Top Stories
Tariff aid expected this week or next
With farm margins under pressure, USDA is expected to roll out long anticipated tariff assistance soon. That’s Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce during his Senate confirmation hearing this year. Fordyce says USDA is adding up farm losses as the department prepares aid to help offset tariff losses. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins recently detailed to Fox News where the aid will be headed. The Midwest, Mid-South, and Southwest are under the most severe financial...
NCBA confident in ability to handle anti-animal ag groups
The livestock industry constantly faces attacks form anti-animal agriculture groups. However, Colin Woodall, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO said he is confident in NCBA’s strength of handling these organizations. Using the “one bite at a time” strategy,...
Iowa Corn Growers bringing policy wish list to Commodity Classic
Yesterday, we talked with Pat Swanson of the Iowa Soybean Association about the wish list they were bringing to the policy meetings on Saturday at Commodity Classic. Today, we are looking at what is important to the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA). Jolene Riessen...
U.S. Export Sales Report (2-29-24)
Export sales continued the recent trends this week, with corn trading decently as soybeans continue to limp through the year. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride gave an update on the latest numbers. McBride said the export sales could use a lot of support from...
U.S. is at a record trade deficit in 2024
The USDA published its third trade outlook for fiscal year 2024. The trade outlook is unfortunately still showing the United States with a record trade deficit. Betty Resnick, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says 2024 will see lower agricultural...
Significant headwinds remain before U.S. beef herd expands
The U.S. cattle herd is at record low-levels. In fact the herd size has not been this small in many decades. Yet despite that fact, there are still significant headwinds that remain before the U.S. beef herd expands once again says Kevin Good, vice president of...
Iowa farmland sells for a near-record amount
Not one but two tracts of farmland in Sioux County, Iowa, sold for a near-record $29,600 per acre in a public auction this week. In November 2022, a sale of 73.19 acres in the same county sold for the current state record of $30,000 per acre. A spokesman for Zomer...
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More Ag News
Food Bank of Iowa receives donation of almost 240,000 eggs
Today, the Iowa Egg Council, Rose Acre Farms, and Hatch partnered together to make a generous donation of almost 240,000 eggs to the Food Bank of Iowa. This comes at a time when food donations are critical, as communities like Greenfield and Spencer are still...
Beef exports climb even higher while pork sits below last year’s pace
The value of U.S. beef exports topped $900 million in May, the highest since June 2023, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom said exports trended higher year-over-year to...
Vilsack says clock is ticking on passage of new farm bill
United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says that everyone is on the same page with the goal of getting a new five-year farm bill done. However, he also says that time is getting tight for the completion of a new farm bill and is calling for all sides to...
Thirty million farm acres abandoned since 1986
In 2022, a University of Wisconsin study claimed that U.S. farmers had converted several million acres of pristine grassland and other “semi-natural areas” to cropland. Researcher Tyler Lark said that was in response to the Renewable Fuel Standard and ethanol...
High-tech equipment increasing demand for larger farm sheds
We talk at length about the changes we see in technology and the larger equipment we are seeing in the fields. While we focus so much on how the technology is changing the face of farming and how it makes us more efficient with our resources and inputs, we tend to...
