Latest News From Chris Bennett

Five farming operations in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Nebraska highlight irrigation adjustments that target dollar per drop in order to tap profit.

Randy Sowers’ nightmare began when the IRS seized his bank account, over $60,000, and almost wrecked his farm through a law intended to nab drug lords and crime bosses.

Mitch Sisson never wants to grow up. As one of America’s top farm toy restorers, his meticulous craftsmanship coaxes memory from metal: “It’s a special thing when you can hand a man back a piece of his past.”

In one of the most heavily ignored and needless catastrophes in recent U.S. history, 548,000 acres of the Mississippi Delta were silently swallowed in 2019 and submerged for five months.

Brian Tischler has put a shoulder to the door of open-source farm technology by designing software, AgOpenGPS, for a precision mapping and tractor automation program, and placing the project online for free download.

Automated machinery and drones impact everything from equipment ownership to weed control.

As hemp growers, seed dealers and processors hurl accusations of fraud and failure—one lesson, among many, is increasingly clear: Hemp is a crop unto itself and a solid contract is crucial from the get-go.

In 2017, Bob Recker kicked open the door on 60” row corn, and exposed a ton of questions on sunlight capture, weed suppression, cover crops, and much more.

Jamie Lawhorne took a grow-for-the-green scam and turned it into one of the most outlandish swindles in farming history.

In 2019, three significant technologies making noise on North American farms include the DOT Power Platform, AutoCart, and SmartCore.

The mavericks of DIY innovation are blazing a trail through the heart of agriculture.

The mavericks of DIY innovation are blazing a trail through the heart of agriculture.

The mavericks of DIY innovation are blazing a trail through the heart of agriculture.

Whether seed, fiber or cannabidiol (CBD), hemp growers share a colossal commonality: They are all learning on the go.

13% of farmers will use e-commerce in 2019

Farmer beware: Hemp is a frontier sometimes visited by fraud. The U.S. hemp train is loaded with hopeful farmers and reputable entrepreneurs, but it’s also carrying dubious carpetbaggers.

The Wild West has come to ag retail. The scramble for ag retail dollars has kicked up a dusty haze as traditional chemical players scrap gravel with an expanding list of online start-up companies.

The Wild West has come to ag retail. The scramble for ag retail dollars has kicked up a dusty haze as traditional chemical players scrap gravel with an expanding list of online start-up companies.

This young farmer has big dreams for his unconventional crop

In the spring of 1975, Ed Hain rolled the dice and planted several six-row strips of corn and soybeans, kicking off 15-year average of roughly 50 extra bushels of corn yield per acre.

Farmland often serves as a giant time capsule. Arrowheads, fossils, petrified wood, meteorites, marbles, coins, buttons and bullets are a portion of an endless list pulled straight from the trappings of yesteryear.

Frederick believes the initial yield key was delivery of biologicals coupled with highly effective machinery.

In one of the most surreal regulatory tales in U.S. agriculture history, producer Bob Brace’s “damned nightmare” began in May 1987. Over 31 years later, it is yet to end.

Mike McGregor changes the spread rate on a litter buggy. “Growers that have used litter for years don’t continue because it doesn’t pay; they’re still putting it on because it brings results.”

“Made in the USA” and the American farmer just got a big boost from Wrangler. In an effort to highlight the sustainability of the cotton industry, Wrangler is purchasing 40,000 lb. of Newby Farms cotton to feature in a line of denim jeans.

In the annals of agriculture fraud, one scam may rule them all. Pulled from the pages of a Hollywood script, agriculture's most outlandish Ponzi scheme is a cauldron of greed, loss and lingering questions.