Jeff Hill - Use of Amendments to Improve the Quality of the Soil in Your Garden.

Jeff Hill is an agriculture expert who helps farmers grow healthier crops and build better soils.

One of the worst ways to prevent the development of the living soil is the use of pesticides. Both natural and non-organic pesticides can destroy entire populations of living organisms. Occasionally such methods do have a place in fighting garden pests, but it is almost always better to rely on natural techniques that improve and build the soil. With time, healthy and diverse community of biological elements in the soil will work on its own to remove troublesome weeds, diseases, and pests.

Jeff Hill

Organic amendments such as cover crops, manures, debris, and residues can help you build a healthy, strong and productive soil in your garden. Improvements and build-ups of the organic matter in the soil require consistent additions of organic materials. This is why choosing the right amendment for your garden is a matter of both knowing your garden and being able to access organic material on a regular basis.

Tests of soil quality and nutrients can help you decide whether you should add nutrients, build up the levels of organic matter or solve a particular issue such as compaction. Today’s types and options of soil amendments are only limited by creativity and imagination of the gardeners.

Both urban and suburban areas are great sources of food waste that you can obtain from restaurants and neighbors. If you live close to a horse farm, free horse manure may be your amendment of choice. If you are unable to transport the amendments, then you can grow green manures. You can also use lawn clippings, fallen leaves, cardboard, coffee grounds and so on. Experts like Jeff Hill know about the importance of using the proper materials. The rule of thumb is very simple: if it was once alive and it’s toxin-free, it can be added to the soil.

Jeff Hill - The Benefits of Mulch

Jeff Hill is an entrepreneur, consultant, and agronomist.

If you walk into a forest or a lawn and look on the ground you won’t see the soil. The reason for it is that in nature the ground is covered with living organisms and plants such as grass, fallen leaves or a soft cap consisting of dead elements.

Jeff Hill

This cover has a lot of functions. It protects the soil from rainfalls and erosion. It regulates the temperature of the soil and intercepts the sun rays. It also helps the soil conserve and collect water. Finally, it provides the soil with nutrients that it slowly releases into soil over time.

All of these functions help the soil to be a good home for organisms that live in it by protecting it and providing it with water, air, and food. Without the cover, the top half inch of soil becomes too wet, cold or dry for life to exist in it as deserts, beaches and ice caps show. In large areas such as gardens the loss of the soil cover usually results in the loss of a significant amount of living soil organisms.

Gardeners can copy natural soil protection processes by covering the soil with mulch. This simple cover can dramatically transform the soil and its productivity.

Mulch can help gardeners save time on two most time-consuming tasks that are weeding and watering. Mulch increases the amount of water in the soil and reduces the need for frequent irrigation. It also helps the surface of the soil stay moist and soft, which prevents the appearance of surface crusts. In addition to all these benefits, mulch kills the weeds and reduces the need for their removal. In case mulch doesn’t kill all the weeds, you can always contact a professional consultant like Jeff Hill for recommendations about what to do.

Jeff Hill - Freezing Crops for Winter Consumption

Jeff Hill has a degree in plant science that provided him with a unique skillset.

If you live in a cold climate, the best thing you can do heading into winter is preserve your own food in the freezer. It is incredible how little some farmers know about preserving food for cold months.

Jeff Hill

While food preservation may sound time-consuming, it actually saves time compared to frequent trips to grocery stores.

You do not need an advanced degree in biology to learn how to preserve your homegrown fruits and vegetables for winter. All you need is easy-to-follow techniques and common sense. Freezing is the easiest preservation method. It also preserves the most vitamin C compared to drying and canning, which are also not very complicated.

You can freeze your fruits and vegetables raw, after dipping them in the boiling water or fully cooked. The best vegetables suitable for freezing are the ones that you would usually cook such as corn and spinach. When cooked and frozen properly that can be stored for up to a year. Foods that have spent over a year in a freezer may still taste okay, but they will hardly have any nutrients in them.

Vegetables that do not require cooking, such as onions or celery, do not freeze well.

Freezing fruits and vegetables as soon as possible after harvesting and blanching them prior to freezing helps preserve the color, texture, nutritional value and taste.

