A Roadmap to Better Decision Making

The USDA reports that there are nearly 400 grasshopper species that inhabit the Western United States, but only about 12 are considered pests. But those that are deemed pests, along with their close cousins the Mormon cricket, do significant damage to rangeland and crops in the Central and Western United States every year. “The biggest biomass consumers in the country ...
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Most Americans are very familiar with the Pillsbury Company which has given us a host of iconic products, including the company's Classic Yellow Cake Mix, every flavor of pre-made frosting, and those addictive Crescent Rolls. Pillsbury's marketing efforts for its various brands also generated iconic characters like the Doughboy and Jolly Green Giant. The company itself is no longer around ...
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Christian K. Nelson emigrated to the U.S. with his parents and six siblings while he was still an infant in the late 1800s. The dairy farming family settled in Illinois, Wisconsin, and finally on a farm in Onawa, Iowa in 1903. There, Nelson would open a small confectionery shop (mostly candy) near the high school where he worked as a ...
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Global meatpacking giant Tyson Foods in July of 2023 announced it was resuming the use of some antibiotics in its chicken supply chain, abandoning its “no antibiotics ever” policy. That was followed by restaurant groups Chic-Fil-A and Panera Bread making similar moves. Now, Tyson has said it is scaling back its antibiotic-free beef offerings. Instead, Tyson and many other companies ...
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National Ice Cream Month was established by the American Dairy Association in conjunction with President Ronald Reagan and Walter Dee Huddleston, a Senator from Kentucky. Even though the bill only specified that July 1984 was National Ice Cream Month, the tradition carries on. National Ice Cream Day (which is on July 21) originated that same year. The proclamation (No. 5219) ...
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The rare “Przewalski’s horse”, considered the last truly wild horse species, has been making headlines lately, and refreshingly it’s mostly all good news. Also called the “takhi” or Mongolian wild horse, their numbers had dwindled so low by the 1960s that they were declared “extinct in the wild.” However, they are making a comeback thanks to reintroduction programs, including new ...
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Each year, I give myself and the others in the office two weeks off to spend time with friends and family. One week is between Christmas and New Year, the other is the week of July 4th. With that in mind, the last report we will issue this week will be today, Friday morning, June 30th. We will then re-start ...
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Indiana farmer and well-known “Ag-vocate” Brian Scott, who does a lot of work trying to bring the farmers and consumers together on topics of debate, once shared his collection of the most Game-Changing people in agriculture. Reading and reviewing the list makes me wonder what and who comes next? Will it have something to do with water, seed, soil health, ...
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Some produce lovers out there are willing to spend a surprisingly large amount of money on what’s been dubbed “designer” fruits and vegetables. From strawberries that run upwards of $5 each, to mini, seedless peppers that cost three times that of their full-sized cousins, these products have transformed produce aisles into one of the more pricey sections at many grocery ...
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Farmers in the US struggled through an overly wet planting season and are now facing unseasonably warm temperatures across a wide swath of corn and soybean regions. Heat is typically something that becomes a worry further along in the growing season but temps have already busted through the 100-degree mark in parts of the Midwest and are looking to maintain ...
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