Holistic Management International (HMI) is hosting two farm field days in Wisconsin and Michigan. Both events are part of HMI’s Open Gate On-Farm Learning Series and will demonstrate how the holistic management whole farm/ranch planning system enables producers to better manage risk, make better decisions, and benefit from adoption of sustainable agriculture practices.

A long-term study in Australia offers a new weed control model for global agriculture. This mechanical method targets weed seeds during harvest, reducing the quantity of weeds that can grow in future crop cycles.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research (A&M) recently released Blackhawk, a new arrowleaf clover promising high forage production with improved disease resistance. Dr. Gerald Smith, A&M forage breeder, said he developed it from lines with natural resistance to the fungal soil pathogen Pythium ultimum and for tolerance to bean yellow mosaic virus.

The fifth annual grazing seminar series is scheduled for Oct. 4 at World Dairy Expo. Events will include four seminars starting at 10 a.m. in the Mendota 3 Room and a reception from 3-6 p.m. in the Waubesa Room at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Potash-mining stocks spiraled downward after Russian producer Uralkali said it would pull out of its sales partnership with Belarus, one of two groups in a global cartel commanding two-thirds of a nearly $22 billion market for the fertilizer ingredient, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report by Alistair MacDonald and Lukas I. Alpert.

Irrigation is expanding in Alabama, thanks to a statewide incentive that allows farmers to claim tax credit of $10,000 for the installation of irrigation equipment or construction. The incentive was recently discussed during the Alabama Water Policy Symposium at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

U.S. farmers spent a record-high $351.8 billion on agricultural production in 2012, a 10.4 percent increase from 2011, according to the Farm Production Expenditures report, published by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

In early July, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) simplified access to historic data by putting 77 years’ worth of agricultural statistics online. In the past, this information, published in the annual bulletin Agricultural Statistics, was available in print form only.