Around Farm Progress

Anyone looking at key stats in agriculture know that change is coming. The average age of the American farmer tops 57, raising the question: "Who's taking over this business?"

There are new, younger farmers entering the business. They're working hard to be part of the industry and while some are joining the family operation, often bringing new business opportunities, others are first-generation farmers entering ag for the first time. Mindy Ward, Missouri Ruralist, shares some of those stories, and discusses a new project at Farm Progress focused on these next-generation farmers.

Creating an autonomy-based business for agriculture is no easy task, but Raven Autonomy is investing in the market. Recently, the company announced its new brand for autonomy – OMNi. Farm Progress wanted more information, so we caught up with Dominic Walkes, director of strategic initiatives for Raven Autonomy.

He shares insights on the new branding strategy, and talks about the fieldwork done in 2020 in advance of full launches for two major products – the DOT Technology driverless tractor, now known as OMNiPOWER; and AutoCart, the driverless tractor/grain cart system now known as OMNiDRIVE. 

The pandemic has caused a fair share of financial woes across the country, but there's at least one bright spot: ag and food technology. While many thought the lockdowns and limits to travel would hinder the ability for investors in this market sector from opening their checkbooks, it turns out 2020 as one of the best years yet.

Arama Kukutai, a partner at Finistiere Ventures, discusses a new report digging into the investments in agtech and food tech and discusses them in this latest episode. 

How do you start a successful farm meeting? For the Farm Futures Business Summit, how the event got its start is interesting and Mike Wilson, editor of Farm Futures, offers that history. He also shares how the Ag Finance Boot Camp got its start.

Creating a useful, information-packed event that brings farmers back year after year isn't easy, but Mike Wilson, his editorial team and the events group at Farm Progress are making it happen and the event returns in 2021 live but moved from January to June. The official dates or June 15 for the Ag Finance Boot Camp, and June 16 and 17 for the Business Summit. 

Can a 4-H camp facility make a difference? Looks like this facility in Kansas does. The Rock Springs Ranch State 4-H Center near Junction City, Kan., is used for far more than 4-Hers. From FFA officer training to classes for those who are part of the Kansas Ag and Rural Leadership class, the facility is a busy place.

The 735-acre facility is celebrating its 75th year serving the state and Jennifer Latzke, editor of Kansas Farmer, caught up with leadership for the organization to look back at the camp's founding. And she also looks to the future with the group. 

The concept of sustainability is freely discussed in a lot of places these days from farm shops to corporate boardrooms. We wanted to dig in on what that means for agriculture and turned to Louisa Parker-Smith the new director of global sustainability at Agco.

She took on the job late in 2020, and the company recently issued an in-depth sustainability report. Just what does sustainability mean for a farm equipment manufacturer? Parker-Smith shares insight on Agco's approach including the company's work in animal agriculture too. It's an opening conversation on corporate sustainability and offers insight into what that means for the company and its customers for the future.

There are a lot of phrases being bandied about at Farm Progress these days – Game On!, We're Live!, See you at the Show! And it's all news related to the Farm Progress Show and Husker Harvest Days for 2021. To catch up on what's happening as the return to live farm shows approaches, we turned to Matt Jungmann, events manager, Farm Progress to learn more about the big events.

We turn then to an issue we covered recently – the lack of shipping containers for ag products – and Jacqui Fatka interviewed Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., about this issue and the big infrastructure package proposed by the Biden Administration. 

Change happens, editors retire or seek other employment. This opens the door for new people to join the Farm Progress team. This week the Around Farm Progress podcast introduces three new members of the content team.

Sarah McNaughton is the new editor of Dakota Farmer and shares her insight into what she'll focus on in her new role. Jennifer M. Latzke takes on Kansas Farmer and discusses what she sees as important topics as she takes over that brand. And Sierra Day enters the world of agricultural journalism as the new field editor of Prairie Farmer.

New faces bring new perspectives and new kinds of content. Get a sneak peek at what that might mean by listening to this week's episode.

The vintage windmill is a familiar sight that's disappearing from the country, but Curt Arens, editor of Nebraska Farmer, found a museum that honors the tradition of these machines. And if you want to check out images from the museum, visit the slideshow online.

Curt also did a little time traveling by going back into a 1955 edition of Nebraska Farmer to look at the state of irrigation then compared to now. Nebraska is the No. 1 irrigation state, and home to many major pivot manufacturers. He shares his insight on what he learned, including a discussion of how the irrigation industry has changed. And check out his look at the historic rise of irrigation.

The lowly shipping container isn't looking to lowly these days. These long steel boxes that you see traveling the highways and railways of the United States carry a lot of material, including agricultural products across the globe. But there's a problem, there are too few of them and based on some economic choices access to these valuable containers is limited.

Todd Fitchette, Western Farm Press, discusses issue, which is impacting not only farmers in the West, but producers in other parts of the country. He's been writing about the topic.

And Jacqui Fatka, policy editor, Farm Progress talks Jimmy Bramblett, deputy chief, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation service about a program that brings new money to innovative and non-traditional approaches to conservation solutions. They discuss the priorities for the funding, including climate smart farming. She also offers coverage about the topic online.