When freezing berries or grapes it is better to put them on a tray and then place the tray in the freezer. Once the berries are frozen, you can remove them from the tray and place them in freezer bags.

Frozen things do expand, so keep that in mind and leave extra space in the freezer container during the freezing process. That’s what agriculture professionals with experience like Jeff Hill do.

Jeff Hill - How to Transform Your Garden with Regeneration

Jeff Hill is an agriculture expert who helps farmers transform their gardens and yards using plant science.

Regeneration describes a healing process that happens in nature after a disturbance such as an earthquake or a forest fire. The scientists from the Rodale Institute Experimental Farm came up with seven things that occur in nature when regeneration happens. These things don’t just apply to nature. They also describe well what needs to happen for depressed economies to thrive or human illnesses to go away.

Pluralism

Regeneration leads to the diversity of plants and animals. As diversity increases, the nature starts to thrive. It often works in the same manner with communities of people. The more people live in a community, the more vibrant and active it becomes.

Protection

Regeneration in nature results in new plants growing in the soil and protecting it from erosion. In a similar way, regeneration in communities builds stronger relationships that allow communities to grow faster and withstand difficult times.

Purity

When people stop using chemicals in agriculture, a greater number of organisms find their way into the soil. Similarly, the less artificial restrictions a community has, the more vibrant it becomes.

Permanence

The less human involvement there is in the soil, the more organisms grow in it and the stronger they become.

Peace

The more regeneration there is in nature, the fewer pest problems it experiences.

Potential

When people leave nature alone it does a great job taking care of itself.

Progress

Regeneration helps soil structure improve. This is something experts like Jeff Hill consult their clients about. The soil starts to retain and purify more water, which helps the soil nurture plants more efficiently and reenergizes the life of nature overall.

Jeff Hill - Earthworms and plant residues

Jeff Hill is a skilled agriculture consultant with years of experience.

He mentions that the ability of earthworms to change soil is almost magical. Earthworms literally eat their way through incredible amounts of earth, ingesting soil in the amounts of up to thirty times more than their weight. Depending on how active earthworms in your soil are, they can process between one hundred to two thousand pounds of soil per each one hundred square feet of your garden. That’s the amount of soil that does directly through the gut of the earthworms in your soil. In addition to this, earthworm movements create tunnels for water to pass and plant roots to grow. While moving, earthworms also combine the organic matter from the surface of the soil with the soil under the surface, thus enhancing the overall quality of the soil.

Jeff HillEarthworms secrete the soil they ingest in perfect aggregates that all gardeners and farmers strive for. The soil excreted by earthworms is perfectly round and crumbly stable. These aggregates possess enhance drainage capabilities and a greater ability for the collection of water and organic matter. Not to mention, these aggregates contain valuable nutrients that significantly enhance the fertility of the soil.

Earthworms are so productive in enhancing the structure of the soil that they can be compared to tractors and rototillers.

Earthworms are looking for gardens where the soil gets improved with organic matter. Making sure that your soil contains enough earthworms replaces the time and labor you’d otherwise spend by digging your soil for many years. Earthworms would do a better job in less time and with less work on your part, helping you achieve the fluffy soil of your dreams, says Jeff Hill.

Jeff Hill -  Plant Grown and the Health of Your Soil

Agriculture expert Jeff Hill says that it may seem obvious, but you can easily tell how healthy your soil is by observing how well your plants grow in it. The vitality of plant growth shows how well the soil can provide nutrients, water and a growing environment. Watching closely your garden and your plants will let you comprehend the reasons for good and bad crops, pest issues and microsites for different plants.

Jeff Hill

The best time to watch plant health and vitality is before flowering, during the peak of the growing season. First, look for uniformity of growth among different plants. Are there areas that for some reason look better than others? If so, there may be an issue with the quality of soil in the places where growth seems to stall. Check the colors of the plants. Do they look healthy? How green are the leaves? The greener the leaves, the healthier the plants. Are some of the plants growing faster or slower compared to previous years? Are there any pests or diseases present?  

If you can’t identify issues by looking at plants, look at their roots. Roots are the vessels for nutrition and water. They are also centers of life for soil organisms.

Plant roots are great gauges of drainage and compaction issues. When roots can’t grow, the reason usually lies in compacted layers in the soil or water clogging. Live roots percolate sugars and carbohydrates into the soil while dead roots serve as organic matter enhancement, explains Jeff Hill.

