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Grassley discusses what’s next for farm bill in the Senate
United States Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says there is little room for bargaining in the Senate on a key farm bill demand from Democrats. Grassley says that Senate Ag Democrats are asking for too much in farm bill negotiations. Grassley argues that forcing states with high SNAP error rates to pay more of their food stamp costs is the best way to fight fraud. He says delaying the issue will cost billions. Food stamp reform has derailed farm bill negotiations in Congress for three years, says...
Soybean numbers appear to weaken in South America
As we go through the winter, it is obvious that the markets are watching what happens in Brazil. They are passing our numbers for exports and are in the midst of their growing season. However, they are also getting much attention because the conditions in the south...
Great Plains Manufacturing talks partnership with Bayer ForGround
The newest sustainability practices can be confusing or intimidating to some farmers, so it’s important for companies to make the technology easy to use and to understand. James Shurts, president of the ag division at Great Plains Manufacturing, said they’ve been at...
Finding positivity in a bearish ag marketplace
The January WASDE report typically moves the market with traders reacting to the final year-end numbers for production and supply. After a bearish report was released last Friday, the commodity markets have seen price movement to the downside in both corn and...
2024 farm equipment sales are looking to be a mixed bag
Combine sales closed out the year ahead of 2022 levels, while almost all tractor segments saw declines in both the United States and Canada. The latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers shows total U.S. farm tractor sales fell 5.1 percent in...
USDA: Large family farms account for bulk of commodity production
Large-scale family farms accounted for a majority of the value of commodity production in 2022, according to a new report from USDA’s Economic Research Service. Specifically, these farms accounted for 51 percent of cash grains and soybeans, 56 percent of hog...
Looking at your farm budget with a different perspective
We know the story. It’s been the top of mind subject in farming for the past few years. Grain prices are slowly declining and crop inputs are slowly rising. That intersection is different as each farm has a different break-even level. As we enter this year, that...
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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...
