In 1990, I had the good fortune to discover the National Poultry Waste Management Symposium (NPWMS). What a tremendous group of scientists! For nearly 20 years, they met every other year to collaborate on adding value to various forms of … Continue reading →
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), Building a Sustainable Business Guide is a go-to planning document for anyone wanting to start a business. This document is a workbook, rather than a textbook. It is written for individuals to build … Continue reading →
Recently, a family member asked the family broadly about everyday tasks that required an innovative solution. They are working on a masters degree class project. Soliciting ideas is a credit to the entrepreneurial spirit of this young professional. Of course, … Continue reading →
The fierce and relentless innovation of US farmers is uplifting. Some farms, particularly US dairy farms, can serve as a scapegoat for methane production. This 2023 Journal of Dairy Science article by Jeffrey O’Hara, State-level trends in the greenhouse gas … Continue reading →
The first week of July (2026), the previous 24 months of solar panel output were presented in the post, Annual and Daily Solar Production from a Residential Array – Making $ense of Energy. The greatest surprise was the high variability … Continue reading →
While a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, 40 years ago, I could tell the time on a cloudless night by the rotation of the stars around the North Star. That was a pretty cool revelation. Biomass Rules posts a lot … Continue reading →
June 24, 2026 was National Upcycling Day, in the month of June that was Food Upcycle Month. On social media that day, I saw a comment by a food waste group that “food waste is a feedstock.” In food waste … Continue reading →
One of the quiet benefits of membership in the St. Louis Agribusiness Club, is getting to know Club members like Philip Bradshaw, a retired farmer from Pike County, Illinois. At the April 2026 meeting, Philip reintroduced his 2019 book, Your … Continue reading →
We are still using them. This chart is from the data in the USDA, 2022 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1, Table 40, Fertilizers and Chemicals Applied: 2022 and 2017. It is convenient that the Census of Agriculture now contains manure … Continue reading →
With great confidence, all organics are going to rot. There is a gratifying consistency in this certainty. The global and US farm economies are on fire with wars and rumors of wars. It is a difficult season to be a … Continue reading →
