THOUGHT PIECES

The California Department of Water Resources announced that snowpack levels have reached nearly 250%, the Globe reported Tuesday. Specifically, the Northern Sierra region is currently at 209% of snowpack, with the Central Sierra/Tahoe region coming in at 246%, and the Southern Sierra region, which largely feeds the Central Valley and Southern areas of the state,… Silicon Valley Has 20-40 Inches of Rain, Flooding, But Clings to ‘Severe Drought’

Old MacDonald had a farm…and it’s gonna need a bigger trophy case. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Celtics power forward Blake Griffin, Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman, Islanders winger Anders Lee, and several other professional athletes have teamed up to purchase a farm in Iowa. The farm in question is 104 acres and produces corn and… Joe Burrow, Blake Griffin Team Up to Buy $5 Million Farm in Iowa

Buying a plot of land in rural America has never been so expensive. And that’s even with soaring interest rates. Rising commodity prices mean farmers made record amounts of money this year, spurring a rush for space to plant in 2023. More demand comes just as people fled to the countryside during the pandemic —… US Farmland Escapes Real Estate Slump as Prices Soar to Record

Among the many politically polarizing issues of the day is climate change. A multitude of claims — many unsubstantiated — are made by both the “doom and gloomers” as well as the deniers. Alan Rotz is an agricultural engineer with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service based in University Park, Pa. He proposes we follow the science… Climate change may boost alfalfa yields

James and Deaver Traywick are head high — and then some — in a late-spring field of broom-bristle-thick cover crops on their farm, near Cope, South Carolina. They are just days from planting the acres to cotton and will have to flatten a mix of rye, crimson clover and tillage radish to do so. In… Farm Climate Smart – 7 The New Cash Crop: Farmers Venture Into Carbon-Sequestration Market

Skye Root named 2022 Professional Farm Manager of the Year: syngenta-us.com Farm Manager of the Year: Built to Serve As a Bridge: thedailyscoop.com Farm Manager of the Year: Built to Serve As a Bridge: agweb.com Congratulations to our very own Skye Root, founder of Root Agricultural Advisory, who was named the 2022 Professional Farm Manager of… 2022 ASFMRA Farm Manager of the Year – Skye Root

INDIANOLA, Iowa (DTN) — Despite rising interest rates and higher input costs, the farmland market across the Midwest remains strong, although not quite as robust as last fall. “You can still have a record land sale, but not every sale will set a record,” said Doug Hensley, president of Hertz Real Estate Services based in… Farmland Values Set Records Farmland Prices Expected to Stay Strong in 2023

On an early August morning in California’s Imperial Valley, tractors rumble across verdant fields of alfalfa, mowing down the tall plant and leaving it to dry in shaggy heaps under the hot sun. Here, in one of the oldest farming communities in the Colorado River basin, the forage crop is king. One out of every… It’s the thirstiest crop in the US south-west. Will the drought put alfalfa farmers out of business?

Farmers will need to feed an estimated 9.8 billion people worldwide by 2050, and to help in that effort, Oregon State University researchers are trying to expand the use of robots in agriculture. Joe Davidson, Assistant Professor of Robotics, said nearly all fruit is harvested by humans because robots don’t operate efficiently in unstructured environments.… OSU LOOKING TO EXPAND ROBOTICS IN FARMIN

The North American Monsoon hit the southwestern United States this past week, bringing a modicum of drought relief, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and eastern California saw some relief, as did central Montana. Meanwhile, in the Heartland, localized heavy rains brought spotty improvement and record disastrous flooding in St.… Drought conditions hold steady across the U.S. with some spotty relief