This is the time of year when football fans are eagerly scanning the statistics of their favorite players and teams.

But statistics aren’t just for football fans. There are lots of other kinds of statistics, and although they may not be as exciting as touchdowns or rushing yardage, they are just as important to people in various specific occupations.

A case in point are all the statistics that anyone in farming or agribusiness needs to understand the industry and markets.

Included with this issue of Farm News is a handy compendium of statistics useful to anyone in farming or agribusiness. It is called First, which is an acronym for Farmers’ Independent Research of Seed Technologies. It provides information on crops throughout essentially all of northern Iowa.

Found within its pages is a bonanza of information presented in easily understandable charts. The data includes soil types and conditions, pest management, brands of seeds in use, yields and gross income from the planted crops.

We believe this is the kind of publication anyone in agriculture will want to keep close at hand.

We hope you enjoy First and find it useful in the weeks and months to come.