http://www.thelandonline.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:22:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_184131953.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/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 03:07:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_183172434.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_183172434.html The “Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008,” which is more commonly known as the new farm bill, is now law. Here are some some common questions about it. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:04:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_170173920.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_170173920.html The Conservation Reserve Program was originally established in the 1985 farm bill, and today has over 400,000 landowners participating, most of who are farmers and ranchers, and involves nearly 35 million acres under some type of CRP contract. Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:26:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_168133854.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_168133854.html Funding is available to individuals and organizations recently hit by natural disasters in several states in the Midwest, including areas of southeastern Minnesota impacted by recent flooding. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:22:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151170639.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151170639.html “We’re hopeful that it should remain a good year for the Minnesota dairy farmer, and it will if milk prices stay where they are right now and feed costs don’t suddenly start surging due to some unpredictable weather happenings." Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:21:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151164637.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151164637.html Farm business management instructors get to look at the agricultural industry from a strict look at the numbers, removing the emotion that tints an individual producer’s view. Riverland Community College's Tom Anderson offered his views on Minnesota's dairy industry. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:20:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151163651.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151163651.html Fifteen months and so far it’s working OK. That’s how McLeod County dairy farmer Del Benjamin, describes his DeLaval Voluntary Milking System robotic unit. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:16:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151155136.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_151155136.html German-Prussian politician Otto von Bismarck once said, “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” With the recent completion of the 2007 farm bill, that saying took on greater significance. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:14:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150162129.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150162129.html According to two documents posted on Sen. Charles Grassley’s congressional website, the “grassroots” anti-ethanol media blitz that’s hitched today’s climbing food prices to farmer-backed biofuels is as fake as Astroturf. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:13:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150154908.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150154908.html Markets for sustainable and organic products are exploding and creating new opportunities to keep farmers on the land and get new farmers started. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:12:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150154542.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150154542.html If there is one thing I’ve learned from my dealings with economists over the years, it’s that their work is very complicated and it’s easy for even the smartest people to make incorrect assumptions if they overlook key factors. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:11:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150154215.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150154215.html It seems that many who are looking for the cause of rising food costs are looking to the perceived “easy” answer, biofuels, without looking at the complex, global, bigger picture. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:10:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150153859.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150153859.html In a world of finger pointing, farmers have had to shoulder the blame for the increased costs of food, when in reality, the facts point to other influences that contribute to the rising costs. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:09:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150153557.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150153557.html A firestorm of negative media about the ethanol industry seems to have become the current rage. The issue is usually presented as a moral controversy by casting it in terms of “food versus fuel.” To portray a complex issue in simplistic moral terms is to trivialize it. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:04:00 +0000 http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150152414.html http://www.thelandonline.com/l_economy_tech/local_story_150152414.html The fact that a farm bill is so encompassing, ranging from commodity to nutrition programs, from conservation to trade programs, from rural development to renewable energy programs, etc., helps garner a wide range of support for most farm bills.