#Plant23 is well underway. From the time seeds are sown, how many days should it take for crops to emerge? That can vary greatly, from days to weeks. But for many crops, it’s not really about calendar days, but Growing Degree Days (GDD). [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #9

April 11, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics, Inc.

Regenerative agriculture is not some passing fad. It’s now a movement. And it’s here to stay. How can we be sure? Just look at who’s driving it. Unlike well-intentioned predecessors, such as LISA (Low Input Sustainable Agriculture), regen ag has a financial benefactor: food companies. From lofty goals articulated by their CEOs to multi-million-dollar investments, consumer brands are rushing to attach their name to nature-based growing practices. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #8

April 4, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics, Inc.

Farmers love to grow corn. Only twice in modern history has corn not held the title of the most-grown crop in the USA. That was in 2018 and (if you count it) 1983, when the government’s PIK program artificially swayed planting practices. Spurred by record fertilizer prices, many projected soybeans would overtake corn last year in their annual acreage tug-of-war. But the allure of maize once again prevailed. [Read more…]

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This Week in Ag #7

March 28, 2023 by

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics, Inc.

For most farmers, April means the start of planting season. It’s a lot like opening day for a baseball team: heavy planning, great excitement and anticipation, lots of optimism and more than a few watch outs. So when exactly do farmers start planting? While they all have a plan, Mother Nature usually has the final say. There is an art and science to determining when to first drop the planter. Here are some key factors that determine the right time. [Read more…]

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