Jeff Hill -  Ecosystems and Their Needs

Jeff Hill is a professional agriculture consultant. He knows that the variety of organisms has a variety of needs. You would feed a human bodybuilder champion and your cat the same food. A shark and an owl do not live in the same habitat. The more complex a garden or a farm, the more likely you are to deal with a similar extensive variety of needs.

Jeff Hill

However, this complexity doesn’t mean that maintaining a healthy garden or a farm is complicated. In fact, complex ecosystems are often easier to manage because they take care of a lot of things on their own.

By meeting this variety of needs the organic soil matter becomes more diverse. This means that the functions of different elements of the soil ecosystem are repeated in a diverse number of ways by a diverse set of different organisms.

A big city of people is a great analogy. Every big city has a number of good auto repair mechanics. If you can’t get to one of them, you can visit someone else. If you have an exotic car, you can find several mechanics that specialize in your car brand. The same principles of variety and diversity apply to a healthy soil ecosystem.

Taking care of such an ecosystem means meeting the four key needs of any living creature. These needs are air, food, water and shelter. If you can provide those, then the ecosystem will take care of everything else.

This is the template that you can use to nurture the living component of the soil. While different soils do require slightly different ways in nurturing them, the basics do stay the same, says Jeff Hill.

Jeff Hill - Improving Agricultural Sustainability

Jeff Hill, the owner of ATP Agriculture and Irrigation Consultants, knows that implementing sustainable agricultural techniques is a deeply important responsibility that farmers can take to become more successful and eco-friendly. With a degree in Plant Science and a concentration in agronomy, he is devoted to assisting farmers in developing creative solutions. He shares the following basic principles as foundational elements of sustainable farming.

Jeff Hill

  • Crop rotation has historically served as one of the most meaningful techniques to ensure sustainable agriculture. By growing a variety of crops in the same space over a period of time, pest problems are greatly reduced by avoiding the timing of their reproductive cycles. Crop rotation also ensures that different types of nutrients are being re-introduced to the soil regularly, ensuring healthy crops.
  • Cover crops can be an incredibly useful asset for sustainability by keeping the soil strong and healthy between crops, which can help prevent soil erosion, nutrient loss, weeds, and more.
  • Taking measures to keep soil healthy means that crops will continue to yield a high-quality product, and this can be done in a number of ways. Most commonly, farmers can choose to add composted materials to the soil, plow beneath the cover crops, and/or allow crop residues to remain after harvesting.
  • Utilizing pest predators to your advantage is a free and earth-friendly method for keeping your crops disease-free. Being thoughtful about the wildlife surrounding your farm, such as the types of birds and spiders, means that the work is happening naturally.

Jeff Hill is an entrepreneur in the agronomics field. He’s based in Clovis, California.

Sources: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/advance-sustainable-agriculture/sustainable-agriculture.html#.V1_Uivl97IU

Jeff Hill - Four Reasons to Compost

Choosing to compost is a giant leap anyone can make to help support solutions for a sustainable and healthy future. Jeff Hill has over 18 years of experience in the agronomics field and is dedicated to helping make the earth a safer and cleaner place to live. He knows that whether you’re keeping a composting bin in a tiny kitchen or working with an entire composting system on a fully operational farm, it’s a wise and responsible decision for a number of reasons.

Jeff Hill

Composting helps preserve resources. By choosing to compost you keep the valuable matter out of the landfills. A great deal of daily residential waste ends up in landfills that could have easily been composted and put to good use because these materials can’t break down in the correct manner in a landfill. Composting also reduces water waste because it naturally promotes water retention.

Composting is a money-saver, allowing you to purchase less chemical fertilizers.

Integral nutrients are re-introduced into the soil through composting, helping maintain a high level of nutrients that will ultimately promote plant growth. Healthy soil means you will grow healthy plants.
Composting helps reduce unnecessary emissions and prevents further pollution. Methane gas is produced when organic matter breaks down without oxygen, and transport of this waste also introduces extraneous emissions into the atmosphere.

Jeff Hill is an entrepreneur and looks forward to building new connections with clients that focus on making the planet a better place to live. He lives in California with his family.

