TECHNOLOGY

Fencing Without Wire: How Virtual Technology is Taming Saskatchewan’s Rugged Frontier

Thu, 28 May 2026 12:36:27 GMT

It’s no secret ranchers want to leave the land better than they found it, but cross-fencing, setting up water systems and managing multiple groups of cattle creates a lot of labor when laborers are hard to come by. Virtual fence by Vence is solving this challenge for ranchers across North America.

“Our biggest advantage of using this technology is the saving of labor,” says John Chuiko.

John and Deanne Chuiko ranch in northwest Saskatchewan on the land John’s grandparents homesteaded. They are a cow-calf operation committed to improving soil health, but their terrain makes it challenging to implement cross-fencing for regular moves.

“We live right on a provincial forest called the Bronson Forest, which is also hilly and swampy,” explains John. “Fencing in there is hard on machinery and very expensive.”

There are even areas of the land that are challenging to get horses through. However, the rough terrain hasn’t stopped the Chuikos from achieving their goals thanks to virtual fence technology through Vence.

John says, “Utilization on our forest lease has been way better with this technology.”

Vence also saves Chuikos lots of time when it comes to sorting groups of cows and making management decisions.

“Our main herd and our open herd were all on the same quarter last summer,” says Deanne. “So we were using different virtual fences to manage each herd separately.”

A dry summer called for culling more cows to save their grazing resources. Virtual fence allowed the cows to sort themselves.

“It literally takes seconds to throw up a back fence on the software,” Deanne says.

Back fences allowed Chuikos to sort off all but two of their dry cows from the main herd without having to leave the office.

Grazing insights are also available on individual cows and each group.

Deanne says, “Just going back to look at all the grazing data throughout the summertime is really valuable data to have.”

One example of grazing data from Vence is heat maps.

“This is just a different way to look at where the cows have been and where they’re spending their time on the software,” says Deanne. “It’s just showing you exactly in that forest lease where the cows are spending their time.”

John and Deanne also use the grazing insights to sort out cows who don’t respect the technology. While this isn’t common, it happens and they make culling decisions accordingly.

“I would say the majority of the girls figure it out quickly,” says Deanne. “But this one cow didn’t respect it and we knew that because of the grazing data.”

An added bonus of incorporating Vence has been monitoring predator control, especially since Chuikos ranch among cats, bears and wolves.

“The wolves had killed a heifer and its calf proven by both the technology and blood trail,” explains John. “So we were able to pass that on to our crop insurance people and get some money for the calf.”

Overall, the benefits of virtual fence technology outweigh the challenges for John and Deanne.

John says, “There are definitely challenges and there’s definitely opportunities. Keep an open mind, get comfortable with the technology and use it to push yourself and improve your operation.”

Listen to the full conversation and get the visual of how Vence works on the “ Casual Cattle Conversations” podcas t.

Halter Launches World-First Virtual Fencing Via Satellite

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:22:54 GMT

Halter, the leading digital operating system for pasture-based ranches, today announced the launch of direct-to-satellite connectivity for its smart cattle collars — a world-first that removes the need for cell towers or on-ranch infrastructure.

Using Starlink, the new technology enables ranchers to manage cattle anywhere they can see the sky. Combined with a suite of new tools for reproduction, animal behavior and precision pasture management, the release significantly expands what is possible for cattle ranch management.

Beef ranchers in remote and rugged regions that were limited by connectivity can now turn to virtual fencing to run more productive and sustainable operations — at a time when they face rising fuel costs, labor shortages and aging workforce pressures.

Halter’s internal modeling estimates direct-to-satellite capability expands coverage of the U.S. beef cattle market by 2.5x.

Until now, Halter’s solar-powered, GPS-enabled collars relied on Halter’s proprietary long-range radio towers. With direct-to-satellite, the collars can communicate via Starlink, eliminating ground infrastructure entirely.

“Connectivity has been the final barrier to bringing virtual fencing across remote and expansive ranches,” says Craig Piggott, CEO and founder of Halter. “Direct-to-satellite allows ranchers to manage hundreds of thousands of acres in the most remote terrain on the planet. Combined with our new suite of product features, these ranchers can be even more productive.”

HALTER 2026 | High Lonesome Ranch | Loma, CO

(Halter)

Case Study: Managing 225,000 Acres at High Lonesome Ranch

Lloyd Calvert, livestock and agriculture manager at High Lonesome Ranch in western Colorado, has been among the first to deploy the satellite-enabled system across the ranch’s 225,000 acres of complex terrain.

“Halter has changed the game completely,” Calvert says. “Satellite unlocks the ability to run very remote country while still seeing what the cattle are doing, without needing someone with them all the time. We call ourselves Halter junkies now because we can check to see where the cows are any time of day, no matter where I am. It gives me a great deal of assurance and that’s irreplaceable.”

Beyond the Fence: New Tools for Heat Detection and Feed Demand

Alongside the launch, Halter has rolled out its largest-ever product upgrade for beef cattle ranchers. The update includes an all-in-one heat detection tool to identify non-cycling animals before breeding, a new behavior tool providing near real-time insight into how feed allocation and pasture quality are influencing cattle performance and advanced grazing features including high-resolution pasture mapping, pasture metrics, zone and block management and a feed demand calculator.

Since Halter launched in the U.S. in 2024, it has expanded to more than 25 states. Globally, its customers have created nearly 900,000 miles of virtual fencing.

Halter direct-to-satellite will be available to beef operations in the U.S., New Zealand and coming soon to Australia and Canada. Interested ranchers can learn more at halterhq.com/beef

Your Next Reads:

Old Ranching Heritage Meets New Tech

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:30:46 GMT

In Kingsville, Texas, near the Mexico border, the only thing thicker than the accents is the ranching culture.

Natives call it the birthplace of American ranching.

“This is where European immigrants from Scotland, England and Ireland combined with a lot of the native peoples and the Spanish-descended settlers,” says James Clement.

Kingsville is his home, and he knows that heritage well.

“This is where the Catholic mission system and the Western European farming systems collided to create what is known as ranching,” he says.

Much of today’s ranching terminology and practices originated in this South Texas region, and Clement is quick to note that the tradition endures.

“You still see a lot of commitment by the people that own land in this part of the world to maintain large-scale ranches,” he says. “We call this region the last great habitat.”

With his well-worn and scuffed cowboy hat, Clement not only has ranching culture in his heart, it flows through his veins.

At the King Ranch Museum in downtown Kingsville, Clement traces his family’s lineage on a massive, framed portrait that hangs above a stone fireplace. Capt. Richard King and his wife, Henrietta, were Clement’s triple-great-grandparents. His family has all matriculated from the famed King Ranch, a major corporation of modern ranching that has expanded to include farming, luxury retail, recreational hunting and more.

Land of His Own

Though Clement maintains ties to King Ranch, he also now manages his own operation, Bloody Buckets Cattle Co., a ranch deeply steeped in family tradition.

“Our Clement family has been in American military service since the War of 1812, beginning with Sgt. Maj. Kay Clement and his son, Gen. John Clement,” he says. “Four of those generations (from 1812 to 1945), served in the 28^th Division of Pennsylvania.”

During World War II, Clement’s grandfather, Capt. James “Jim” Clement, fought with the division dubbed the Bloody Buckets Division by German forces due to its red keystone insignia

“My grandfather wore the bloody buckets patch on his left shoulder, and we still brand our cattle on the left hip with a brand that is modeled after that patch,” he says.

Bloody Buckets Cattle Co. uses King Ranch American Red genetics. All wear the Bloody Buckets brand on their left hip to pay homage to the ranch’s founder and the family’s military service record.

