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Crop farmers still facing a rough ag economy
As the broader ag economy continues to struggle, row crop farmers face a particularly difficult time. Now, many farmers and ranchers are studying their balance sheets. Faith Parum, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the difficult ag economy is causing plenty of financial headwinds. Parum said farmers and ranchers are having to devote more and more of their budgets to the cost of production. Parum said the tough economy is impacting a variety of crops, but each one has a...
Grassley says modern economy better able to handle tariffs, wary of uncertainty
United States Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says that the modern economy is better suited to handle the current trade war but is still wary of the uncertainty brought on by ever changing tariffs. He says the economy today is better able to handle tariff shocks than...
Win tickets and sideline access to Iowa Hawkeyes annual ANF game
With the first full week of the college football season on the horizon, Iowa Farm Bureau and University of Iowa are offering Hawkeye fans a chance to win four tickets and on-field sideline access to the America Needs Farmers (ANF) game on Oct. 18 against Penn State...
FBI partners with agriculture to defend food supply
Protecting the nation’s food supply is a critical part of national security. While the likelihood of a bioterrorism attack on American agriculture may be low, the stakes are extraordinarily high. An intentional strike against crops or livestock would not only threaten...
Modern Ag Alliance advocates for farmers from coast to coast
Even though the Modern Ag Alliance is only just over one year old, its impact in that short amount of time has been far-reaching. At this point, the coalition now contains over 100 ag organizations. At this year’s Farm Progress Show, Elizabeth Burns-Thompson,...
Consumers shrug off high beef prices
When retail prices for any product reach record-high levels, the demand usually plummets quickly. U.S. beef appears to be the exception to the basic rule of economics. Retail grocery store prices for beef skyrocketed and show no signs of descending. But demand hasn’t...
Wyffels Hybrids providing independent seed solutions for Iowa’s growers
The spring and summer seasons have delivered significant rainfall and warm weather to the state of Iowa and set the table for disease pressure. Mitch Heisler is product and agronomy manager at Wyffels Hybrids and he says the corn in Iowa has had everything thrown at...
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More Ag News
California E15 approval estimated to absorb 200 million bushels of corn
The California general assembly’s approval of E15 sales last week is expected to boost corn demand at a time growers are preparing to harvest a record crop. The law is expected to be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom and will be a big breakthrough for the ethanol...
Soybean producers face uncertainty in ongoing trade fight
U.S. soybean producers are once again caught in the middle of a trade war. China has been slow to make purchases, leaving farmers worried about where demand will come from. This marks the second Trump administration and the second time American agriculture has been...
Iowa soybean fields need to end the year strong
It may feel like there isn’t much of a choice for seed genetics anymore, but companies like BASF are making an effort to provide new genetics that stand out from the competition and give farmers some unique choices. Colin Rogers, BASF seed agronomist, said Xitavo...
Yield results from Allendale survey lower than USDA estimates
The Allendale brokerage firm has released yield results collected from a recent survey of farmers. The numbers are not particularly far off from the USDA August Crop Production estimates. Rich Nelson of Allendale said they’ve done this survey for a long time. Nelson...
Nationwide E15 sales can boost demand and help move “mountain of corn”
At this point of the fall, we can analyze the data and debate the final corn yield number but until the crop is in the bin, we won’t have our final answer. What we do know is that this fall’s corn crop is going to be very large and possibly even a record crop. Geoff...
