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Opinion

Ag technology advances through the ages

It is no exaggeration to say that much has changed since the first metal plow sliced into the thick, fertile Iowa soil. The annual cycle of planting and harvesting continues, but just about everything else about farming has changed. And it is technology that has caused much of that ...

Keep Iowa’s roads safe during planting

We are entering one of those times of the year when big, slow-moving farm machines rumble out onto roadways dominated by faster-paced traffic. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who lives in farm country. Even so, all of us should pay special heed to safety considerations as we share the ...

Carrying on Streit’s legacy

To the editor: When I moved to Iowa in the seventies, Bob Streit was doing agronomy updates on the radio for Dekalb Seeds. Then I lost track of him until he wrote his column in Farm News. Farm media was mostly one big advertisement for purchased inputs ... except for Bob’s columns. He put ...

It’s time for spring — and farming

It’s getting to be that time of the year. Although it is early in the season, you just may have seen someone working in the fields already. You may have seen a tractor rolling down a rural road. If you are a farmer, perhaps you have been looking over the fields and getting the machinery ...

Farm News marks 30 years

The first issue of Farm News appeared 30 years ago. To put that in perspective, consider this. When that first issue hit subscribers’ mailboxes, Bill Clinton was the president, social media did not exist, the emerging internet was often referred to as the “information superhighway” and ...

Wants solar subsidies to end

To the editor: TED Renewables, ITOCHU, or whatever, are scrambling to carpet the land with 900 acres of Chinese plastic. Elon Musk and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) couldn’t possibly find something efficient in covering one of God’s greatest gifts (the most productive soil ...

Enjoy the Progress Agriculture section

This edition of Farm News includes the annual Progress agriculture section. It provides a comprehensive look at how a wide array of developments in our region are shaping the agricultural tomorrow. While every issue of this newspaper is filled with articles, features and advertisements that ...

Why green methanol plan doesn’t make economic sense

To the editor: There’s been a lot of discussion about green methanol as a potential future for ethanol plants, but the reality is clear: building a green methanol plant at an individual ethanol facility is neither feasible nor economically viable. First, while there is growing interest ...

Corn still fuels Iowa’s economy

Corn production has been a key factor in the Iowa economy for more than 150 years. The state’s 21st-century economy is characterized by increasing diversity. Agriculture, however, remains a powerhouse. There can be little doubt that corn remains of critical importance. The renewable fuels ...