Top Stories
Chinese buyers book another large round of U.S. soybeans
Chinese state-owned trading firms have purchased another 10 to 13 cargoes of U.S. soybeans, adding to a major round of buying earlier this week and signaling renewed demand from China. Reuters reports the latest purchases are scheduled for shipment between December and March. Combined with 8 to 10 cargoes booked Tuesday, this week’s purchases total an estimated 1.2 to 1.5 million metric tons. The buying follows weeks of limited Chinese activity and comes after President Donald Trump met with...
Solinftec robot adds another set of eyes
Scouting a cornfield is a job that never really ends. Crop development, plant populations, and disease pressure can all change throughout the growing season. Autonomous technology could provide farmers with another set of eyes that keeps watching even when they are...
Matching the ideal hybrid selection to a grower’s management style
SeedIQ™ is a digital platform developed by Beck's Hybrids that helps farmers make better seed placement and management decisions. Jon Skinner is a regional agronomy manager with Beck's Hybrids and he explains why SeedIQ can make a difference on a farmer’s operation....
U.S. Export Sales Report (9-11-26)
Many eyes were on the September World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report last week, but there was another USDA report that was released on Friday- the weekly U.S. export sales. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride said the report was a mixed...
Iowa cattle producer joins USMEF trip to Japan
A team of 24 leaders and producers from beef, pork, corn and soybean organizations from across the U.S. visited Japan last week to see firsthand the marketing efforts of U.S. beef and pork in the country by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). The group visited...
China continues buying U.S. soybeans ahead of Xi visit
China's recent buying spree continued Thursday when USDA announced another 272,000 metric tons of U.S. soybean sales to China for the 2026-27 marketing year. USDA also reported 206,500 tons sold to unidentified destinations. Those sales follow China's purchase of...
Autonomous sprayer targets weeds around the clock
Autonomous equipment is becoming increasingly common in agriculture, but Solinftec is taking the concept beyond simply removing an operator from the cab. Its SOLIX robot is designed to remain in the field, continuously scouting for weeds and treating them as they...
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More Ag News
Details from September Cattle on Feed Report
USDA published the September Cattle on Feed Report on Friday September 18th, and the report shows another increase in cattle and calves on feed. That’s according to USDA livestock analyst Anthony Fischer. However, Fischer says that when examining cattle that were...
Long-term effects of data centers must be considered
As the development of large-scale data centers continues to be pushed in rural areas, many communities across the nation have one major question: what is the long-term impact on the local environment? University of Illinois environmental science student Bruce Beam...
Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling advances with Senate farm bill
Mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef moved closer to returning after the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of the 2026 farm bill. The legislation includes an amendment tied to the American Beef Labeling Act that would restore mandatory...
USMEF holds seminars to grow demand in Saudi Arabia
For over a decade, U.S. beef faced technical barriers in Saudi Arabia that left only a small fraction of U.S. production eligible for the market. With those obstacles now removed, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) – with support from USDA and the Beef Checkoff...
Technology and value added ag guide ISU priorities
Iowa State University President David Cook is spending his first year on the job looking at where the university can have the greatest impact in the years ahead, and agriculture remains a major part of that conversation. Cook has been traveling across Iowa during his...