(Angie Stump Denton)

His grandfather, wounded in France, returned to South Texas as the recipient of a Purple Heart Medal and began a long career with King Ranch, ultimately serving as CEO from 1974 to 1988.

While living in South Texas, he founded Los Hermanos Ranch in 1967, which Clement now operates under the Bloody Buckets Cattle Co. brand. In the 1970s, his father, James “Jamey” Clement Jr., and his uncle, Martin “Martín” Clement II, assumed ownership and day-to-day responsibilities for Los Hermanos. Together, all three men shaped the ranch’s history while each spent his full-time career working for King Ranch.

Clement and his family have been exposed to 400 years of ranching in three operations. Clement’s mother came from the historic Beggs Cattle Company, established in 1876. They, along with their partners, have put that knowledge together and found a way to manage their land and cattle.

“We used the lessons learned from Beggs, King, the experience of our partners and the King Ranch Institute of paying attention to the land, natural resources and wildlife,” he says.

“As we were continuing to grow our operation, we were seeing that we were surviving droughts better, our wildlife quality and quantity was increasing, our water retention was improving and our business lines were growing,” he adds.

A New Approach

Now supporting those heritage practices on-ranch is a host of ag tech advancements. Certainly, they were not seen on his grandfather’s ranch, but Clement knows they are the way of the future, making practices more efficient and easier to accomplish with less labor and fewer man-hours.

He uses Ranchbot Monitoring Systems to keep an eye on his watering systems. Frontiers Market Artificial Intelligence gathers animal health data. On-vehicle cameras are helping to map his land and resources through Enriched Ag.

But his greatest passion lies below the surface in soil carbon capture, so much so that he works as senior vice president and general manager of grass and rangeland for EarthOptics , a company that uses the study of soil biology to predict agronomic outcomes and measure soil carbon. In the role, he helps landowners measure and monetize soil carbon through data-driven insights.

For Clement, it’s a business model that he likens to one he knows well.

“Using an oil and gas analogy, EarthOptics is the drilling company; other people sell the crude (soil carbon in this sense), but we find it.” he says. “What we’re trying to do is help people make more efficient decisions on their land, reduce cost and then potentially also look at additional cash flow streams through the sale of carbon credits.”

Clement calls himself “bullish on carbon” for one particular reason.

“This is really the first opportunity in ranching — first of the growing ecosystem markets — where large companies are paying people to make good stewardship decisions,” he says. “Historically, how did you judge other ranches against each other? Who was selling the most cattle for the most money, selling the most expensive hunts or had the most pump jacks? Now we can pay for taking care of the land and making long-term decisions.”

EarthOptics not only finds a way to quantify and qualify good land and soil stewardship, they validate the data in such a way that farmers and ranchers can capitalize on them.

“We’re at the crossroads of the industry,” Clement says. “EarthOptics is not selling the credits. We’re just advising the ranchers on how to partake in these markets and then also making the introductions and building the industry.”

In November, Bloody Buckets Cattle Company hosted the final 2025 stop in the Trust In Beef Sustainable Ranchers Tour. Owner James Clement III used the event to share the importance his operation places on heritage land stewardship and ag tech advancements for profitability.

(Trust In Beef)

New Land Equals an Accelerated Approach

Clement is broadening the scope of Bloody Buckets Cattle Co., buying additional land and leasing land with his partners, “Poncho” Ortega Sr. and “Poncho” Ortega Jr. They are currently ranching on six ranches in four different South Texas counties. Acquiring new ranches and leases means the work on some of the new land is just beginning.

“On the west side, we acquired some ranches in the last 20 years that had previously been farmed,” he says. “We spend most of our time and resources in the pastures with the worst conditions to build back soil health.”

By applying the same technology he’s helped develop and test elsewhere, Clement is accelerating the restoration process. Their ranching operation has become a testing ground for many of the new ag tech companies in the industry, seeing if these concepts can work in rough country and be beneficial to the operation.

“We’re on a mission to get each of these newer owned or leased properties back in better shape,” he says. “As we expand, we want to make sure that acre is productive.”

Trust In Beef™ works to secure the future of American ranching by providing the information ranchers need to make the decisions that impact the resiliency, profitability and resource management of their working lands. Learn more about Trust In Beef and their Sustainable Ranchers Tour by visiting www.trustinbeef.com

Your Next Read: Ranchers Make Tough Decisions to Weather Intense Southwest Drought

Bitcoin Set to Revolutionize US Agriculture?

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 15:25:41 GMT

Pebble to landslide, Bitcoin is approaching agriculture and its impact will be seismic, echoing the benchmarks of farming history, including cotton gin, steel plow, mechanization, and biotech crops. Or will it?

Only 10 years back, on the turnrow or at the seed house, the mention of Bitcoin elicited mockery. Five years back, laughter. Now? The derision is replaced by inquiry.

Cryptocurrency, as a store of value to a medium of exchange, is on an economic collision course with agriculture, set to change American farms forever, contends a growing chorus of voices within the ag chain.

“Bitcoin is an absolute agriculture necessity going forward,” says producer Zack Smith. “People just don’t realize it yet. Soon, they will.”

First Bird to Fly
Bitcoin was created in 2009. In the eyes of critics, it was a lie agreed upon, or a pyramid built to topple. However, 16 years beyond Bitcoin’s birth, the online currency, thriving beyond the fat fingers of government, is among the fastest adopted technologies in world history.

In extreme northcentral Iowa’s Winnebago County, a stone’s throw below the Minnesota line, Smith works 1,200 acres of row crops and raises a small amount of livestock. He doesn’t flinch at the “first bird to fly takes all the arrows” maxim, whether innovating via wide-row corn, strip intercropping, stock cropping , or Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin is the currency of the future, and that includes agriculture,” says Iowa grower Zach Smith.

(Photo by Stock Cropper)

“It’s just a matter of time for Bitcoin in agriculture, and I don’t mean far off. In 10 or 15 years, Bitcoin could be a normal part of a farm transaction. It’s a question of when critical inertia hits, but Bitcoin will be utilized by folks in agriculture in the near future.”

“The people at the top of agriculture in power, the CEOs, big-time commodity traders, and agribusiness, are looking at Bitcoin as a hedge against dollar debasement,” he continues. “Again, it’s coming fast.”

Out of the chute, Smith sees Bitcoin as a store of value. “Look what’s happened to land. So many outside investors have entered the market, producing inflated land values that make no financial sense with the value of what is being produced.”

“That’s where I see Bitcoin making its first impact. As investors discover there’s something better than land and just as finite, something you don’t pay property taxes on, something you don’t have to maintain, something that is portable, I think land prices will drop closer to utility value, allowing young farmers better opportunities to compete in the market.”

At present, income surpluses are akin to snowflakes in hell, but Smith urges producers to prepare for change. “For those who put their fiat money into Bitcoin, and are patient, I believe they’ll be able to buy two to three times the land in the near future they would have otherwise.”

“The money printer isn’t stopping,” he adds. “Bitcoin is the offramp to the debasement problem.”

Jumping the Treadmill
A lone voice a decade-plus in the past, Vance Crowe has long been a proponent of Bitcoin in agriculture. Host of Ag Tribes and founder of Legacy Interviews , Crowe is adamant: Bitcoin is transformative for farming.

“Just a few years ago, people reacted negatively when I talked about Bitcoin. That’s been replaced with genuine questions and consideration. Bitcoin is going to become deeply embedded in how the business of agriculture functions, and people who’ve been trying to preserve the value of their dollars are going to move those dollars out of land and into Bitcoin. Guys who’ve gotten a 6-7% return on land are looking over at Bitcoin and seeing a 65 percent return every year for the last 15 years. The wake-up is happening in real time.”

