Top Stories
Grassley sees several Senate pathways for year-round E15
United States Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says there are several avenues for year-round E15 to pass in the Senate. Grassley says the freestanding House-passed E15 bill needs to be attached to another piece of legislation to make its way through the Senate. Senator Grassley offers several paths forward for year-round E15. Separately, Grassley says he disagrees with Ag Chair John Boozman’s decision to pull reforms to California’s Prop 12 animal confinement standards from the Senate version of...
Iowa crop progress and condition report
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly April through November. Additionally, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and...
USDA continues to learn about H5N1 vs HPAI
It feels like we have had a broken record going around and around during the spring and fall of the past few years. We have talked at length about High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The main difference between the two is that when the virus jumped the species...
Make sure to heavily consider yield potential before replanting
The plentiful amount of rain we have received so far this crop season has been a blessing for the drought conditions across the state. In fact, Iowa is now entirely drought-free. However, receiving so much rain in a relatively short period of time also has some...
Middle East chefs and culinary students educated on U.S. beef
U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Corporate Chef Germán Navarrete is based in Mexico City, but his talents are employed throughout the world. With support from USDA and the Beef Checkoff Program, Chef Navarrete recently conducted training sessions for chefs and...
Getting the best deal possible as interest rate cuts remain elusive
To combat inflation, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023. As inflation has receded, expectations for rate cuts have not materialized. 2024 has been a difficult interest environment for farmers with rates steady and no...
USDA funds to support farmworkers
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA is awarding $50 million to 141 awardees in 40 states and Puerto Rico. The funds come through the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program and will reach 177 unique agricultural operations and more than 11,000...
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More Ag News
Previewing the November WASDE report
The USDA will publish the November WASDE report at 11:00am central time on Friday. The report will provide updated yield estimates and any changes to supply and demand forecasts both domestically and internationally. Jim McCormick, co-founder of AgMarket.net, says...
Farmer sentiment bounces back
October provided a surprising pre-election bounce in farmer sentiment as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer climbed to 115, 27 points above the September index. The biggest driver of the sentiment improvement was an increase in producers’ confidence...
FARM Act could help in lieu of new Farm Bill
Farm economics are in trouble right now. Profit margins are tight, and there is no relief in sight. Part of that problem centers around the fact that we still don’t have a new Farm Bill for a second year. Policies built on ten-year-old data still govern a farm economy...
South American Weather and Crop Update (11-5-24)
With the amount of rain that has fallen in South America, any crop concerns that were held earlier in the season have virtually disappeared. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride gave an update on the latest conditions in Brazil and Argentina. McBride said Brazil...
USMEF Strategic Planning Conference will focus on trade relationships
Members of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) will gather in Tucson, Arizona, this week for the federation’s annual Strategic Planning Conference. USMEF Chair Randy Spronk will mark the end of his term of leadership of the organization. Spronk said that, over the...
