Machinery
Simply put, blockchains are shared, traceable and transparent ledgers for record keeping. They capture information for each transaction in a supply chain, agreed upon by each of the business network members and made permanent once consensus is reached among those chain members. People can understand what’s happening in the chain of transactions, but not the individual actors who are making it happen.
Grain farms reflect farmland ownership, more than farm economics. It’s really hard to operate huge farms in the absence of huge landholdings. We had a recent example. A landowner with a modest farm dies, and being without children, she leaves her acreage to 5 nephews. It took extraordinary effort from the one nephew who was farming the land to buy out or rent the other four shares. This disaggregation occurs constantly across farm country. Most grain farm acres are rented, not owned. When owners change, the operator often changes too. So not only does ownership fracture, tenancy is up for grabs. Also, my impression is big operations don’t have longer lifespans than smaller farms either. Big Time Operators come and go.
Looking for a way to spend some quality time with your girlfriends for a fun weekend and right it off on your taxes?
AgDay meteorologist Mike Hoffman’s forecast for Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017.
As U.S. rice farmers bring in a new crop, rough rice prices have rallied a dollar since June. While U.S. prices vary, farmers rely heavily on consistent consumption at home each year. However, a new deal with China could create a surge in demand for U.S. rice, but hurdles still stand in the way.
Land O’Lakes named finalists in their crowdsourced competition to surface user-friendly drone solutions to help farmers make better decisions.
AgDay Forecast: Who Gets Moisture This Week?
Are your internal financial conditions still structurally intact?
Soybean futures were fueled by demand news.
The latest Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) is revealing a drop in farmers’ financial conditions, sinking to the lowest level since December 2016. The index remained below growth neutral, a sign that shows financial pressure continues to prevail on farms and ranches.
A CFO can help your farm get to the next level financially.
An Agriculture Department employee and two staff members on the House Agriculture Committee were injured Thursday in a car accident south of El Campo, Texas.
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.
The NWS’s forecast for above-normal temps means some areas could be in need of spring-time rains.
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.
AgLaunch365 is a farm-centric program that will assist in field trials and attracting investments for ag startups.