“Five, 10, or 15 years, it’s going to completely change agriculture’s game,” says Vance Crowe, regarding Bitcoin.

(Photo by Legacy Interviews)

In March 2025, President Trump signed an order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve . Three months later, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop plans toward the use of cryptocurrency as a mortgage loan asset .

“It’s only a matter of time before ag lending starts realizing it’s a lot better to collateralize loans with Bitcoin, than to do so with cattle or maybe even land,” Crowe projects. “If you collateralize a loan with cattle or land, if that person doesn’t meet their obligations, the lender must assess, load, or sell. Only then does a lender get the money. Bitcoin bundles all of that into a 10-minute fix. Ag lending will become heavily enmeshed in Bitcoin.”

Government maintains the exorbitant privilege of seigniorage, i.e., printing reams of bills with no backing. Need more, print more. Conversely, Bitcoin is limited to a 21-million cap. Finite.

No central issuer; no board of directors; no CEO; and no marketing department. Just a vehicle, according to Crowe, carrying unprecedented opportunity for agriculture. “Farmers have been put in a position where they spend as much of the money they have coming in as possible, both for tax reasons, but also because the value of their dollars always goes down.”

(For a basic primer, see What is Bitcoin? The Explanation That Clicks )

“Bitcoin provides an unprecedented option where a farmer can say, ‘I’ve made this money and I don’t want to risk its value. I’m putting it in Bitcoin.’ That provides a way to jump off the treadmill of constantly buying new tractors, building more sheds, or constantly growing.”

Fundamental change is knocking, Crowe contends: “Five, 10, or 15 years, it’s going to completely change agriculture’s game.”

Proverbial Lightbulb
Raised in hardscrabble 1980s row cropping in southcentral Nebraska’s Adams County, Kevin Kimle watched his father barter. Side of beef for a farm repair; load of pigs for a used semi.

“It’s in our agriculture muscle memory: a means to trade in a different currency,” says Kimle, now an Iowa-based entrepreneur and agriculture economist, and founder of BitCorn . He serves as Rastetter Chair of Agricultural Entrepreneurship and director of agricultural entrepreneurship programs at Iowa State University.

“I view Bitcoin as one of the most important inventions in human history,” says Kevin Kimle.

(Photo by BitCorn)

“We’re at the beginning of a transition to a Bitcoin standard not only in the U.S., but globally, and I think agriculture is a natural first mover on the leading edge of that transition.”

Practically, what does that mean to a farmer? A seventh saved, according to Kimle . As in, annually turning a seventh of a crop to Bitcoin, generating at least two crops worth of Bitcoin by the end of seven years.

He still owns farmland in Nebraska and began researching Bitcoin in 2021. “I’m about four years into this. But my own simulation, if I had sold 10% of my grain for Bitcoin instead of dollars, I’d have four years of crop in Bitcoin today.”

In summer 2025, Kimle set up a business bridge between Bitcoin and traditional agriculture— BitCorn —intent on giving farmers tools, basics, and the means to make transactions.

“The proverbial light bulb went off. At BitCorn, we’re providing a place where a farmer can learn Bitcoin. Agriculture is packed with incredibly innovative entrepreneurs, and their ideas are going to take us down the Bitcoin road.”

Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. “I view Bitcoin as one of the most important inventions in human history,” Kimle explains, “in the ballpark with the wheel, plow, printing press, electricity, and anything else.”

Our Children’s Money
Dennis Campbell is at the helm of Crystal Creek Enterprises, in east Iowa’s Clinton County, working with corn, soybeans and some wheat acres. Crystal Creek manages a portfolio of 10,000+ acres of owned, rented and custom farmed land.

“There’s a way to wake up and say, ‘I can buy $500 worth of something that’ll hold value as good as or better than land,’” asserts Dennis Campbell.

(Crystal Creek Enterprises)

Starting in 1854, Campbell’s forefathers scratched dirt outside Grand Mound, within proximity of the Mississippi River. His farming bloodline reaches back to Antebellum America, but although Campbell shepherds past legacy, his eyes are locked on the horizon. Internationally renowned for emerging technology, Crystal Creek is a consistent mecca for visiting ag delegations from Africa, Australia, Europe, and South America since 2013. In 2025, Campbell opened a BitCorn node on his farm. He jumped in the Bitcoin pool in 2023.

At present, Campbell estimates 85% of U.S. farmers take zero notice of Bitcoin. “They are nose to the grindstone, trying to juggle work, debt, equipment, and family, all while things get worse financially. I don’t know any more than anybody else, but I believe Bitcoin, at a minimum, is becoming a major tool in the toolbox to protect ourselves against an out-of-control government.”

“Just look at crop insurance, alone,” he continues. “You can spend $45 to $55 an acre insuring 250-bushel an acre APH corn. That’s crazy. I sure as hell won’t make 50 bucks an acre this year. Even if Bitcoin only gave some independence back on crop insurance, that by itself is enough for me.”

Does Campbell see growers investing a seventh of a crop in Bitcoin?

“We’ve got to put a portion of our proceeds in. If I could do that and have sufficient comfort to lower my 85% revenue harvest priced option insurance policy to 70% and lower my cost from $50 bucks to $20, that’s quite a savings account. Every year, regardless of how tight our belts are, we need to allocate a percentage of proceeds above and beyond our principal payments for land and green or red paint into something that can’t be debased and diluted by runaway government spending by 535 people in Washington, D.C.”

In 2025, Dennis Campbell opened a BitCorn node on his Iowa farm.

(Photo by Crystal Creek Enterprises)

Debt and the next generation loom large in Campbell’s view of Bitcoin.

“We’re spending our children’s money now and that’s what debt is. That’s what debt creates—a burden on future society and on future fruits of labor. It’s madness and we all talk about land as the best store of financial resources, but land is difficult to accumulate at a fractional pace. It’s not easy to wake up and say, ‘I’m gonna go buy 80 acres today,’ but there’s a way to wake up and say, ‘I can buy $500 worth of something that’ll hold value as good as or better than land.’ Bitcoin.”

Adios to the Rulebook
“The smartest thing somebody in agriculture could do is go down and borrow a bunch of money against traditional collateral and use that money to buy Bitcoin.”

Bold words. However, Matt Gilbert maintains Bitcoin future for agriculture is inevitable and backs his contention with receipts. Raised in the vast fields of Texas cotton country, Gilbert is an esteemed entrepreneur with specialization in mergers and acquisitions. He calls balls and strikes.

“Before my lifetime ends, the old playbook will be obsolete, and those prepared today will lead the charge into tomorrow’s agriculture economy,” says Matt Gilbert.

(Photo by Gilbert & Associates)

“Modern farmers invest heavily in equipment, infrastructure, and resources, yet the real paradigm shift lies in leveraging advanced financial tools. Up and down the agriculture supply chain, whether you’re manufacturing machinery or distributing fertilizer, nearly every participant depends on traditional lines of credit,” Gilbert explains.

“Financing in dollars is trapped in a cycle of diminishing returns—a negative loop. But using Bitcoin as a store of value creates an entirely positive feedback loop. If you’ve held Bitcoin during any four-year window since its inception, historically your purchasing power has multiplied, matching up to nearly 12 times what a dollar-based payment could achieve. This shift isn’t incremental—it’s transformational for agricultural economics.”

Adios to land or physical assets as necessary collateral? Yes, Gilbert says. “Choose any era in history: mass-market automobiles, television, the arrival of the Internet. Bitcoin’s adoption curve is exponentially steeper than any previous innovation. It stands alone as an asset that appreciates with unrivaled velocity, fundamentally altering the financial landscape for growers and agribusinesses.”

