John Phipps

New veterinarians are overwhelmingly women, and technology is helping entice more female farmers. Are women on track to become the majority in agriculture? John Phipps provides his thoughts in Customer Support.

There are efforts underway to mitigate the concern about losing farmland to solar panels. One of these is agrivoltaics, which is combining agriculture with solar installations, and it’s already turning heads in Canada.

A larger issue than foreign ownership of U.S. land is potentially being overlooked.

Recently a new theory of comprehending Chinese government action has emerged and seems plausible if not likely: Xi Jinping may not be the sharpest pencil in the box, even borderline incompetent.

As more Americans become hooked on weight-loss medication, the impact on farmers could be substantial as more and cheaper versions of these drugs are released in the next few months.

BASF is introducing xarvio SeedSelect, a novel seed variety placement technology based on an algorithm derived from plot trial research, local topographic and soil attributes, and variety-specific yield characteristics.

Declining populations might contribute to environmental improvement but worsen rural quality of life

While the Farmers’ Almanac and Old Farmer’s Almanac are both backward looking – derived from past data that come close to current conditions. Weather agencies are tending more toward predictive computer models.

Farmers have struggled with the same business and family problem essentially forever: what happens to the farm when parents die. The conflict between fairness and equality has never been truly resolved.

John Phipps reflects on his 30 years of writing for Farm Journal's audience.