agriculture

The Minnesota Soybean and Research Council has funded a study at the University of Minnesota to look at the relationship between buckthorn density and soybean aphid populations. The long-term goal is to look at treatment and control of buckthorn to see if that will reduce soybean aphid populations...

Dandelions are an amazing flower, plant, weed, or whatever you want to call it. They produce a lot of seed that can be spread by the wind, grow year after year and produce so much seed that they can take over a lawn or an alfalfa field. One sign of an alfalfa field that is marginal because of age or winter kill is a lot of dandelions in it...

The Minnesota Pork Producers Association has been supporting the Ag Nuisance Lawsuit provision in the omnibus Ag Policy bill at the Minnesota Legislature. In a nutshell, the Ag Nuisance provision would protect a pork producer from lawsuits if it had been in operation for two years and was in compliance with all its permits...

Triton FFA member Sam Moening received one of the Minnesota FFA Association's highest awards, the 2017 Minnesota FFA Star in Production Placement. The awards ceremony was held Monday evening at the 88th annual Minnesota State FFA Convention...

With the decline in bee populations there is a lot of attention on the importance of bees pollinating a lot of fruit and vegetable crops. Many farmers are planting pollinator seed in some of their CRP acres to try and provide more habitat for the bees...

The 2017 Minnesota Grown Directory contains more than 1,000 listings, making it the largest directory ever. Issued by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the directory lists local growers and farmers markets. Minnesota products include fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, wines, nurseries, decor, Christmas trees, berries and more...

In March, the state of Kansas suffered devastating wildfires resulting in not only destruction to homes and buildings but also loss of life. Many farmers lost not only their animals but also their feed. The fire caused thousands of people to be evacuated as it stretched into 21 counties...

Farmers are hearing a lot in the news about the proposed law requiring that landowners will have to apply for a permit to mow the road ditch along state highways. In addition, mowing would not be permitted during the primary nesting season...

The University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system issued their annual study of farm income Wednesday. Across all types of Minnesota farms, the median net farm income was about $35,000, up from $27,000 in 2015...

The University of Minnesota Extension Service will be sponsoring the 12th annual Rice and Steele County Organic Crops Day this afternoon in Owatonna. The program will be held at the Steele County Community Center on the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna from 2:30-8PM...