Author: staff

By Ryan Hanrahan The Wall Street Journal’s Costas Paris and Jack Pitcher reported that “China’s government is threatening to block a deal that would transfer ownership of dozens of seaports to Western investors if Cosco, China’s largest shipping company, doesn’t get a stake. The proposed sale includes two ports at the Panama Canal and more than 40 others around the world, all owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison.” “China is pushing for state-owned Cosco to be an equal partner and shareholder of the ports with BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co., a containership operator, according to people familiar with the deal…

Just after 9 a.m. CT, December corn was up 7¾¢ at $4.28¾ per bushel. November soybeans were up 14¢ at $10.40½ per bushel. Karl Setzer, partner with Consus Ag Consulting said, “Sizable gains are being shown [Friday] morning with the soy complex leading the charge higher. Soybeans are benefiting from short covering and the addition of risk premium. Immediate weather is mostly favorable across the U.S., but more forecasts are adding heat going into August which is when we see more of an impact on soybean development.” Setzer added, “Corn and wheat are also firmer this morning with short covering…

Could moving into a neighborhood built around a working farm be the prescription for better health? A new Texas A&M University study is putting that question to the test, tracking how residents of a new “agrihood” community change their diet, exercise, and overall health after moving in. The prospective study, led by Jay Maddock, a professor in the School of Public Health and director of the Center for Health and Nature, will follow a cohort of residents of a newly-developed “agrihood” — a master-planned residential development built around a working farm — to track how living in an agriculturally-integrated community…

By Marcelo Teixeira, Karl Plume, and Renee Hickman NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) – A possible move by Coca-Cola KO.N, and other beverage and food industries, to use cane sugar instead of corn syrup as a sweetener would be difficult and expensive to implement, while mostly negative for farmers in the U.S. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Coca-Cola had agreed to use cane sugar in its beverages in the country after his discussions with the maker of the top soda pop brand. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and activists from his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign have been pushing for changes in ingredients used by the food…

Conservation programs will see a long-term boost in funding under the budget reconciliation bill recently signed into law, but that benefit comes at a cost: For the coming fiscal year there will be significantly less money available for program applicants than there otherwise would have been.  Unobligated Inflation Reduction Act funding previously expected to be available in fiscal 2025 and 2026 for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program has been rescinded to be folded into the permanent farm bill baseline. Because of congressional budget rules, that…

1. Grains are Negative Early Morning Shortly after 6:00 a.m. CT, December corn was down 2½¢ at $4.21½ per bushel. November soybeans were 1½¢ lower at $10.19 per bushel. December soymeal was $1.20 weaker to $282.30 a short ton, and December soy oil jumped 0.20¢ to 54.88¢ a pound. September wheat markets were down in the early morning. CBOT wheat fell 4½¢ at $5.36¾ per bushel. KC wheat dropped 4¼¢ at $5.18½ per bushel. Minneapolis wheat decreased 1¢ at $5.80 per bushel. “New crop corn and soybean contracts are 15–20¢ off the low hit on Monday. Is this just a…

A number of agricultural organizations — including the National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Dairy Export Council, the Consortium for Common Food Names, and the National Sorghum Producers — have expressed strong support for President Donald Trump’s nomination of Julie Callahan to serve as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. All four organizations — NMPF, USDEC, CCFN, and NSP — have called on the U.S. Senate to confirm her without delay The Chief Agricultural Negotiator plays a pivotal role in representing American agricultural interests in international trade agreements. Gregg Doud, current president and CEO of NMPF…

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, engineers threw their rule books out the window in search of a tractor that would meet the growing need for a lightweight machine that could run down rows. Out of the myriad unusual — if not downright outlandish — configurations that emerged from this period, the most predominant design was the motor cultivator. That concept, first introduced by the Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company in 1914, launched an era when motor cultivators were all the craze. Within a few years, quite a number of companies were selling a motor cultivator. While a…

Every time Fred Below and Connor Sible meet with Illinois farmers, they get the same question. “What’s the story with these biologicals? Do they work?” The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign crop scientists and Illinois Extension specialists are happy to share what they know about the natural growth stimulants, informed by dozens of trials and published research. But with new products constantly being added to the market — and a muddled regulatory landscape — it’s not always clear what farmers are even asking. “We do a lot of extension talks, and we started to notice a disconnect. Farmers and companies call…

On Thursday, President Donald Trump nominated Julie Callahan to serve as the chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The agricultural industry had been urging the Trump administration to make such a nomination. Just last week, more than 40 agricultural associations sent a letter to Trump pressing him to “expeditiously nominate” a negotiator. Callahan has been with the Office of the USTR since 2016, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her most recent position was assistant USTR for agricultural affairs and commodity policy, a position she held since 2020. Agricultural groups have responded to Callahan’s nomination…