Sources:
http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/why-should-i-compost/

Jeff Hill - An Introduction to Irrigation


Irrigation, a farming method with a rich history stretching across many ancient civilizations, is the system in which water is consistently supplied to crops at regular intervals. Jeff Hill of Clovis, California, is dedicated to helping each and any every client develop personalized farming systems with a focus on both crop health and production. He shares that with the goals of managing both maintenance and revegetation, it is necessary to use water in the most efficient manner possible to ensure a steady distribution, especially during periods of little rainfall and in dry regions. The following methods are among the most common irrigation techniques.

Jeff Hill
Surface irrigation is a method in which the soil surface is covered in water, or “flooded” in a controlled manner. Though this isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to manage water as a result of the need for more resources, it’s the most commonly used method both historically and currently with high success rates when managed properly.

Localized irrigation occurs through a system in which water moves through a network of pipes under low pressure in a pattern decided upon by the farmer.
 
Sprinkler systems are another common irrigation method in which water is distributed at high overhead pressure.

While the main focus of irrigation is centered on water, Jeff Hill shares that irrigation specialists will also help farmers develop systems for dust and weed suppression, soil consolidation prevention, drainage, and more. Jeff Hill is dedicated to providing his clients with all the information and tools they need to be secure and successful.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation

 Jeff Hill Learns History of Plant Study is Ancient

Botany is the study of plant life, and the term is derived from the ancient Greek botane, meaning pasture.  Botany includes the study of fungi and algae, as part of the 400,000 species of organisms studied by botanists; 260,000 of these are vascular plants, and about 248,000 are flowering plants.  Jeff Hill  study of Plant Science would necessarily have revealed to him the origins of botany, which began in ancient times as herbalism, when early humans attempted to identify and encourage the growth of medicinal, edible and poisonous plants.  Monasteries in medieval times often developed attached physic gardens, where plants of medical use were carefully cultivated.  These were the earliest botanical gardens which later were developed at universities for the academic study of plants.  These studies gave rise to plant taxonomy, which utilizes the system of identification developed by Carl Linnaeus.

Jeff Hill

Theophrastus of ancient Greece was a student of Aristotle, and Theophrastus described many of the principles upon which modern botany is based, earning him the title of Father of Botany.  Theophrastus produced Enquiry Into Plants, and On the Causes of Plants, while Pedanius Dioscorides, a contemporary of Theophrastus, produced a five volume encyclopedia about herbal medicine called the De Materia Medica, a pivotal work for reference.  Medieval Muslims produced Nabatean Agriculture, the Book of Plants, and The Classification of Soils.  These ancient works would be read and referenced for over 1500 years, when Italian universities in the 15th and 16th centuries began to research botany through their botanical gardens, studies still vital to the academia of students like Jeff Hill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wikiBotany

Alpha Gamma Rho Enhances Career of Jeff Hill

Alpha Gamma Rho, the social and professional fraternity of Jeff Hill is dedicated to the study of agriculture in all its forms.  AGR evolved when its chapter at Ohio State University and the Delta Rho Sigma fraternity at the University of Illinois met at the International Livestock Competition at Chicago, Illinois early in the 20th century.  The charter of these two melded fraternities was signed in 1908, and the new Alpha Gamma Rho social and professional fraternity dedicated to those passionate about agriculture grew to today’s 71 chapters across the United States.

Because Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity is a professional as well as social collaboration, Jeff Hill’s membership in the group promised to add not only to his friendships and contacts at his school but it also aligned him with the academics and academic sources which promoted his love of agricultural pursuits.  Hill was able live in a house with other fraternity members during his college years and commune with other young men pursuing degrees in agriculturally related industries with food or fiber concerns.    Alpha Gamma Rho enabled Hill to become involved with job networking throughout the agriculture industry, and to advance his studies the AGR house provided libraries and state of the art computers.

The study of agriculture is a much more dynamic field today, with careers in food science, biotechnology, agri-marketing, environmental science and many other exciting new fields of study such as Jeff Hill’s work in irrigation and efficient plant and land development.  AGR also emphasizes the need for leadership skills through encouraging fraternity and university involvement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Gamma_Rho
https://www.alphagammarho.org/

All Things Agricultural Define Jeff Hill’s Work

Providing scientific analyses for soil, water and petiole informed Jeff Hill’s recommendations to growers for pesticide choices and amounts, as well as frequency, as he wrote complete pesticide recommendations for a variety of conditions and needs.

