Drought
The forecast for May is pointing to a rapid warm up with rains across the drought-stricken Plains, but there’s a drier forecast for the heart of the Corn Belt. One meteorologist is concerned about the amount of dryness entering the picture.
Total Farm Marketing’s Naomi Blohm says based on her research, corn growers will likely have an opportunity to lock in better corn prices over the next few months.
Drew Lerner, founder of World Weather, Inc., says the summer of 1968 had some strong patterns, including a wetter bias in the western and north-central U.S., but drier in most of the Atlantic Coast states and parts of the eastern and southern Midwest.
A handful of rain-free days were a perfect recipe for spring planting — and farmers took full advantage of the opportunity. This week’s USDA crop progress report puts corn and soybean acres just ahead of last year’s pace.
Iowa farmers say a foliar fungicide application can add more bushels per acre by preventing losses to disease pressure and minimizing the impact of environmental factors, such as heat stress and drought.
Farmers in the upper Plains, northern Plains and Northeast came up short on snow for the 2024/25 season. In some cases, they experienced the winter that wasn’t, now sitting 10" to 30" short on normal snowfall.
One solution to low prices is producing more bushels. Take a minute to think through some of the best management practices outlined here that will help you accomplish that.
Cheap cotton prices and dwindling demand are just part of the problem. Input costs have climbed and there’s no safety net to be found from a new farm bill. One Georgia farmer says the current farm bill is irrelevant and worthless, and if a new one doesn’t get passed this year, the cotton industry is doomed.
Eric Snodgrass, Nutrien’s principal atmospheric scientist, breaks down what the next few days of heavy rains mean for drought risk and what planting windows could look like in the weeks ahead.
Brian Naber says growing up in a farming family in southwest Minnesota helped prepare him for the rigors of leading the company through the ag industry’s current economic and regulatory challenges.