Fall 2015 Archives | Midwestern BioAg

Improving Dairy Profitability

By: Midwestern BioAg Staff · Miscellaneous, Economics, Bio-Cal®, Forages, Cover Crops, Soil

To make improvements to dairy farm margins in challenging times, dairies should look “lower” to increase profitability — all the way down to the ground, according to Midwestern BioAg’s nutritionist.
“If you grow your own forages,” says the BioAg nutritionist, “we can help you improve profitability by building a fertility plan to grow a better quality, higher-yielding crop. There’s a lot of revenue potential in the soil, and we can help you unlock it.”
By taking a systems approach to dairy farm management, Midwestern BioAg consultants …

The Farming Pharmacist

By: Jan Shepel · Crop Yields, Grazing, Soil

A New Jersey native — with no farmers in his family tree — is now a successful beef breeder and cash cropper in Minnesota’s Winona County, southeast of Minneapolis. Tom Scarponcini came to his beautiful Rushford-area farm by way of Maine, where he started a small enterprise pasturing 16 head of cattle and learning about rotational grazing. “I wanted to be a farmer, but I have no idea where that came from,” he says.
After getting a taste of farming in Maine, Scarponcini wanted to expand …

Helping Hunger Task Force Feed Those in Need

By: Holly Henschen · Vegetable Production, Fruit Production, Bio-Cal®, Food, Cover Crops, Soil

The Hunger Task Force works to end hunger in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, metro area. Their farm, located just southwest of the city, serves over 40,000 people in need each month. The farm produces over 800,000 pounds of fresh produce each year, cultivating nearly 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables.
Formed in the early 1980s, the Hunger Task Force’s mission is to provide food to people in need today, to achieve a hunger-free community tomorrow. Some 75 percent of their produce recipients are a particularly vulnerable population: …