Agriculture trade is conducted via the U.S. dollar, which loses at least 3-5% per year in value. Tack on the price of inflation, and farmers see 10%-plus of dollar value slip away, annually. “Those numbers are incredibly disheartening,” Gilbert details. “For example, if someone got paid for a crop in 2023, sat on a little of the money, and decided to spend it in 2026, they’re going to have somewhere between 25-40% less purchasing power with the dollars they saved. That’s a giant problem. Bitcoin solves that problem.”

Bitcoin’s adoption rate has been phenomenally steep.

(Graphic by BlackRock)

“The implication for farmers and ag professionals is clear: Understand the currency paradigm shift, because the money you’re using, the dollar, is undermining your business more than you realize,” he says.

“My advice to those in agriculture is to leverage the advantages of both systems; pay expenses in dollars, but demand income in Bitcoin—the most secure and robust cryptocurrency. Weak currencies burden, but robust currencies liberate. It’s time for agriculture to pivot toward strength.”

What about buying farmland? Tokenization, Gilbert posits. “It’s already happening. Commercial real estate has been tokenized in the last couple of years. Agriculture assets are going to follow. Tokenization is the future, not theory. It’s reality. Commercial properties have already been fractionalized on the blockchain (the network Bitcoin runs on), and agriculture is next in line.”

Think apartment complex or condo in New York City. The building can be bought by tokenizing the real estate, meaning multiple people buy a portion. One buyer in Kansas; another in Indiana; more elsewhere, all purchasing 500 square feet apiece via the blockchain.

“Imagine democratizing rural assets. A family in Iowa, an investor in Mississippi, and stakeholders from across the nation jointly tokenizing a farm. The blockchain ledger transparently records every transaction, making ownership, lending, and risk radically clearer and more efficient than ever before. This will overhaul deed registries, middlemen, banking, and title services, drastically cutting costs and speeding processes.”

Markets also benefit, Gilbert believes. A futures contract is typically bundled in lots of 100, whether hedging crops, fuel, or fertilizer. Bitcoin splits the bundle into fractions of 1 million. “Instead of the current way things are primarily done, which is 100 units equals a contract, Bitcoin breaks that into a million pieces instead of 100 pieces, which means a far more level playing field for the person in agriculture versus the person in finance.”

The next 15 years will be telltale, Gilbert predicts. “Having studied the Bitcoin space since 2013, I’ve witnessed digital currency realize in a decade what it took the dollar more than a century to accomplish, without systemic debasement. Within the next fifteen years, financial rules governing agriculture will be rewritten, marking a generational inflection point. Before my lifetime ends, the old playbook will be obsolete, and those prepared today will lead the charge into tomorrow’s agriculture economy.”

What is Money?
Bitcoin naysayers abound. Ponzi party. Bernie Madoff special. Dot.com crash all over again. Sam Bankman-Fried unleashed. Cinderella at midnight .

Pitfalls? Certainly. Black swans. Always.

The Trump administration has generated strong support for Bitcoin, but the perspective of subsequent administrations is unknown. What about the Bitcoin blockchain—how secure will it be in years to come?

However, bolstered by steady gains and landmark promise, the past 16 years of Bitcoin have shown otherwise, contend Crowe, Kimle, Campbell, Gilbert, and Smith.

A handful of years in the past, Smith was a Bitcoin scoffer. Scam. Scheme. Trainwreck.

No more. He now sees Bitcoin as bell cow.

“It’s a question of when critical inertia hits, but Bitcoin will be utilized by folks in agriculture in the near future,” concludes producer Zach Smith.

(Photo by Stock Cropper)

“Whether Bitcoin is a store of value or medium of exchange in farming, it’ll be one or both,” Smith concludes. “Over the last 10 years, I’ve asked myself the hard question, ‘What is money?’ The best answer is to make the effort to find out for yourself. Go to Amazon and buy a copy of The Bitcoin Standard . Might be the most valuable $20 you’ll ever spend. Why? Because Bitcoin is the currency of the future, and that includes agriculture.”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:
Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer

Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust

Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing

Farmer Unearths Lost Treasure, Solves WW2 Mystery

3 Ways To Protect Your Ag Business from Cybersecurity Threats

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:59:14 GMT

Agriculture is in the bull’s-eye for threat actors trying to access business information. But as Chris Sherman says: “Our keys in the visor mentality” has many farmers trusting too much and putting too much at risk.

Sherman is the founder of Tech Support Farm, an IT and cybersecurity consulting business who works with farmers, co-ops, custom harvesters and more ag businesses to shore up their systems, lock down their sensitive information and stay attuned to emerging risks.

The FBI has listed agriculture as a critical infrastructure for cybersecurity.

So where do most farmers leave themselves vulnerable to hackers? Sherman shares these:

1. Email

Sherman points to email as the No. 1 priority for farmers on where to start in taking cybersecurity seriously.

“The amount of information and data we are sending via email leaves every farmer at risk — from our FSA staff, agronomists, banks and more,” he says. “Emails can be intercepted, all contents can be exposed, and no one is the wiser. It would be like a rural mail carrier, and when he drops the mail someone stands there opening it, reading it and closing the envelope and putting it back in the mailbox. Foolhardy to be using the free email services such as Gmail, Yahoo and others.”

Here are four steps to shore up your email:

Get a domain
Get a commercial email provider
Get a filtration software (which monitors what comes in)
Get a DMARC compliance service (which manages outbound emails, so no one spoofs you and encryption is done properly)

As an example of why this should be prioritized, Sherman tells the story of a farm business working on a land deal.

“A dad and son were just about ready to sign, and the dad got an email from the bank, at least it appeared to be from the bank, but it was a spoof encouraging them to e-sign,” he says. “And everyone signed, and it drained the bank accounts and blew up the deal.”

2. Be aware of your personal information shared, and embrace “herd immunity”

All to often, farmers don’t have passcodes on their phones.

“That’s like leaving your credit card at the bar,” Sherman says. “For some reason in agriculture we are running multimillion dollar businesses on residential-grade infrastructure.”

He says by the nature of the business, enrolling in government programs, immigration workforce programs (such as H-2A) and more, make your address, phone number and email readily accessible.

“It’s a wealth of opportunity for threat actors. We can’t leave our doors and windows open,” Sherman says. “So you have to protect yourself, and encourage your friends, neighbors and business partners to do the same. If we are all reducing our individual risk, we are reducing the overall risk.”

3. Use high-quality passwords

Sherman says good passwords are must-have on all your accounts, including your Wi-Fi.

“Too often, farmers have their password just be a duplicate of the network name. Or if a farmer’s favorite tractor is a John Deere 4450, 4450 is his pin for everything,” he says. “When we are on the internet, it’s like being in the big city, and you have to act accordingly.”

FBN Spins Out Its Crop Protection Business, Focuses on Marketplace and Technology

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:49:41 GMT

Last week, just a few hours after Corteva announced its spin out dividing seeds from crop protection, Farmers Business Network (FBN) announced it is separating its businesses. Moving forward FBN will focus on its digital marketplace for farmers, and the newly launched Global Crop Solutions will be an independent supplier of crop protection products.

FBN leaders say the timing is coincidental. Their motive for the timing was brought about by the new fiscal year. But they offer both of the announcements together could be a sign of a trend of vertical integration getting unwound in the name of efficiency and focus.

“We’re doubling down, allotting capital on digital innovation for FBN’s future,” says Diego Casanello, CEO of FBN. “FBN’s core business is a digital commerce and fintech platform. We want farmers to be able to buy, finance, and market everything they need while sitting in their combines. These are technology challenges, so the core competence you need to be successful at FBN is different from managing the supply chain of the crop protection business.”

