http://www.thelandonline.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:31:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214153022.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214153022.html When you’re cranking through a few hundred acres of crops each spring, being able to plant one of those crops ahead of corn and soybeans stretches out the efficiency of both your machinery and your time. For Mike Macik of Hector, vegetable crops have been part of his annual crop plan every year since he started farming in 1979. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:25:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214152632.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214152632.html “We’re sitting in what I would almost call the garden zone of the Midwest right now,” said Birds Eye Food's Aaron Skogen, referring to the mostly good to excellent condition of Minnesota’s pea and sweet corn crops in early July. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:22:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214152341.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214152341.html It’s a few miles down the road, but eventually Minnesota wind turbines could also be producing hydrogen fuel to power your automobile. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:07:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214150652.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214150652.html The Land crossword: July 25-Aug. 1, 2008 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:02:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214150140.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214150140.html Kids' Corner: July 25-Aug. 1, 2008 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:58:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214145752.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_214145752.html It’s time Minnesotans did something about their legislature; the 1902 legislature. That year our representatives in St. Paul made the showy pink and white lady slipper our state flower. The north country’s largest orchid may not have been the wisest choice. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:18:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206114653.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206114653.html With Washington summer heat just beginning and flooded fields continuing to harass many Midwest farming areas, a June visit with two American Farm Bureau Federation economists in their Washington office generated interesting observations. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:17:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206114357.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206114357.html While most people were enjoying the parades, picnics and fireworks that are the 4th of July, Dale Mischke was baling hay. Actually, he had been “baling for five days straight,” Mischke said, when The Land talked to him on July 6. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:16:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206114138.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206114138.html Catching a few moments with a 400-cow dairy farmer who also irrigates is about like squeezing your way into the FSA office without an appointment. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:15:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206102120.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_206102120.html With 62 inventors and 67 inventions at this year’s Minnesota Inventors Congress, the inventions included a wide range of ideas — some simple, some unusual and some of the “why didn’t I think of that?” persuasion. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:14:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_205174414.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_205174414.html Who would suspect that a premier auto builder is headquartered in southwestern Minnesota? Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:24:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184132456.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184132456.html Nestled in a heavily wooded area just outside New London, the country home of Graden and Becky West is virtually 100 percent energy efficient thanks to a rotating solar panel that follows the sun. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:23:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184132314.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184132314.html “(Solar, wind and geothermal) are the only real renewables out there, and as petroleum energy sources continue to ratchet upwards, these three energy sources are generating a whole new audience of interest.” Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:22:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184131953.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184131953.html Despite the price of corn, the nay-sayers rumblings about using corn for fuel, the headlines about world food price concerns, even rumors of shut downs of ethanol plants, despite all the chatter the renewable fuels industry continues to grow across America. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:21:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184131645.html http://www.thelandonline.com/features/local_story_184131645.html A research project conducted at Iowa State University in Ames and the University of Hawaii at Manoa could be the breakthrough to put ethanol back into the spotlight as a major energy winner.