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Heading into the 2025 planting season farmers in the Northwestern Corn Belt are facing some of the same headwinds as the rest of the country from tariffs to lower grain prices and drought.

“We are using cutting-edge technology in farm accounting, and it also makes our partners easier to do business with,” says Brian Stark, co-founder of Traction Ag. “Farmers can avoid the paperwork nightmare and focus on farming—the time savings is super important.”

When growing soybeans, the first thing farmers need to explore is where they can get those “free bushels,” says Randy Dowdy. One of the most important factors to consider is planting date, specifically the need to plant early.

Dr. Vince Malanga, President of LaSalle Economics, says that fortunately, the budget resolution passed the House by the narrowest of margins. However, he notes the Senate version is significantly different.

Learn how this potential Smart Farming breakthrough will one day enable greater seed depth precision in high speed planting applications.

Ted Seifried, Zaner Ag Hedge, says soybeans and the products saw significant pressure tied to risk off selling and South American harvest pressure, while the rest of the markets were able to shake that off.

Last week was a volatile one for a lot of different markets, that theme seems to have carried over into the start of this week. Here are some things to keep an eye on for the grain and livestock markets.

Brad Kooima of Kooima Kooima Varilek says live cattle see buying interest after strong cash late last week. Corn tries to hold gains with soybeans seeing South American harvest pressure and concern about China’s 10% tariffs on U.S. soybeans.

Jon Scheve shows historical data that illustrates December corn’s high rarely happens in February, and usually happens in late spring or early summer.

David Schulte is the Industrial Market Manager for Agriculture at Parker specializing in motion control technology.