Common Sense Agriculture's Blog

Demonizing companies and individuals through the use of misleading and false information is never productive. More times than not, fissures are created, within families, communities, states, the country and even the world. It is very acceptable to question actions and results, but let us remember to remain objective in our assessment, research the origins of the information and pass on only that which is true. Passing this type of information along, without doing research on it, is just as irresponsible as passing along an email that says the world will end if you don’t forward to your whole address book.

I have seen a number of people posting on Facebook and Twitter lately, that they have signed one of a couple of petitions currently circulating with a host of claims against Monsanto. Many of these people I consider to be friends and respect. I felt inclined to write this post to provide some additional information in order to clarify several of the accusations that are being claimed. I, for one, as a small farmer and rancher, am very grateful for the work that work that Monsanto and others are doing to help farmers be more efficient and holistic in their management opportunities.

Read more…

I have written in other posts on my thoughts regarding the Farm Bill. Once again, we have the opportunity to make changes that could turn a program into a true safety net…meaning it would send producers back up, after falling, not catch them and not let go, or worse yet, promote a state of long-term dependence.

Being from California, I suspect I have a slightly different perspective on the issue of crop insurance. However, I also believe that there are others, particularly in Florida and Michigan, to name a few, who have some similar thoughts. I mention this because of our tremendous diversity in crops grown, many of which do not even qualify for support from the current or past Farm Bills. Read more…

When I saw the article on Yahoo last week, ‘College Majors That Are Useless,’ I was reminded of some thoughts I had last May when it first ran on another site. After digging around my laptop a bit, I finally found some notes I had jotted down.

First and foremost, I do not believe that ‘Agricultural Degrees’ are “useless.” However, unlike many, rather than compose a response that points out the value of such a degree, I was struck with the thought, “could agricultural degrees be MORE useful?”

For that matter, could all degrees be more useful?

Personally, I think a quality and broad education, no matter the “degree” associated with it, is only useful if the person is able and willing to apply what they have learned. (But that is another post.)

For the purpose of this post, I am referring to all agriculturally related degrees: animal science, crop science, soil science, agricultural business, horticulture, etc.

Keeping in mind, that agriculture is an ever-changing industry, constantly developing and implementing new technology, becoming more efficient and modifying production practices; are colleges offering and requiring courses for their degree programs that are relevant? Read more…

I can’t help but shake my head in disbelief at some of the responses coming from some in the agricultural community in regards to the article in Yahoo News that listed the “College Majors That Are Useless.”

I am particularly disappointed when I see individuals who are “teaching” others how to utilize social media to agvocate and individuals who have attended training’s, react in such a way.

This article and the one last May were wonderful opportunities to respond in a positive manner and encourage dialogue and conversation on the topic.

However, what ensued were multiple comments, tweets and responses on Facebook that were little more than shouting and bragging…not productive. Read more…

I finished discing  the evening before having to leave for a bull sale. The long range forecast was calling for precipitation in five days…three days at the sale would leave me two days to get the wheat drilled before the rain/snow began to fall…if the meteorologist was correct.

Tractor, Roterra, Drill, Cultipacker

Since I was planting wheat, an annual and not alfalfa or pasture, I did not run a box scraper or land plane following discing. Instead, I hooked up a roterra, followed by the drill, followed by the cultipacker.

The roterra is PTO driven and further breaks up the remaining sod clods and then gently packs the soil in front of the drill. The drill then lays the seed in a small furrow, 2″ deep for red wheat in our soil. The cultipacker then follows the drill and packs the soil on top of the seed. Read more…