PastureScout (PS) is a soon-to-be new website where people can locate, list and secure pasture leases and purchase harvested forage.  

AGCO, a manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, and Russian Machines (RM), part of the Basic Element group and one of the leaders in the Russian machinery sector, have partnered to manufacture and distribute agricultural equipment and replacement parts in Russia. The two groups plan to make a total investment of around $ 100 million in the joint venture over the next three years.

It doesn’t matter what part of the country you’re from, your grass or alfalfa seed likely originated in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, where the National Hay Association recently held its 118th annual convention.

Topics discussed at the recent beef and forage field day in Mt. Vernon, Missouri, included baleage basics; research on Kentucky 31 compared to Bar Optima Plus with different genotypes of cattle; and herbicides for weed and brush control.

Landmark Services Cooperative (LSC) recently hosted “Planting for Production Forage Producers Field Seminar” in Stoughton, Wisconsin. Nearly 200 crop growers and producers attended the annual seminar to hear crop forecasts, market outlooks and management advice from industry experts.

Late this summer I had the opportunity to travel across the country with a group of faculty and graduate students from five different universities. We began in the Carolinas, traveled across Tennessee, then up through Missouri, into Kansas, Oklahoma and eventually Texas. Our goal was to study grazing lands systems in different environments, and the tour included cow-calf, stocker and dairy operations with conventional and local and/or organic end-points.

Brad Pfaff, state executive director for Wisconsin’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), encourages agricultural producers to consult with FSA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) before breaking out new ground for production. Without prior authorization, a producer’s federal farm program benefits may be in jeopardy.

A nearly year-long project to renovate and expand the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Soil Testing and Research Laboratory is underway. The facility’s receiving and laboratory buildings will be replaced with new and larger ones and the existing office wing will be improved.

Investment in U.S. farmland is still competitive with alternative investments, but the era of extremely low interest rates and extraordinarily high commodity prices is drawing to a close, according to a new report from the Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research (FAR) and Advisory Group.