In the past 14 months, FBN has been refocusing its business. First, it spun off its insurance business, then its Gradable business into a joint-venture with ADM. Now with its crop protection business spin out, Casanello says the FBN marketplace will feature GCS products, such as Willowood USA branded products, via a strategic partnership, and GCS products will explore distribution beyond the FBN marketplace.

“The big unlock for GCS is the opportunity to serve the entire retail and co-op industry,” Casanello says. “It frees GCS of any channel conflicts and hits the ground running with one of the largest portfolios of products in the industry. And it frees FBN from similar constraints as we move to an open marketplace architecture. We are onboarding new sellers and their portfolios every week. We provide them the tools to manage pricing, marketing, and placement. FBN is open for business and we’ve had significant interest from additional partners before and after the announcement.”

FBN’s Marketplace Strategy

Currently, FBN says it has 120,000 farmer members in the U.S. and Canada. The business provides a marketplace with farm inputs and supplies, financial services and data-driven intelligence.

FBN co-founder Charles Baron says the FBN marketplace has expanded its product range to include crop protection, seed (with additional partner news coming soon), fertilizer, livestock products, veterinary pharmaceuticals, farm supplies and more.

“To farmers, there’s no change in their experience. And over time, we’ll bring an even broader assortment of goods,” Baron says. “You’ll be seeing announcements from us every two weeks or so about the suppliers coming on the platform. It’s one of the most exciting times in our history.”

The leaders say farmer use of e-commerce has increased every year since they launched, and in 2025 FBN served a record number of customers. “Farmers are really focusing on value right now and maximizing every dollar,” said Baron. And per their analytics roughly 35% of U.S. farmers visit FBN.com to browse inputs, apply for financing, or look for information.

The Future of GCS

As a newly formed independent crop protection supplier, GCS has a portfolio of 250 registrations on post-patent products. The company will specialize in sourcing, managing first mile logistics, developing new products and regulatory aspects.

To lead the business and its team, Amy Yoder, most recently EVP of FBN’s livestock division, is incoming CEO.

“Global Crop Solutions launches today as an independent powerhouse,” said Yoder, in a press release. “For the first time, our extensive portfolio and efficient global supply chain are fully available to all partners— from retailers, to distributors, to co-ops. Our independence unlocks immense growth potential and allows us to be the most reliable and collaborative partner to the entire agricultural industry.”

New Technology to Combat New World Screwworm

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 22:12:36 GMT

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Radiological Security (ORS) is partnering with Texas A&M University to combat New World screwworm (NWS) .

On Sept. 21, USDA announced NWS had been found less than 70 miles from the U.S. border near one of the most heavily trafficked commercial thoroughfares in the world.

Working with Texas A&M’s National Center for Electron Beam Research (NCEBR), NNSA is advancing the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) using electron beam (eBeam) technology in place of radioactive cobalt. SIT effectively prevents the spread of NWS by releasing sterilized male screwworms to halt reproduction and reduce their population.

According to the release, ORS’s mission includes preventing the misuse of highly radioactive materials and promoting innovative alternatives like eBeam devices. The eBeam technology eliminates the need for radioactive sources, which could be used for nefarious purposes if they fell into the wrong hands.

This collaboration enhances radiological security best practices nationwide, thus strengthening national security.

“Our mission-driven partnership with Texas A&M is essential to advancing American innovation in eBeam applications and enhancing our national security,” says Kristin Hirsch, Director of ORS. “With the support of Texas A&M AgriLife experts, NNSA is able to help combat the spread of the NWS, building stronger food systems and safer communities across the country.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently announced a new NWS fly dispersal facility in Texas and a five-pronged plan for eradicating the pest. The plan includes the USDA pursuing innovative research, such as eBeam and other technologies.

Currently, SIT relies on cobalt-60 gamma sterilization. But cobalt-60 carries significant radiological security risks, so NNSA, NCEBR and Texas A&M’s Department of Entomology have worked to find replacement methods. Through modeling studies sponsored by NNSA and conducted by Texas A&M since 2023, researchers identified eBeam technology as a viable alternative and are working to make it available to USDA to combat NWS.

The eBeam system at work, sterilizing screwworm pupae. This technology is vital for protecting U.S. agriculture and radiological security.

(U.S. Department of Energy NNSA)

NNSA has been collaborating on the development of an eBeam system to be used for chemical remediation, another critical area where cobalt-60 use could become a risk. NNSA is repurposing this technology toward NWS response and accelerating development to make eBeam available to USDA by early 2026.

Once integrated into a rearing facility, it could create more than 100 million sterile flies in 24 hours. That’s a vast improvement compared to cobalt-60, which can take a week to do the same amount. This efficiency would be a game-changer in NWS response.

Your Next Read: The Battle at the Border

5 Questions to Consider Before You Invest in New Technology

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:46:12 GMT

Investing in new technology can be one of the biggest decisions you make on the farm. With so many new tools, systems and innovations hitting the market, it can be tempting to purchase the latest and greatest gadget with the hope that it will be a smart investment. But as enticing as new technology can be, the decision to make a big purchase should never be made on impulse.

Before you go signing on the dotted line, Stephanie Plaster, Extension farm management outreach specialist, and John Shutske, UW-Madison professor and Extension specialist in biological systems engineering, recommend asking yourself five key questions that can help determine whether a new purchase is truly the right fit for your farm.

1. What Issue Are You Hoping To Solve?
“The first question you should ask yourself is, what issue or challenge are you hoping to solve?” Plaster explains. “Understanding what is driving your decision to invest can help you evaluate whether this will be worth both the financial cost and the inevitable discomfort of the adoption transition period.”

While new equipment can make productivity and efficiency easier, technology is rarely plug-and-play. It requires time to learn, integrate and adapt. If you don’t clearly understand the benefits it provides and how those benefits justify the cost, you may end up investing in a solution that doesn’t truly address your needs.

2. What Are Your Skills And Interests?
Your strengths and preferences can make or break a technology investment. Knowing what you and your team are comfortable with can determine how smoothly a system is adopted and used. Technology that aligns with your skills and interests reduces frustration, speeds up integration and increases the likelihood the investment will deliver the results you are expecting.

“This might seem like a silly question when considering autonomous equipment, but it could make or break the success of the technology adoption or change management process,” Plaster says.

If you’re comfortable with software, data analysis and troubleshooting, certain systems might be a perfect fit. If not, you may want to choose technology with strong dealer support.

“Playing to your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses is a solid strategy,” Plaster adds.

3. Do You Have Reliable Internet Access?
Many of today’s technologies require consistent connectivity for updates, monitoring and troubleshooting. Without reliable internet, systems may not run as expected. That’s why verifying your internet connection beforehand is essential so the technology can perform as intended from the start.

“Do you have broadband internet access you consider both accessible and affordable?” Shutske asks. “By formal definition, we’re talking about a speed of at least 25 megabits per second for downloading and three megabits per second for uploading data.”

For farms in rural areas, this may require exploring alternative solutions like fixed wireless, satellite or cellular-based services before implementing connected technologies.

4. Is There Adequate Service Infrastructure?
Even the most advanced equipment will eventually need service, whether it’s routine maintenance, troubleshooting or unexpected repairs. According to Shutske, having access to knowledgeable technicians and reliable support can make all the difference between a smooth operation and days of downtime.

“It’s really important to ask questions of your technology supplier or vendor,” Shutske says. “Our research shows that it’s proving to be a real challenge for local technology companies who want to hire excellent people with technology skills to work in and service agricultural areas.”

