In the past 2 weeks, I’ve had a chance to ‘windshield’ tour much of the northern Iowa and southern Minnesota corn crop. An impressive crop in the making, if we can continue to get timely rains and heat units for crop development. Read More...

Hog barns don’t come with owner’s manuals! Many of the readers of this blog have seen me present on this topic at various producer meetings this past year. In the past 2 weeks I’ve worked with several clients on a variety of facility related issues that have emphasized some of the items I have on my list of owner’s manual chapters. Read More...

Just returned from the local barbershop. While there, visited with a local heating contractor about energy costs. He had just booked his propane for this winter at $2.30/gal, up considerably from last summer’s booking.  Read More...

One of the items that has always peaked my interest is the discussion of ‘who is our market’. I think everyone agrees that the ultimate market for the pork we produce is the consumer. However, how this consumer’s desires and biases get transferred into a willingness to buy our product gets very fuzzy. Read More...