PULLMAN, Wash. — During the recently ended Industrial Age, mass production ruled on the farm as in the factory. “One size fits all” was the management philosophy and the goal was to maximize production. More acres planted and harvested, more yield per acre was the rule. But the Information Age is transforming agriculture. Part of […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Satellites, computers, global positioning systems; do farmers really need all this precision technology? How costly is it? How cost effective? The answers will be found at the 3rd Western Precision Agriculture Conference, Feb. 15-16, in Pasco, Wash. The conference is sponsored by Washington State University’s Center for Precision Agricultural Systems. Jim Durfey, […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — The 3rd Western Precision Agriculture Conference will be held Feb. 15-16, 2000, at the Double Tree Hotel, Pasco, Wash. The conference is for producers of all crops in the western United States and Canada, including farm suppliers, agri-chemical businesses, bankers, financial consultants, landowners, natural resource planners, policy makers, researchers and field agents. […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — “The legislature has done a great thing for farm and ranch families. This is the best state budget in the history of the Washington State University College of Agriculture and Home Economics.” This was the reaction of James Zuiches, dean of the college, to word that the Washington State Legislature fully funded […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Farming was simple in 1914 when Gaylord Madison broke land out of sagebrush 11 miles south of Hermiston, Ore. Horses. Moldboard plows. Lots of sweat and aching muscles. It’s a very different operation today. In 1994, Gaylord’s grandson, Kent Madison, introduced precision farming to his 15,000-acre operation where he grows winter and […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — The information age is coming to Pacific Northwest farms in the form of precision agriculture. This new approach to management carries computer technologies into farmers’ fields and gives them tools to fine-tune treatments of crop land and rangeland. Writing for the 1998 Pacific Northwest Agricultural Situation and Outlook Report, Geoffrey Shropshire, University […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — When Gary Wagner’s father died about 15 years ago, he took tons of farming knowledge with him and left behind a 4,500-acre Minnesota farm for Gary and his brothers to maintain. It took them more than a decade to learn how to farm well. “We wasted 15 years collecting data, and we […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Ten Washington State University students have returned from Columbus, Ohio, with four prizes won in national competition earlier this month. The competition was sponsored by the National postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization. This was the first time WSU has entered a team. Shawna Druffel, Pullman, placed first in prepared public speaking with a […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Some of the latest technologies and grower innovations on conservation farming systems will be featured at the Pacific Northwest STEEP III Conservation Farming Conference, Jan. 7-8 in Kennewick. STEEP is an acronym for Solutions to Environmental and Economic Problems. The program involves more than 45 scientists from the University of Idaho, Oregon […]
PULLMAN, Wash. Precision techniques that allow farmers to change production practices as they move across their fields, adjusting for differences in soil and other growing conditions, are the topic of a conference Feb. 18-19 in Pasco, Wash. The conference, sponsored by Washington State University, will feature presentations on precision-farming technologies and techniques such as yield […]