He encourages farmers to ask vendors about their staffing, average response times, remote troubleshooting capabilities and how they support customers during the startup phase.

“Will they be able to support you remotely if a service technician cannot come out and travel to your farm?” Shutske asks. “Reliable service infrastructure is essential for smooth operation and maintenance.”

5. How Comfortable Are You With Your Finances?
Ultimately, the decision to invest comes down to the numbers. Not just whether you can afford the purchase today, but whether it will pay for itself and support the long-term health of your operation. A piece of technology that looks appealing on paper can quickly become a financial burden if it doesn’t deliver measurable returns.

“It’s critical to identify if the farm will have the capacity to achieve financial and production performance goals and objectives,” Plaster explains. “That means knowing your current financial position, understanding key measures like ROI (return on investment) and IRR (internal rate of return), and calculating how this purchase will affect cash flow and debt load.”

She notes that salespeople, lenders and accountants will all use different financial language. Therefore, the more familiar you are with the terms and metrics, the more confidently you can make an informed choice.

Build a Decision-Making Framework
While these five questions are a strong starting point, Plaster emphasizes the value of a structured decision-making process.

“To make informed decisions, it is essential to have a clear strategy,” she says.

Tools like a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and gap analysis can help you evaluate current performance, identify areas for improvement and determine whether new technology is the best path forward.

By weighing the problem you’re trying to solve, the skills you bring to the table, your infrastructure and your financial readiness, you can approach a technology investment with clarity and confidence.

Farming Doesn’t Follow All the Business Models, Unique Opportunity for Startups

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 17:26:52 GMT

It could be said success in business is driven by timing and people. And AgLaunch provides agricultural startups with the nexus of both.

With its AgLaunch365 accelerator, early-stage startups have programming paired with the coast to coast network of AgLaunch farmers.

It’s a story Michael Rhys and the team at Barnwell Bio experienced firsthand. Their company spun out of the same technology platform used for municipal waste monitoring during COVID-19, except they are applying it to biosecurity and animal welfare.

Rhys says there is no other program like AgLaunch in existence.

“The farmer buy-in was really important to us along with the product feedback and guidance farmers can give us on the feature roadmap we want to add to Barnwell,” he says. “What’s great about the AgLaunch network is the level of inclusion along the way and the how the farmer network shares their feedback in real time and we’re able to iterate with them quickly because of their candid insights.”

Barnwell Bio collects aggregate samples from animal byproducts, analyzes them for a broad array of pathogens and then shares the assessment of potential health risks with farmers and their veterinarians.

“We see an opportunity to change the sentiment in animal health from being reactive to proactive,” Rhys says.

Michael Rhys, CEO, Barnwell Bio

(Ashley Benham)

Two-Way Street

Just as the startups receive benefits from the AgLaunch programming, as do the farmers. Fundamental to its approach it getting startups on farms in field trials, the farmers who take part in those field trials can earn an equity stake in the companies.

One of the original farmer members to the AgLaunch network is Grant Norwood, a Tennessee row crop farmer. He was part of the farmer network who proved the concept of Aglaunch earlier this year and cashed out an early investment in an irrigation technology startup.

“Farming is a business that doesn’t follow all the business models,” Norwood says. “And if you are coming from non-ag background, the farmer is your insight early on to how to best finish development and finish designing the product. We share knowledge to how ag markets work and to purchasing models. For a startup company it can be a big jump ahead to have that insight that would otherwise take them several years on their own.

Norwood has done field trials with sensors, hardware, and biological startups. And he’s proud to be part of the network he says is “where inventors meet farmers to solve agriculture’s problems.”

While the group started in Tennessee, it has since expanded into the midwest and pacific northwest.

“We’re a diverse group growing a lot of different crops and raising a lot of different livestock. But we are like-minded in helping startup companies bring their ideas to agriculture,” Norwood says.

AgLaunch has officially opened applications for the 2026 AgLaunch365 Accelerator. Applications are due by September 15, 2025.

AgLaunch365 aims to provide the proving ground startups need to help reshape how food is grown, animal are raises and land is stewarded.

For founders who would like to learn more, AgLaunch is hosting short Q&A webinars:

• August 4, 1-2pm CT: Registration link.

• August 14, 12-1pm CT: Registration link.

• August 25, 12-1pm CT: Registration link.

A Farmer Can Dream, Right? Tesla Robots As the Farm Labor Force of the Future?

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 18:24:44 GMT

With a visual form ripped straight from a skin-crawl inducing robot thriller, Tesla’s new AI-bot, Optimus, is eliciting strong reactions from tech advocates and flip-phone touting technophobes.

Let’s indulge our imaginations for just a second and imagine how a farmer could put one of Musk’s $20,000 helper robots to work around the family farm in, say, the year 2040. I use 2040 because, even though the prototypes in the video below look awesome, it turns out the AI behind it needs more work before any farmer would feel safe setting a squad of them loose on the farm.

Our own Clinton Griffiths was also inspired by Optimus’ unveiling. In his upcoming column in the November issue of Farm Journal, Clinton gets right to the heart of the issue, and that’s whether the bots will pan out on the farm?

The real test, he writes, “will be whether it can keep its glossy finish motoring along regardless of whether or not the field is mud-free.”

I couldn’t agree more, Clinton. Serving up fancy drinks during an unveiling party on a glitzy Hollywood film studio lot is one thing. Standing up to all the dust and heat and tough conditions of your average farm or ranch is a different beast altogether.

In that vein, we offer up the following farm chore list Optimus can take over from here on out.

No, seriously Opti, you don’t need our permission. Just go ahead and take care of these few little things every single day for the rest of time, and we’ll be off, I don’t know, fishing at the lake with the kids, rocking on the front porch, or something.

Farm equipment maintenance tech
Director of crop protection jug disposal
Backpack spraying around-the-clock weed warrior
Chief grain bin inspector
Head ladder climber
Irrigation pivot inspector general
Head high in July crop scout
Pig loader and unloader extraordinaire
Master bottle mixer and calf feeder

Now that you’ve read my list, I’m curious how you would use a robot that walks, talks and moves like a real human (and never gets tired, bored or spends 20 minutes staring at its phone) on your farm? or click

Share your robot wish list by clicking the green “Respond Here” button or click here .

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EXCLUSIVE: John Deere Speaks Publicly For the First Time About Layoffs, New Challenges in the Ag Economy

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 14:14:35 GMT

John Deere recently laid off a significant number of salaried employees as part of the company’s ongoing workforce reductions. The official number of layoffs is still unknown but are part of a broader trend of workforce reductions at John Deere, which have been ongoing for several months.

Cory Reed, president of the company’s Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division for Production and Precision Ag , spoke publicly about the layoffs for the first time in an exclusive interview with U.S. Farm Report this week.

What You Need to Know

Reed addressed everything from the recent layoffs to the company’s decision to move a small portion of its production to Mexico. Here are highlights from Farm Journal’s exclusive interview:

John Deere says recent layoffs of both its salaried and production workforce are due to lower net farm income, higher interest rates and market volatility.
Reed says John Deere expects equipment sales to be down 20% in 2024, due to economic pressures on the farm.
John Deere is addressing cost concerns by reducing the prices of some new technologies, such as the See & Spray retrofit kit.
John Deere is investing in automation to improve manufacturing efficiency and reliability.
Reed emphasized the job cuts are unrelated to the 2021 strike by production workers.
He also stressed that John Deere’s decision to move its cab production to Mexico is separate, saying that production site in Mexico has been in operation for nearly 70 years, calling it “an important part of our global footprint.”

