Articles

Area farmers raise crop insurance coverage levels

Area crop insurance agents are breathing a little easier this week. Many area farmers, for their part, are paying a little more for crop insurance than they did in 2012, while other producers are paying a little less.

New technology could improve confinement livestock efficiency

It’s called electrostatic particle ionization and an Olivia, Minn., company says the technology can help confinement livestock producers be more efficient.

Fewer family farms

The U.S. Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, illustrates the big decline in small farms.

• Disappearing dairies
• Long dairy decline

Long dairy decline

Cow numbers in the Upper Midwest have dropped through the decades.

• Rahlf brothers' cows
• Disappearing dairies
• Fewer family farms

Disappearing dairies

A small North Dakota dairy farm closes, and a once-common way of life is almost gone.

• Long dairy decline
• Fewer family farms
• Rahlf brothers' dairy barn
• Binford.JPG
• Rahlf family
• Dairy equipment
• Calf
• Zion Lutheran Church

A sure sign of spring

Twin calves arrive on the Johnson farm and calving is under way in earnest in region.

USDA suspends some ag reports

Potatoes and pulse crops are among industries affected.

USDA suspends some statistical reports

The list includes the potato stocks report.

Busy time for crop insurers

March 15 is a key crop insurance deadline.

Steak: The new lobster?

Beef industry wonders if some consumers will balk at paying high prices.

Columns

Enjoy the good times, but don’t get carried away

I don’t know if the past few years have been the best stretch ever for farmers on the Northern Plains.

Ag needs young blood in rural areas

Sure, wheat, corn and cattle are common on the Northern Plains, but the prairie’s leading staple may be gray hair.

Good years in agriculture require public relations skills

The past few years have been pretty sweet for many area farmers. Yes, some producers, especially ones with livestock, have struggled through no fault of their own. And yes, many producers, again through no fault of their own, sold a lot of grain too soon or too late and missed the best prices.

Farmers no longer have the region to themselves

If you’re closely connected to agriculture on the Northern Plains, you’ve almost certainly come to this unpleasant conclusion: A growing number of area residents know little about ag and care even less.

That special season returns

There’s nothing quite like harvest on the Northern Plains. If you’re a pragmatist, you enjoy harvest because it’s when the money rolls in.

Of summers green and brown

One summer years ago, when I was still a farm kid, central North Dakota was gripped by drought.