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High diesel prices bite into Food Bank of Iowa’s budget
Gas prices have hit the highest level in four years, and with no end to the Iran war in sight, the impacts of these elevated prices will be felt for the foreseeable future. Diesel prices in particular have increased even more quickly, surging up 45% since the beginning of the war at the end of February. While the pain is hurting consumers nationwide, rising fuel costs are hitting the Food Bank of Iowa especially hard. With a truck fleet that drives 270,000 miles a year, there is little they...
Ethanol and the Grain Indemnity Fund remain top issues for Iowa corn growers
Discussing the issues surrounding crop production with Logan Lyon, District Director for the Iowa Corn Growers Association, including ethanol demand and carbon pipelines. There are always a lot of outside influences in regard to crop production far beyond what happens...
Secretary Naig announces availability of grants for urban water quality projects
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is now accepting pre-applications for cost-share grant funding to support urban conservation projects. “Communities of all sizes can utilize urban...
Farm safety isn’t just for one week a year
Next week is Farm Safety Week, and you will likely be hearing messages from all across the ag industry reminding you to be safe. I decided to get a jump on all of them and send you my message this week. While it is great to spend one week a year driving home the...
September WASDE leads to potential harvest lows
No real changes to the old crop numbers in this month’s WASDE report, but, as expected, there were bearish changes to the new crop numbers. But these changes were even more bearish than expected, especially in the soybeans. Much of this can be attributed to a lack in...
Pork and Partners helps keep pork at the dinner table
As the largest pork producing state, Iowa farmers of course have an interest in maintaining pork’s place at the dinner table as a large part of a healthy and balanced diet. In order to do that, the Pork Checkoff is investing in three pillars: strategic research,...
Better yields and better savings through retrofit precision ag upgrades
Targeted in-crop spraying is available from John Deere in the form of John Deere’s See & Spray technology. According to John Deere, See & Spray Ultimate can reduce non-residual herbicide use by more than two-thirds by target spraying weeds. However, in...
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AFBF members talking labor challenges on Capitol Hill
Iowa farmers are no stranger to labor challenges. Every year, it seems like the pool of laborers to hire for on-farm jobs gets smaller and smaller. On top of that, the H-2A program that farmers have come to rely on can be complicated and expensive to use. Farm Bureau...
Ag industry needs certainty on sustainable aviation fuel
A multi-state coalition of biofuel and farm advocates asked the Treasury Department to swiftly resolve any questions standing in the way of scaling up U.S. production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. More specifically, they urged the administration to quickly adopt the...
Growing world record soybeans
Farmers start every growing season to grow the best crop they can and improve their yields year after year. Certainly, we can grow high-yielding crops, and in soybeans we turn heads the closer we get to those triple-digit yields. But what if you could grow over 200...
USDA’s ACEP gets a funding boost, keeps farmers farming
Another revenue source to keep farmers farming is getting a boost from the USDA. Under Secretary Robert Bonnie says the new funds will help conserve farmlands and wetlands. The program continues a strategy by Secretary Tom Vilsack to use the Inflation Reduction Act...
U.S. Export Sales Report (3-21-24)
Another status quo report for export sales this week, and seeing a neutral report was nice in the face of some heightened volatility throughout the day of its release. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride gave a breakdown of the numbers. Soybeans in particular were...
