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Takeaways from disease pressure during the growing season
2025 was a year of disease pressure that caused headaches for farmers throughout the growing season. Southern rust was a major yield robber and invaded corn growing areas that normally do not have to deal with the disease. Lynn Justesen is a technical services lead with UPL and he discusses the northward spread of southern rust in 2025. He expands on the way in which we think about fungicide and how it should be applied. Justesen says that new glufosinate technology from UPL is on the way and...
House passes foreign US farmland ownership bill
The U.S. House passed legislation to protect U.S. farmland from ownership by foreign adversaries. The Protecting U.S. Agriculture From Foreign Adversaries Act would give USDA’s Secretary a permanent seat on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. or ‘CFIUS’,...
Growers critical of tariff announcements
The National Corn Growers Association and the American Soybean Association expressed frustration with a recently released recommendation from the Department of Commerce. The Department is recommending an imposition of preliminary countervailing duty rates on imports...
Farm Bureau releases answers from Presidential Candidates on Ag
We are less than two months away from the Presidential election in November. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are both going at full throttle to earn votes, especially in the swing states. While debates and global issues are high on the...
September WASDE makes changes to corn ending stocks and yields
This month’s WASDE report comes to us as many farmers are preparing to enter the fields very soon- in fact, some have even been able to start already. As a result, not many changes have been made to the crop numbers since the USDA seems to have gotten a pretty good...
What will it take to pass a farm bill?
With the current partisan stalemate in Congress in Washington D.C. it is going to be difficult to get a new farm bill passed. That’s according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. On Monday Ag Secretary Vilsack told a group of visiting farmers union members that...
Beef industry still pursuing market access overseas
U.S. agricultural groups are looking for more trade agreements that mean market access overseas. Kent Bacus, executive director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said trade was a bigger priority in past years. Bacus said the...
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More Ag News
Continuing resolution contains important ag legislation
While it is disappointing that the ag industry will not be getting a new farm bill this year, it’s great to see that some important ag legislation is being included in the continuing resolution. It also means that there’s more time to write up a long-term farm bill in...
Pork is an ideal holiday meal
The holiday season is upon us and it’s time to feed family and friends during the celebrations. Charlie Torgerson, contractor for the National Pork Board, says pork is a great protein to serve a crowd during those upcoming holiday get-togethers. Torgerson said several...
U.S. “high value” exports on the rise
Bulk ag commodity exports such as soybeans and wheat were running 8% behind a year ago after 10 months of 2024 but the story is much different for “high value” ag export products. That is USDA economist Bart Kenner who says that sales of U.S. fruit and fruit products...
Secretary Naig announces water quality partnership project
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) has formed a public-private partnership with the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) and United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to...
Looking back at some of the year’s market performance
As we are halfway through the last normal trading week of the year, we looked back at some of the trends in different areas of the markets, especially the ones that seemed to make the biggest splashes. On the grain side, it hasn’t been the rosiest picture by any...
