Author: staff

After a week of warm temperatures, a low pressure system will bring cooler temperatures and precipitation early to the middle of the week. Precipitation will be widespread across the Midwest, ranging from North and South Dakota to Ohio. Southern Missouri to western Tennessee could get up to 5 inches of rain.  “This isn’t one of those systems where somebody gets an inch, everybody else gets one-tenth of an inch —  most people are going to see some significant rainfall,” Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said.  Ford said the forecasted precipitation is welcome for some and unwelcome by others. Southern Illinois…

July corn ended the day up 7¢ at $4.54½ per bushel. July soybeans closed up 2¼¢ at $10.53 per bushel. July wheat contracts closed higher. CBOT wheat ended the day up 17¢ at $5.46 per bushel. KC wheat was up 13½¢ at $5.36¼. Minneapolis wheat was up 12¼¢ at $5.97¾. “Corn, soybeans, and wheat were solidly higher through most of today’s session as managed money buyers returned to the market,” said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting. “One reason for this was an addition of weather-related risk premium as weather forecasts this morning were drier in the western U.S.…

A report to be released by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission this week has agricultural groups appealing for careful consideration by the Trump administration. The report’s expected release is Thursday, May 22, according to Agri-Pulse’s Rebekah Alvey. The MAHA report “will set out to identify possible drivers of diseases, including diet and environmental factors. From there, the commission will suggest a government-wide strategy to tackle chronic disease,” Alvey said. Ahead of the report, national commodity groups and the American Farm Bureau Federation have issued cautionary statements, calling on the Trump administration to carefully review the report and consider…

Thousands of chicks and young gamebirds were rescued earlier this month after an apparent misrouting by the U.S. Postal Service left them stranded in Delaware. The birds were en route from Freedom Ranger Hatchery in Pennsylvania, a facility certified by the National Poultry Improvement Plan as clean of Avian Influenza and Pullorum-Typhoid. However, something went awry in transit. The Delaware Department of Agriculture received a call on Friday, May 2, from the USPS Delaware Processing and Distribution Center reporting an undeliverable box of baby birds. A second call revealed that there were multiple boxes involved. DDA’s Poultry and Animal Health…

AGDAILY Reporters · May 20, 2025 Ground Control Robotics, a startup founded by Georgia Tech researcher Dan Goldman, is bringing robotic centipedes to agriculture. Inspired by the efficient movement of wiggly animals like snakes and arthropods, these robots are designed to navigate rugged terrain and perform tasks such as data collection and weed control, particularly in perennial crops like grapes and blueberries. Unlike traditional farm robots that rely on wheels or four-legged designs, GCR’s segmented, legged robots can maneuver through cluttered environments without damaging plants or requiring complex controls. The robots use a combination of simple motors and cable-driven legs…

What Happened The May USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report indicated tighter projected carryout (supply left over at the end of the marketing year) for both old and new crop corn supplies. The 2024/2025 marketing year started Sept. 1, 2024, and runs through Aug. 30, 2025, reflecting last year’s crop production as well as expected usage. For the upcoming 2025/2026 marketing year, projected carryout is forecast at 1.8 billion bushels, well below the pre-report estimate of 2.044 billion.   Why This Is Important Smaller supplies create a more critical environment for the upcoming growing season. Put another way,…

During a recent House Appropriations Committee hearing, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) warned of a growing crisis in the Big Bend Sector of Texas, where illegal border crossings are surging despite declines elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border. Addressing Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Pete Flores, Gonzales shared that ranchers in his district feel left behind as their region remains a hotspot for illegal activity. “What I’m hearing from my ranchers is that, for everyone else, they’ve gotten relief,” Gonzales said. “But that area — the Big Bend Sector — continues to be a hotbed in particular.” NEW: When…

Crop subsidies and crop insurance can feel like a bit of a mystery at times. Pretty much everyone has heard about them, but unless you are a row-crop producer or work in crop insurance, chances are you still have questions. So, here’s a primer on how these things work for American growers. The U.S. government provides subsidies — monetary payments and other types of support — to certain farmers and agricultural businesses. Subsidies can be given to support specific practices, support disaster aid, marketing, to mitigate risks, and more. Subsidies first appeared in the first Farm Bill in 1933, the…

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ first major set of policy proposals are aimed at improving the viability and longevity of smaller-scale family farms — a tactic directly addressing some of her biggest critics over the past several months. The newly launched Make Agriculture Great Again Initiative has outlined a toolkit of actions, including the streamlining of application processes, improving reliable access to credit, farmland, and markets, and appropriate business planning tools that are intended to better serve the 86 percent of farms in the U.S. that are considered to be small operations. Rollins, a Texas A&M graduate who has served as…

In late February, Yamaha Motor announced the launch of Yamaha Agriculture, a new company that focuses on delivering autonomous equipment and AI-powered digital solutions to help specialty crop growers become more sustainable, profitable, and resilient.  As part of Yamaha Agriculture’s launch, the company acquired Robotics Plus and The Yield. Robotics Plus is a New Zealand-based agritech company that specializes in the design and build of robotics, AI, and autonomous machines that reduce reliance on labor and provide data-driven insights for growers. The Yield is a precision yield management company focused on specialty crops that claims to transform precision agriculture practices…