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South American Weather and Crop Update (4-7-26)
There’s plenty of rain in the forecasts for Brazil and Argentina. Even though that rain can get in the way of planting and harvest progress, the crops that are pollinating will enjoy the moisture. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride gave an update on the latest weather conditions in South America. McBride said crop progress looks good for the most part in Brazil. Corn harvest progress in Argentina is significantly ahead, and soybean harvest will start soon as well. Looking ahead to the...
Consider vertical tillage to help achieve residue management goals
With margins tight and input costs only going up, it?s more important than ever for farmers to get the most out of every seed that goes into the ground. While it?s easy to spend hours talking about variety selection and crop protection products, it?s also important to...
AFBF: families deserve truth in food labeling
America's families deserve to know what they're buying when shopping in the dairy aisle, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF Monday filed comments with the Food and Drug Administration. The comments call on the agency to enforce food labeling...
Don?t cut corners on machine maintenance this spring
As this planting season has given us a jumpstart and then a slowdown, the last thing we want to do is to increase that slowdown with shoddy maintenance on our equipment. Sometimes we can look at our equipment and realize that while we probably should have addressed...
DMACC adds water quality wetland to Dallas County farm
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) has always believed in providing hands-on experiences for students, and now there is an additional conservation opportunity on the Dallas County farm with a new water quality watershed. The watershed also serves to help...
EF4 tornado leads to farm recovery effort near Wellman
On March 31st, an EF4 tornado destroyed 2 of 3 of the Whetstine family farmsteads near Wellman Iowa. Clint Whetstine?s farm was among those decimated by the powerful storm. He lost several buildings along with some livestock and sustained damage to multiple pieces of...
Consumers save 25 cents a gallon with E15
A new analysis from the Renewable Fuels Association shows American drivers saved an average of more than 25 cents per gallon since the beginning of 2022 with E15. RFA analyzed more than 3,000 actual pump prices for E15 and E10 submitted by drivers to E15prices.com....
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More Ag News
2024 Seed purchasing decisions are upon us
Decision time is upon us for 2024 seeding decisions. In order to make informed ones though, we need to know about performance in 2023. The growing season featured high moisture stress, high heat stress for a lot of us in Iowa, fertility stress for some of us as well,...
The grills may be cold, but pork is still hot
With the mercury dipping to the single digits at night and the sprinkling of snow on the ground, many of you are probably putting your grills away or under their covers for the season. (Unless you are a die-hard like me, but that’s a story for another time.) The idea...
Helping farmers overcome some of the toughest challenges
In row crop production there is a seemingly endless cycle of new challenges that confront farmers each year. Fortunately, growers are very adept at taking on new problems and using the tools at their disposal to overcome those obstacles. Nick Schweizer is the Director...
Pork and beef exports to China strengthen
U.S. beef and pork exports to China received a boost recently. China’s General Administration of Customs approved 18 U.S. beef establishments and 12 U.S. pork establishments for export to China – the first new U.S. plants cleared for export to China in about 10...
Most states saw growth in net farm income in 2022
The U.S. saw growth of almost 31 percent in net farm income from 2021 through 2022. NFI is a broad measure of farm sector profitability. Researchers with USDA’s Economic Research Service used data from the Farm Income and Wealth Statistics to classify states into six...