Jeff Hill added depth to his knowledge of Pest Control as he worked as an Advisor for Wilbur-Ellis in California.  Wilbur-Ellis is an international marketer and distributor of agricultural products, animal feed and specialty chemicals, established in 1921 in San Francisco as an import-export trading company focusing on fishmeal and fish oil.  Wilbur-Ellis expanded into the Far East in the 30’s, and opened crop protection and treatment locations in California and Arizona in the 40’s.   Trade was established with Japan and Wilbur-Ellis began a program of strategic acquisitions in California, the Pacific Northwest and Texas which continues today.   Agribusiness and crop protection joined forces with the Safety, Regulatory and Environmental department of Wilbur-Ellis as it moved into the 21st century.  Trust, respect and shared business interest have continued to be the cornerstones of Wilbur-Ellis’ success.

Jeff Hill

Jeff Hill continued his work to inform and educate growers in best land use, most productive plant growth, and management of erosion conditions at Wilbur-Ellis.  Hill researched soils and their capabilities by introducing alternative approaches to soil productivity, and developed methods of conserving and managing soil for landowners and forestry industries.  Hill also experimented with the development of improved crop varieties, working for higher yields and quality of product, greater disease resistance, higher nutritional value in food products and more effective adaptation to different soils and climates.

Jeff Hill was responsive to inquiries about soil problems and inferior water quality, investigating the origins of problems and the impacts on plants and the water supply.  Hill consulted and advised farmers with recommendations on proper and effective pesticides and fertilizers.

As a private consultant and farming manager, Jeff Hill used his growing experience and hands-on knowledge, along with his academic background in plant science and agronomy, to work with growers, farmers and landowners in California.  His assistance was invaluable in incalculable ways, from data collection to soil analysis to designing and demonstrating proper irrigation techniques.  Information about soils and fields, including the yield data and use of geographic information systems (GIS) helped Hill compile a complete history of a specific plat’s production.  Creating maps of agricultural data such as crop yields, soil types, applied inputs, terrain, drainage tendencies, as well as past field management decisions, Hill analyzes these maps in terms of chronology and cross-references their results, producing strongly researched recommendations for his clients.

The documentation and maintenance of precise agricultural records, and compilations of complete geospatial data, helped Jeff Hill make recommendations based on such disparate factors as soil quality terrain, field productivity, fertilizers and the vagaries of the weather.  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agronomy

 Jeff Hill Joins Like - Minded Agrarians in FFA

Three types of chapters may be established for Future Farmers of America members like Jeff Hill at the secondary level: middle, junior and senior.  Districts, sub districts, sections, regions and federations may also exist.  FFA now may begin in middle schools, with membership commencing as early as age 12.  Each FFA chapter is part of the state association and the national association, including collegiate chapters.

Jeff Hill
Jeff Hill competed in agriculturally grounded events at annual Future Farmers of America conventions, where award recognitions, leader workshops, competitions, and delegate debates are held.   Offices in each chapter are represented by images symbolic of agricultural pursuits, such as the rising sun, the plow, the ear of corn, the United States flag, and the owl. The official motto of the FFA: Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve, aligns with the mission of the organization: to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.

Career Development Events, CDEs, are part of agricultural education instruction consisting of contests members compete in at the state, district and national level.  Over 24 different competition types are available at the national level, including Ag business, Ag communications, Ag issues, Ag mechanics, Ag sales, Agronomy (the specialized area which Jeff Hill would later make his life’s work), Creed speaking, Dairy Cattle Evaluation, Dairy Cattle Handlers, Dairy Foods, Environmental & Natural Resources, Public Speaking, Floriculture, Food Science & Technology, Forestry, Horse Evaluation, Job Interview, Land Judging, Livestock Evaluation, Marketing, Meats, Nursery, Parliamentary Procedure, Poultry Evaluation,  Rangeland Judging, Veterinarian Science, and Quiz Bowl.  A wide variety of other Career Development Events are available on the state level.