The Reality of the Farm Economy

USDA is forecasting net farm income in 2024 to be $116.1 billion, which is a 25.5% drop from 2023 following a 16% drop in 2023 versus 2022. Those two consecutive years of significant decline mark the largest drop in net farm income in U.S. history.

“Net farm income is expected to be down in the mid to high 20s, and when that happens, and commodity prices pull back, interest rates are a little bit higher and we see volatility in the weather, it creates uncertainty that interrupts demand. We’re experiencing that today. Looking out across our industry, we’re expecting to be off roughly 20% year-over-year from 2023,” Reed told U.S. Farm Report.

USDA’s 2023 and 2024 Net Farm Income projections point to the largest drop in history.

(Lori Hayes )

The mounting economic pressures are showing up across the equipment industry. The latest Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) flash report released in June showed just how drastic of a drop the ag equipment sector is currently experiencing. AEM’s report showed combine sales in June dropped 31% compared to last year. Total farm tractor sales were down 16%.

While the company forecasts equipment demand to fall 20% overall in 2024, Reed says the second half of the year looks to be even more challenging than the first.

“We kind of have the tale of two ends of the year, “ he says. “If you looked at the front half of the year, in fact, if you took the large row-crop tractor business, what you would have seen is a market that was still peaking in the April and May time frame. A lot of buyers were in the market, based off of performance last year. As we hit May and going into June, used inventory levels started to grow and you saw buyers starting to pull back. Those trade differentials look different for them, and they started pulling back at a faster rate.”

As farmers pull back on purchasing new equipment, the short-term market outlook is hard to project, according to John Deere.

“I think what you see is markets that are cycling faster today. When you see what was going on in the commodity market, it’s been more volatile here recently. So obviously, we’d like to have better predictability of those things. What I would tell you is the long-term outlook for global commodities grown here in the U.S. still look really strong. We’re still bullish on that,” Reed says. “It’s the reason that even when we see these cycles potentially coming, we invest directly through them. We’ve never invested more in research dollars than we did this year, and in the next five years we will invest more than we have over the past five years. That’s a testament to what we believe about the future of the agricultural industry. We’re doing that around the world.”

John Deere Says Layoffs Are Unrelated to 2021 Strike

With the drop in equipment demand, came cuts to the salaried workforce this week. But the company had already cut more than 1,800 workers in its Iowa and Illinois production facilities.

In October 2021, those same production sites were in the news after 10,000 production workers went on strike . But a month later, John Deere and the United Auto Workers (UAW) Union reached a new six-year deal. With a 20% increase in pay granted by John Deere, UAW ended its month-long strike. But Reed says the job cuts today are not tied to that.

“Certainly, cost, availability and reliability of labor in the workforce is a factor all the time. Cuts right now are not related to that, they’re related to demand,” he adds.

As a result, Reed says John Deere is turning internally to manage its own cost structure, which means layoffs. Those started last September and have accelerated in 2024.

“We don’t like making workforce adjustments. We don’t. But that’s all about the cost structure we have, so we can hold the line on costs. We’re deploying more of our engineering resources to cost-reduce each part without sacrificing any reliability, durability or quality. We’re doing that in a big way,” Reeds adds.

John Deere has committed to providing severance packages to the affected employees. The packages include up to 12 months of severance pay based on years of service, pro-rated pay based on short- and long-term incentives, payment for unused vacation or paid time off, ongoing access to health and wellness benefits and a year of professional job placement services.

The Question on Every Farmer’s Mind

The question on every farmer’s mind: Does John Deere have any plans to cut the price of equipment? Reed says John Deere is addressing cost concerns by reducing the prices of some new technologies, such as the See & Spray retrofit kit.

“We’re taking some of our latest technologies, and we’re cutting the upfront price of it,” Reed says. “If you take See & Spray, which is a great example, that product would normally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to add to a machine. We lowered the upfront price for a retrofit kit to be able to put it on for tens of thousands of dollars. A customer who wants to manage their herbicide cost differently has the opportunity to buy into that, on an acre-by-acre basis, and only pay based on what they save.”

John Deere’s Decision to Move Cab Production to Mexico

John Deere is also catching some backlash for its decision to move its cab operations from Waterloo, Iowa, to Mexico, which impacts a couple hundred U.S. jobs. According to Reed, John Deere’s production site in Mexico has been in operation for nearly 70 years. What started in 1956 became one of the company’s first operations outside the U.S., and Reed calls it “an important part of our global footprint.”

“First and foremost, it’s important to understand that the movement of certain components or products to Mexico is entirely separate from what we’ve seen in terms of layoffs today,” Reed says. “When we move a product, we make the announcement and say, ‘This portion of this product is going to move here.’ And by the way, we’re doing that all the time. It’s a part of what we do in our global network.”

Reed says what’s not reported when John Deere makes such an announcement is how they are replacing their production in the U.S. with the manufacturing of a new product or piece of equipment. While the cab production might be moving to Mexico, he says they are now building the new 9RX 830-hp four-wheel drive tractor there.

“If you drove to Waterloo today and went into the operations, what you’d see is that brand new tractor going down the very place in the factory where those cabs were manufactured before,” Reed says.

What John Deere Wants Farmers to Know

As John Deere aims to align production inventory levels with current market demands, the down cycle of agriculture is hitting all of the industry hard, but Reed says he’s still bullish on agriculture long-term. When asked what he wanted farmers to know, Reed’s message was this:

“We have 80,000 employees in the company. We wake up every day with the same purpose. That purpose is quality, innovation, integrity and commitment to our customers. We want to grow value on each and every one of those farms. We want to do it in a way that every day they wake up, with every pass they make through the field, they have confidence they’ve partnered with someone in the industry, John Deere and our John Deere dealers, working to drive value, working to drive profitability, on each and every one of their farms,” Reed says.

You can watch the full interview with Reed here.

Ag Will be Granted $11 Million to be Part of the Climate "Solution"

Tue, 16 May 2023 20:10:03 GMT

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, highlighted the need to address ag sector emissions in the fight against climate change during his keynote address at USDA’s recent AIM for Climate Summit. He noted that ag production accounts for 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it essential to focus on reducing these emissions in the pursuit of a net-zero future.

“We can’t get to net zero, we don’t get this job done, unless ag is front and center as part of the solution,” Kerry said.

Details

Ag generates 10% to 12% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The food system as a whole —including packaging, transportation, and waste management — generates a third of global emissions, according to a 2021 study published in the academic journal Nature Food.

As the global population continues to grow, emissions from food systems are projected to cause an additional half a degree of warming by mid-century. Kerry stressed that lives depend on developing the necessary tools to lower ag emissions, urging for innovation within the sector. The global food system, which encompasses land-use change, agricultural production, packaging, and waste management, generates approximately 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, or 34% of total worldwide emissions.

A Farmer’s Reflection on Climate

Fox Business News recently interviewed Nicole Ort Moke of Ort Farms. She said “agriculture is very green and as farmers we are the most invested in keeping the land sustainable, keeping it viable for future generations. And everything we do, environmentally, that’s always at the top of our mind.”

Nicole was asked to comment about making planters and other farm equipment electric vehicles.

“Going electric with the tractors, the concerns that I have are, are they able to be efficient enough with keeping up the battery life and having enough horsepower for us to be able to feed the nation in an economic, affordable way?”

The outlet then talked with Bjørn Lomborg, a Danish author and the president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is the former director of the Danish government’s Environmental Assessment Institute in Copenhagen. He became internationally known for his best-selling and controversial book The Skeptical Environmentalist.

