I take a great deal of pride announcing that Agren is one of the newest members of Field to Market. For those of you that don’t know about the organization, you should take a look under their hood. Field to Market represents all facets of the U.S. agricultural supply chain; providing an unparalleled platform that helps define, measure, and advance the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production. It is an organization I have watched for the past 3 or 4 years. After attending several of their meetings, we felt obliged to support their …
Be the Expert
It is your turn to be the expert!Alright, get ready. Generally I write the blog post, you read the blog post, and I have no idea what you think. This time I challenge you to read the post and then expend some effort. Yes, I want your feedback. Now read on, and don’t wimp out on me.Recently the Environmental Working Group (EWG) published a report entitled, Fooling Ourselves: Voluntary Programs Fail to Clean Up Dirty Water. If you haven’t read the report, you should. It focuses on Iowa, but I am sure it can be applied to almost any state. …
Top 5 Scary Conservation Math Facts
Do you dread the 5 words “just do the math” like I do? As a high school student, I hated those words. Let’s just say I was mathematically challenged. Yes me, mathematically challenged! As proof, I will let you in on a little secret. I ended my first quarter in Algebra II with an F. (Fortunately, I still learned enough to do simple algebra.)If you haven’t done the math on conservation, I encourage you to do so. I will tell you it is scary, really scary.Here are my Top 5 Scary Math Facts for Conservation.5. Current Funding Levels Aren't …
Ag’s Impossible To-do List
Have you ever felt like you're responsible for completing an impossible to-do list? Who hasn't, right?I can vividly remember one day earlier this year when I attempted to type a list of all of the things (both personally and professionally) that I wanted to accomplish every day. I still have the list... it has 15 items. As a number, 15 doesn't really seem like that many. But, these weren't everyday obvious things. The words on my list weren't brush teeth, pay bills, empty Inbox, or feed kids. Next to each check box were phrases like learn …
Sustainability — the crop input of tomorrow
The business of farming is changing. Consumers are demanding sustainably produced food, the global population is exploding, issues such as hypoxia, algae blooms and climate change are dominating the news, and the threat of environmental regulation looms near. As the call for more conservation practices continues to rise, growers will increasingly turn to their trusted service providers (their ag retailer) for assistance. In my conversations with ag retail leadership, it is obvious they are becoming acutely aware of the need to implement …
Starting the Conversation
A recent study established 60% of Iowa farmers say fertilizer dealers should do more to help their clients address nutrient loss. Obviously, farmers are looking for information and they want their ag retailer’s help. Even though retail agronomists admit they should be talking to farmers about conservation, they are not quite sure how to bring it up with their clients. They tell me they are uncomfortable with the topic and aren’t sure how their growers will react. The research bears that out. In a recent study by the Minnesota Freshwater …