Jeff Hill became a member of National FFA the way all members enter: through participation in a Supervised Agricultural Experience project.  These projects test the members’  hands-on ability by using concepts and principles brought from the classroom. The project may be exploratory, research and experimentation, entrepreneurship, or placement in design and orientation.
As Jeff Hill worked toward his higher education, first at Reedley College and later at Fresno State University, his need for the companionship and corroboration of those also dedicated to agriculture sciences and study continued.  His friends and mentors in Future Farmers of America had empowered Jeff Hill with both knowledge and insight into his own love of agrarian pursuits.   His post-secondary association with the professional agriculture fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho added immeasurably to his contacts across the United States in the agriculture education community.

Alpha Gamma Rho traces its beginnings to the Morrill Act of 1862, passed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.  The Morrill Act provided land and financial incentives for the creation of at least one higher education institution in each state dedicated to the study of the agricultural and mechanical sciences.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_FFA_Organization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Gamma_Rho

Gun Suggestions for Hog Hunting

In the whole new world of hunting hogs and pigs, many guns have begun to have night vision scopes, suppressors, and other gear that give the hunter a better tactical edge. With the new guns on the block having all the creativity attached to it, they are great to have for any hunter looking for efficiency.

AAC Micro 7 in 300 AAC Blackout

The hot chambering of the 300 AAC Blackout is geared for tactical hog hunting. The mid-ranged cartridge is inserted to a weapon that was designed with suppression in mind. This rifle is great as a fast pointer and comfortable enough to carry on longer hunting trips.

Benelli R1 .300 Win. Mag.

Though Benelli has not marketed this weapon as a hunting rifle for pigs, they sure have made a great one for it. The semi-automatic r1 is favored by hog hunters because of the quick second shot that can get out faster than a bolt action rifle. On top of this, the gun has a low recoil that allows a shooter to have better accuracy when shooting.

Savage 11/111 Hog Hunter .338 Winchester

“They are not pretty guns, but they are not for a pretty game either,” says Savage Arms, a manufacturer of this weapon. Many consider the hunting of pigs to be a no frills sport. For those who think that, this gun is just the one for them. This gun can take a beating and keep going, and it cost hundred less that other rifles.

Jeff Hill loves to go hunting. To him, it is not solely about making sure there is food on the table, but spending quality time with his father. The former Marine loves to pig hunt and will often take Jeff Hill on special adventures of hunting wild animals.

Hunting is for Hipsters

It has always seemed that hunting has been for the manly men who wanted to support their family by bringing home the bacon in a more literal sense. These men often wore flannel and sported good sized beards. They were masters of their land. However, in the United States today, there are fewer hunters than there were twenty years ago. For a number of reasons, hunters are quitting the hunt. However, men who wear flannel and sport beards are rising up to the challenge. They are the hipsters.

Many believe that it is more responsible for a person to eat an animal that was raised in the wild and naturally rather than an animal that was raised in a meat farm. The fattened cow that is raised on a farm does not have the same ecologically soundness to it as a wild animal of the land. Hunting may be waning amongst the backwoodsmen, but is expanding into urban and liberal circles. These “hipsters” know that if a person is going to eat meat, they should not be choosing to have meat from the current industrial system of agricultural that is filled with antibiotics and antidepressants.

Jeff Hill and his father have been going hunting together ever since young Hill could hold a gun. For Hill is it not about the thrill of the hunt of the ethical reasons, but a matter of family. The quality time that the two spend together is worth more to him that the meat they eat. As long as he gets to spend time with his father, Jeff Hill is happy.

Ideal Weapons for Hog Hunting

Hogs are found in a very wide geographic area. From North Carolina to New Mexico, well into California and nearly all of the Midwest have pigs that can be hunted. With so many different locations, there is no one gun for every situation. What may work for hunting the pigs deep in the swamps of Florida is probably not the same gun that will work in the foothills of California. The following is a few ideas for guns when hunting hogs.

Marlin Model 444

Since 1985, hunters who were hunting their game in think swamps and brush have been using the Marlin Model 444. Considered to be a beefier version of the Marlin Model 336, this fine weapon has been known to take out a hog that was up to 250 yards away. The cartridge of the bullet had the power to stop the hogs right where they stand.

