News
Today’s agriculture headlines and expert perspectives serving farmers, ranchers, crop consultants, livestock nutritionists and the entire U.S. ag community.
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.
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.
The NWS’s forecast for above-normal temps means some areas could be in need of spring-time rains.
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.
AgLaunch365 is a farm-centric program that will assist in field trials and attracting investments for ag startups.
These machines sold on Sept. 1 in Ohio
The Texas Farm Bureau is working to raise funds to help farmers and ranchers devastated by Hurricane Harvey.
Following a 5.3% decrease in 2015, cash rents in Minnesota declined by an average of 1.8% in 2016.
Learn Angie Setzer’s commodity marketing philosophy, advice for selling your crops and the most underappreciated marketing tool.
Farmers may be wondering what all the wet weather they had this season is doing to their soil and what does that mean for next years crop? Pam Fretwell sits down with Kurt Seevers Technical Dev. Manager with Verdisian about that subject.
Pythium, Phytophthora and SCN infestations can eat away at soybean yields and margins. SCN damage can reduce a would-be bumper crop significantly depending on the severity of infestation. As an example, a moderate infestation that reduced yields by 10 percent in a 50 bushel acre would translate to a 5 bushel loss. With soybean prices at $9 to $10 per bushel, that’s $40 to $50 in lost revenue on one acre alone. That approaches $5,000 lost per 100 acres of infested beans. And yield losses can go even higher.
Pythium is a soilborne pathogen that is present in nearly all soybean fields and causes seedling rot and/or damping-off. There is a broad range of Pythium species, meaning the disease can be active at soil temperatures ranging from 32°F to 85°F. Pythium can infect within 1.5 hours of planting.1