What is small, brown and defoliates alfalfa? While there are several correct replies, the most common answer is the alfalfa weevil. If not managed properly, this pest inflicts a wealth of damage on important first-cutting alfalfa stands.

AGCO has begun further expansion of its Jackson, Minnesota, manufacturing center. During the next three years, AGCO will invest an estimated $42 million in infrastructure, increasing production capacity and efficiency in order to help meet growing demand for the tractors and application equipment built there.

Another harvest season is approaching and, as always, there is no guarantee the weather this season will be better than last. While some producers suffered from less forage supply than expected, many were starting from a comfortable supply left in bunks from the previous year.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published in the April 22 Federal Register a petition received from the Monsanto Company and Forage Genetics International seeking nonregulated status for a low-lignin alfalfa.

One of the coolest springs on records has delayed most producers across the Midwest from getting in the field. Typically, 42 percent of the corn in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois is planted by the first week in May. This year, only 5 percent of the planting had occurred by May 3.

The following came in response to the article 'Drying forage for hay and haylage' which appeared in the May 2011 edition. Click here to read the original article.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a farmer's replanting of harvested Roundup Ready© soybeans violates Monsanto Company's patent rights.  The ruling leaves in place a former court award of $84,456 against farmer Vernon Bowman for planting and harvesting the soybeans, which he had purchased as commodity beans from a local grain elevator or saved from his prior harvests.

Relying on the theory of "patent exhaustion," Bowman argued that Monsanto's patent rights exhausted after the first sale of the seed and did not apply to later uses or sales. 

Bruce Nelson, state executive director for USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Montana, announced that Agriculture Secretary Vilsack declared four Montana counties as primary disaster areas and nine as contiguous disaster areas due to disaster designations authorized in Montana and South Dakota.

Due to the widespread drought conditions experienced over the past year, many growers are concerned about the potential for herbicide carryover injury to this year's crops. This potential is driven by two main factors.