Smith & Wesson Performance Center M&P15 Rifle in 5.56mm

There are many hunters who believe that this weapon has too small of a cartridge, especially when hunting a larger pic. However, there are still quite a few hunters who choose their tactical rifle as their weapon of choice when hunting hogs. Simply add a solid optic on top and tough ammunition, and then a pig can be taken out at 300 yards away.

Jeff Hill is a huge fan of hunting. Not only does he enjoy it as a sport, but Hill enjoys it because of the quality time that he gets to spend with his father when hunting. To him, hunting is just another way to get to know his father better.

Kelby Tomlinson’s Tribute to the Batboy

Kaiser Carlile was a 9-year-old batboy for the Liberal Bee Jays. This batboy was a part of the collegiate summer league team from Kansas. Unfortunately, Kaiser died on Sunday. During a game, an on deck hitter practicing his swing accidentally struck Kaiser in the helmet. The impact to the young boy’s head would lead to his untimely death.


 Kelby Tomlinson was on that Liberal Bee Jays team. IN fact, Tomlinson led the Bee Jays to the 2010 National Baseball Congress World Series championship. Tomlinson knew the boy and searched for a way to pay tribute to the boy. Finally, he decided that he would dedicate his first major league hit to the young one. A video was posted on Facebook of Tomlinson getting his first hit. After the first hit was made, the video cut to Kaiser Carlile. This was Tomlinson’s great way of dedicating his first hit to Kaiser, who had been a great batboy for the team.

Kelby Tomlinson is a rookie of the San Francisco Giants. The team by the bay, which is the current World Series champions, is proud to have supported Tomlinson in his tribute to Kaiser Carlile. Jeff Hill is a huge fan of the Giants. Having celebrated three World Series championships in the past five years, Hill knows that the team has created a modern dynasty. However, this tribute to a boy’s life is something that Jeff Hill knows is far more worthy of support than winning a championship.

About Irrigation

Irrigation is a watering technique deeply rooted in humanities early stages of life, but the technology has improved over the years, allowing for more and more efficient and effective methods that yield the highest crop volumes and qualities. Irrigation a long time ago focused primarily on simply getting the water to the crops so that they could grow in nearly any area. Irrigation even used to refer to getting water to people as well, something we take for granted today because of the modern invention of indoor plumbing. One of the earliest known methods utilized in irrigation was the Aqueduct, an invention of the Romans that allowed water to travel vast distances into cities and allow for a more permanent solution to getting fresh water to the masses. This concept is still important in the world of farming today, as many crops require a sizable amount of hydration in order to grow properly to full maturity. Though now the issue isn’t so much getting water to the plants, but getting it there and utilizing it in an efficient and effective manner that allows for little to no waste. This new, green and sustainable ideology towards irrigation is meant to lower the costs and raise the yield and volume of crops.

These kind of low-water irrigation techniques would also be very helpful in a scenario where water becomes a scarcity, which would happen in the case of a drought. By further developing our ability to get plants to grow faster and with less water, we can make them more resilient to environmental influences.

Jeff Hill is a Soil Scientist and Plant Physiologist who has worked closely with teams on irrigation efficiency.

How to Improve Soil - Composting

 If you want your soil to be in tip top condition and have the best chance to produce healthy and large crops, composting is an excellent method to achieve just that. Composting basically means that you are recycling pretty much any kind of organic material and waste. What composting does is reduce bulk organic materials and stabilizing the nutrients to speed up the formation of healthy soil. Composting is an effective method that farmers have been using for years to yield better crop growth and bottom-line profits. A common application of compost comes from the regular application of small amounts of compost. This usually consists of about a quarter of an inch every season. This action alone should significantly increase the water retention of your soil, and even help to assuage certain diseases that are devastating for crops. There are generally two versions of composting utilized by most farmers and gardeners.

Sheet composting is a method where you build tall piles, alternating layers of fresh, nitrogen-dense greenery such as grass clippings with things rich in carbon like dried brown leaves. The second method is known as vermicomposting. This is the utilization of earthworms to change nutrient materials such as manures and other organic wastes into usable forms by the plants. Earthworms are essential to any fertility plan because they help enrich the soil by changing otherwise waste products in the surrounding area to nitrogen and carbon filled pockets of rich soil. This kind of composting is the most natural, as well as the most effective means of getting your soil in good shape.

