It’s beginning to feel and look a lot more like summer is quickly nearing! The kids have wrapped up their school year, the alfalfa is about to bloom, the cows have come home to graze, and the wheat is waving in the warm Kansas winds.

The saying, “farmers never retire, they farm until they die,” is accurate for my paternal grandfather. Grandpa turned 95 this winter and outside a short Navy deployment at the end of World War II, he has farmed all his life.

Plastic mulches have long been known to provide advantages for the vegetable grower including earlier fruiting, increased yields and weed control. More recently, advantages have been noted for colored mulches over the more traditional black plastic mulch. With tomatoes, the color of choice has been red. Though normally there is an increase in production of marketable fruit with red mulch over black mulch, the amount of the increase varies with the type of year we have. There may be no increase during years of near-perfect weather or up to a 20% increase with less favorable growing conditions. A good average expected increase is about 12%.

Price Risk Management for Cow-Calf Producers: Part 8 Cow-calf producers use various strategies to manage price risk, including futures and options. Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) is a type of livestock price insurance that typically costs less than a put option.

Cow-calf producers use various strategies to manage price risk, including futures and options. Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) is a type of livestock price insurance that typically costs less than a put option. LRP makes payouts (indemnities) that replace the income that is lost due to a price decline. For cow-calf producers interested in the price risk management and income benefits of LRP, this article discusses a few key policy details.

The wheat is greening, the fruit trees are blooming and spring planting is in full swing. One day the temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees, and then two days later we received a dusting of snow. Needless to say, it’s all part of spring in Kansas!

Wading Into Water Glenn Brunkow Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher Water, it is the most important resource we have, not just in agriculture but humanity as a whole. It is an extraordinarily complex and difficult issue.

Price Risk Management for Cow-Calf Producers: Part 6 Cow-calf producers use various strategies to manage price risk, including futures and options. Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) is a type of livestock price insurance that typically costs less than a put option.

The City of Dreams Jackie Mundt, Pratt County farmer and rancher I recently traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the Kansas Ag and Rural Leaders (KARL) program. Our trip included unique farm tours like a camel dairy, falcon hospital and the oldest irrigation district in the world.