Columns

A broken research funding system encourages short-term thinking 
combined with research funding cuts is bad news all around

This piece is not just about agriculture but includes the broader scientific community. I see trouble brewing in science and fear that research funding will be further cut, to the detriment of our long-term health and welfare. You have all seen the picture of the elephant with a few folks scattered around the various parts […] Read more

When we experience a wet May you often hear someone say, “the crop will be shallow rooted because the moisture is near the surface and the crop doesn’t have to root down.” With a soil probe, I’ve seen for many years that a crop roots down very nicely in soil at the field capacity moisture […] Read more

While we are swimming in water, many parts south of the 49th parallel are parched. Significant parts of Great Plains agriculture rely on irrigation, and much of that comes from underground. Drought in the U.S. The Ogallala Aquifer underlies parts of eight U.S. states. There are 13.6 million acres irrigated in that region. The big three states […] Read more