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Tyne Morgan

Tyne Morgan is doing what she calls her dream job. She’s a Missouri girl who has generations of agriculture rooted in her blood. Born and raised in Lexington, Mo., FFA was a big part of her high school career. Her father is an agriculture teacher/FFA Advisory and was her biggest supporter/teacher. Through public speaking and various contest teams, she actually plunged into broadcast at the young age of 16. While in high school, she worked at KMZU radio providing the daily farm market updates, as well as local, state and national agriculture news. Today, Tyne is the first female host of U.S. Farm Report and resides in rural Missouri with her husband and two daughters where she has a passion for helping support her local community.

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As harvest nears, Machinery Pete is also watching tillage trends. Small use tillage equipment prices are strong, whereas sales of larger equipment have been challenging. “If you’re looking at buying a 60-foot field cultivator, I’ve been seeing those values starting to hold,” he said.
Fires continue to rage in the Northwest portion of the country. New numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show the cost of fighting wildfires topped $2 billion in 2017, a new record. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is using the new figure to stress the need to revalue the budget of U.S. Forest Service, which falls under USDA’s umbrella.
Commodity analysts live by the mantra “Big crops only get bigger,” and that appears to be the case in 2017. USDA boosted corn, soybean and cotton yields as well as production numbers this week. The revised numbers came in above the average trade guess and larger than August’s crop production numbers. Despite the report initially sending bearish waves through the markets, grain prices turned a corn mid-week, posting green on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Jim Bower of Bower Trading is deeming 2017 as a “very unusual year” on U.S. Farm Report this weekend, while Standard Grain’s Joe Vaclavik says this is typically what happens as harvest heats up.
USDA’s August Crop Production report left farmers and ranchers puzzled, as USDA barely trimmed corn yields and raised soybean production. Whether USDA is right or wrong with projected yields and production, analysts on U.S. Farm Report say that’s not the argument that needs to take place.
The desire to buy equipment is creating surprising momentum for Sydenstricker, an equipment dealer with multiple locations across Missouri. “It seemed like we moved some new planters kept the shop really busy,” said Brent Thomas, Sydenstricker Mexico, Mo., store manager. “The used planter market has been exceptionally strong,” said Scott Brees, regional manager for Sydenstricker. “New planter sales were great. We took some trade in planters and moved all those really quickly. So, planting was really good this year.”
Why does the maker of popular foods like Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies care about soil health? The company says it’s all about a more sustainable future. Farmers and the Kellogg Company are partnering to ground-truth the benefits of conservation methods, such as cover crops. “We seek to understand what are the areas of opportunity, what are the needs, and they vary,” said Diane Holdorf, Kellogg Company’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “What works on one acre, doesn’t work on another acre, much less state-to-state, crop-to-crop.”
Machinery Pete says sales of sprayers continue to impress him, but it’s a similar story with quality machines. “Good used equipment has been in demand since end of 2016, and I’ve been surprised at some of the prices we’ve been seeing on late model large stuff,” said Greg Peterson, Host of Machinery Pete TV. He says one factor becoming an even more important factor to buyers is warranties.
When U.S. Farm Report visited Hartley Feeders in 2015, the picture wasn’t as green. Sterling Profit Tracker showed in October 2015, feedyards were losing an average of $500 per head. Today, it’s a complete 180 degree difference with Sterling Profit Tracker showing for the week ending May 12th, feedyards saw $536 per head gains. With more attractive prices, feedyards are packed with lighter carcass weights.
Cotton acres are climbing this year, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projecting acres to see a 21 percent jump. If that holds true, U.S. cotton farmers will plant 12.2 million all-cotton acres. In the Mississippi, cotton was once the staple crop, and this year, farmers are getting back into growing it in a big way.
Cotton acres are gaining momentum in Mississippi as price and yields point to a more favorable option for farmers this year. That’s also helping strengthen cotton equipment prices, a trend Machinery Pete is watching closely.