For More Information Visit at http://ckeditor.com/users/jeffhill

Jeff Hill - Watching the San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Francisco, California. They were originally known as the New York Gothams before the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants are part of the National League West Division of Major League Baseball and as of October 29, 2014 they are the current World Series champions.

If you plan to visit their hometown and ballpark you will be in for a treat. AT&T Park is a ballpark primarily used for hosting Major League Baseball games. It is located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California, at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets.

AT&T Park has a reputation for being a pitcher's park and the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in the National League due to the depth of the outfield limiting home runs, according to ESPN. The weather fluctuates from hot to cold in a matter of hours. You will want to bring shorts and a blanket and be prepared for some of the best views San Francisco can offer in the Bay Area. The stadium has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants since 2000. The stadium contains 68 luxury suites, 5,200 club seats on the club level and an additional 1,500 club seats at the field level behind home plate. On the facing of the upper deck along the left field line are the retired numbers of Hall of Famers and San Francisco Giant legends, even some of the New York franchise historic figures are listed. A fun fact, there are two pre-number era retired uniforms on that upper deck, and they are 2 of the six retired uniforms in all of major league baseball.

Jeff Hill graduated from Fresno State University with a BS in Plant Science, Soil Science and Plant Physiology and also graduated from Reedley College with an AA in Plant Science and Agricultural Business.

Jeff Hill - Learn about becoming an Agriculture Filtration Specialist


If you plan to become an Agriculture Filtration Specialist, you will need to focus on providing education and assistance to producers on nutrient management and conservation practices. You will need to be strict bookworm as laws and conservational acts in your state, and federal government are always being modified. More pertinent to the job itself you will need to provide assistance in the development of manure management and agriculture erosion. Learn about sedimentation control plans and design and implementation of best management practices for farm conservation & watershed restoration The best specialist focus on public education and outreach while providing assistance to local agricultural producers with farm planning and implementation of best management practices, according to laws. Be prepared to provide assistance with conservation farm planning and application (office and field) to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality. Your role will also focus on educating the agricultural community on conservation practices to reduce non-point source pollutants. Other tasks included may be assisting with demonstration projects, public workshops, field tours and field days. Depending on which organization you work for, there is also plenty of administrative work that may not be as exciting. However, it is extremely important for the sake of education, conservation and filing records and reimbursements. Jeff Hill is an agronomist with a technical background in farming, fertilizers, chemicals and water from Clovis, CA. He provides a full-service offering covering all aspects of farming, materials and irrigation with a wide array of unique differentiators that other agronomists can not provide. Jeff aims to allow growers to be the most efficient farmers in the use of water and materials allowing for a better environmental impact and soil leading to better crop.



JEFF HILL -  A GUIDE TO CROP CONSULTATION


Farmers and agricultural businesses are seeking out consultants for the need to cost-effectively manage and integrate ever-more complex packages of technology. Consultants should play key roles in managing today's biotechnology advances and their complex resistance management strategies. The work of a crop consultant is to help a farmer raise the best crop possible within economic and environmental parameters.

 To farmers, adoption of concepts like integrated pest management would require commitments, cooperation, and change. That commitment only grows out of understanding and trust. Cropping systems do not remain the same, technology is constantly evolving so the techniques are dynamic and groundbreaking. Sometimes the farmer doesn't have the time, or the expertise to observe constantly in the field.

 A crop consultant can offer a wide range of services, skills and experience and can work independently or specialize in a more niche environment involving only a few types of crops. You will run into larger firms who offer consulting that advise on a multitude of crops internationally. Then you have the more niche outside the box consultants who focus exclusively on pest management or even include fertility analysis, seed and variety selections, and irrigation management.  

Jeff Hill is an agronomist with a technical background in farming, fertilizers, chemicals and water from Clovis, CA. He provides a full-service offering covering all aspects of farming, materials and irrigation with a wide array of unique differentiators that other agronomists can not provide. Jeff is a San Francisco Giants fan, and when he's not working in agriculture industry he is spending time with his family, going fly fishing and hunting with his father. Jeff aims to allow growers to be the most efficient farmers in the use of water and materials allowing for a better environmental impact and soil leading to better crop.