Lomborg was asked if the U.S needs to restrict farming on a vast scale. Lomborg’s response:

“What John Kerry is telling us is that a third of all emissions come from farming, most of that is in developing countries and remember, what is it that is also mostly a core part of the world? It’s a lot of people starving. There’s something fundamentally wrong about that. Look, there’s maybe 750 million people who are starving, but do we need to make it harder to do ag? No. The solution is focused on innovation. First, what matters a lot more is to get cheaper and more food so you can feed your kids. That’s not what John Kerry is pushing for,” he says. “Secondly, if we innovate to have better ag that produces more at lower cost, it also helps the environment because it reduces climate emissions because you don’t need to cut down a lot of forests.”

Upshot

Lomborg says Kerry’s solution to the climate problem is not going to work and should be withdrawn. He says the U.S. and other countries should be spending the money that we’re spending on innovation and technology.

“Look at all the other problems that are also facing the world. All these problems have smart solutions as we just talked about for ag. This is about getting more innovation, especially for the world’s poorest for cassava and sorghum and all these other grains… all these other ag products that don’t get a lot of funding because they’re not growing in rich countries. Those could be better, cheaper, more effectively produced. More production, lower price and lower emissions.”

The pros and cons of focusing on U.S. ag’s climate change:

Pros:

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions: Agriculture is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane and nitrous oxide. By focusing on sustainable farming practices, emissions can be reduced.
Carbon sequestration: Certain agricultural practices, such as cover cropping and no-till farming, can help sequester carbon in the soil, reducing atmospheric CO2 levels.
Improved water management: Sustainable agriculture can help manage water resources more efficiently, reducing stress on freshwater sources and mitigating the effects of droughts and floods.
Biodiversity protection: Promoting agricultural practices that protect habitats and ecosystems can contribute to biodiversity conservation and support ecosystem services that are crucial for human well-being.
Food security: Climate-resilient agricultural practices can help ensure a stable food supply in the face of climate change-induced threats like extreme weather events, pests, and diseases.
Economic benefits: Investing in sustainable agriculture can create jobs and stimulate economic growth in rural areas, fostering the development of green technologies and practices.

Cons:

Short-term economic costs: Transitioning to sustainable agricultural practices may require significant investments in new technologies, infrastructure, and training, which could be costly in the short term.
Resistance to change: Farmers and other stakeholders might be resistant to change due to a lack of understanding, financial incentives, or concerns about potential negative impacts on their livelihoods.
Trade-offs and unintended consequences: Focusing on agriculture alone may not be sufficient to address climate change, and some solutions might lead to trade-offs with other environmental, social, or economic objectives.
Political challenges: Policy changes necessary to support sustainable agriculture may face opposition from powerful interest groups, such as the agribusiness sector or the fossil fuel industry, making it difficult to implement effective policies.
Global coordination: While focusing on U.S. agriculture can contribute to mitigating climate change, it’s essential to recognize that climate change is a global problem that requires international cooperation and coordination to address effectively.

While people like Kerry say this focus can yield significant environmental, social, and economic benefits, others note there are challenges to overcome, such as the short-term costs, resistance to change, and the need for global coordination.

The news comes as USDA announces $11 billion for rural clean energy transition. The Biden administration plans to make nearly $11 billion in grants and loan opportunities available to rural electric providers to help them transition to clean energy.

This represents the largest investment in rural electricity since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. The funds aim to support cleaner energy, create new jobs, reduce energy costs, and combat climate change.

Clean energy grant details

The Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program will make $9.7 billion available to eligible rural electric cooperatives for deploying renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems, and carbon capture systems.

The Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program will provide $1 billion in partially forgivable loans to renewable-energy developers and electric service providers for financing large-scale solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower projects, and energy storage systems.

To apply for the New ERA program, eligible entities must submit a Letter of Interest between July 31 and August 31.

For the PACE program, USDA will accept Letters of Interest starting on June 30 until Sept.29. Loans through the PACE program may be forgiven by 40% of the loan amount, and up to 60% for applicants in Puerto Rico, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and Tribal communities.

Background on energy grants

Cooperatives are tax-exempt and can’t take advantage of renewable energy tax credits that large power companies can get. The loans and grants are meant to fill that gap and speed rural America’s transition to clean energy, instead of coal and oil-burning power plants.

The funds can be used to deploy renewable energy systems, zero emission systems and carbon capture systems.

New Technologies for Range and Pasture Management

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:25:07 GMT

As technology improves and continually moves forward, more and more information can be gathered remotely to make informed decisions on Nebraska’s farms and ranches. Remote Sensing is the science of obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance, typically from drones, airplanes, or satellites. Since the 1970s, the Landsat satellite program has collected earth imagery data. Current satellites with this program take imagery and sensor data from earth’s entire surface once every 16 days. A number of sensors collect information including natural color, near infrared and thermal information from the earth’s surface. Resolution for these images range from 15- to 60-meter pixels.

Data collected from these satellites is broad at both spatial and temporal scales and used for a number of purposes. Researchers from the University of Montana recently released a new online program known as the Rangeland Analysis Platform , or RAP, as an innovative rangeland monitoring tool that uses this satellite imagery. This online platform allows users to track changes in vegetation and bare ground cover over a landscape from 1984 to the present at 30 meter resolution pixels. Researchers developed this program by correlating values from satellite images with rangeland monitoring information at over 31,000 data points throughout the western USA. The combination of data from satellites and on-the-ground points allowed the researchers to develop algorithms that annually estimate the cover of perennial plant, annual plant, shrub, tree, and bare ground cover across a landscape.

The RAP provides a valuable tool for rangeland visualization and large-scale data retrieval. The program was designed to be used in conjunction with local knowledge and other rangeland monitoring data collection to improve management actions and track changes. For rangeland managers, there are many potential applications for this program (Figure 1). For example, the program can track the expansion of eastern red cedar (i.e., tree cover) into grasslands in central and eastern Nebraska and provide managers visual and numerical estimates of tree cover increases over time or decreases because of specific management practices. Managers can also identify pasture areas with greater amounts of bare ground and incorporate these values into management plans that address opportunities to increase cover of perennial grass species.

Figure 1. Screen shot of a map generated by the Rangeland Analysis Platform showing estimated tree cover at the Nebraska National Forest at Halsey. Visit the RAP website for more information.

Grass-Cast is another program released last year that uses satellite data to provide information for ranchers in the northern Great Plains on estimated increases or decreases for the long-term mean total plant production based on current weather projections. The researchers that developed Grass-Cast used a combination of observed and forecasted weather, evapotranspiration, a normalized difference vegetation index (or NDVI, a land greenness value collected using satellite sensor data), and known relationships between historical weather data and grassland production to generate forecasts for predicted total plant biomass during the growing season at the county level (Figure 2). Grass-Cast provides a tool ranchers can use to make data-driven estimates on plant production for the upcoming growing season to plan for critical drought decision dates, annual pasture stocking rates, grazing rotations.

Figure 2. Output for the Grass-Cast map on July 31, 2018 showing final growing season estimates for increases or decreases from the long-term mean for total plant biomass in the northern Great Plains. Map acquired from the Grass-Cast website on February 28, 2018. Visit the Grass-Cast website for more information.

The RAP and Grass-Cast programs provide ranchers opportunities to obtain information across their whole ranch from the comfort of their office computer to better visualize, understand, and manage their rangelands. With this information, producers can identify key areas to conduct more intensive rangeland monitoring to determine how rangeland plant communities compare with reference plant communities and how current management practices are affecting rangeland health at specific locations. These programs are not meant to take the place of on-the-ground monitoring and management, but they provide tools for the rancher tool kit to assist in the adaptive management of rangelands. For more information, the linked websites have webinars and trainings for how to use the programs.