Just 20 years ago, the soils of the Amazon basin were thought unsuitable for large-scale agriculture, but then industrial agriculture -- and the ability to fertilize on a massive scale -- came to the Amazon. What were once the poorest soils in the world now produce crops at a rate that rivals that of global breadbaskets. Soils no longer seem to be the driver -- or the limiter -- of agricultural productivity. But a new Brown University-led study of three soybean growing regions, including Brazil, Read More
T.E. O’Toole Farm Seed
In the late 1960s Richard O'Toole built a grain elevator on his farm with the idea of cleaning wheat seed for himself and some of his neighbors. Let's just say things have changed quite a bit since then. In 1979, after the local elevators took less of an interest in cleaning wheat seed for farmers a second elevator was built on O'Toole's farm just west of Crystal, N.D., which allowed for an expansion of the seed cleaning and conditioning business. The elder O'Toole's son, Brian, helped build Read More