Author: staff

By Ella Cao and Mei Mei Chu BEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) – China’s soybean imports from the United States jumped 84.1% in the first two months of 2025 compared with a year ago, but competitive pricing and a trade standoff with the U.S. is expected to boost purchases from Brazil in the months ahead. As the world’s top buyer of soybeans, China brought in 9.13 million metric tons of the oilseed from the U.S. in January-February, up from 4.96 million tons in 2024. “The rise in U.S. soybean imports is mainly due to the Trump effect, where concerns about higher tariffs led to a rush in purchasing,” Rosa Wang, analyst at Shanghai-based agro-consultancy JCI,…

By Ryan Hanrahan Newsweek’s Jasmine Laws reported Tuesday that wholesale “egg prices in the U.S. have fallen to $3.45 per dozen, reaching their lowest level in nearly five months, following a period of price volatility fueled by supply chain issues, bird flu outbreaks, and fluctuating consumer demand.” “Egg prices have experienced extreme fluctuations over the past year. On March 3, wholesale egg prices reached a record $8.17 per dozen, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The spike was attributed to tight supplies and seasonal demand,” Laws reported. “Since then, prices have declined more than 57% to…

PTx Trimble and Trimble have announced the new Trimble IonoGuard for precision agriculture.  The IonoGuard is engineered to enhance RTK GNSS signal tracking and hardware positioning performance by maintaining signal integrity during challenging ionospheric conditions. IonoGuard is available now on the PTx Trimble NAV-900 guidance controller via the latest PTx Trimble Precision-IQ firmware release. Ionospheric Disturbances Solar activity can cause Ionospheric disturbances such as scintillation and signal noise that can result in unreliable positioning. High-precision RTK GNSS users, especially in equatorial regions, are impacted by solar activity year-round, inflicting costly interruptions on agricultural operations.  Every 11 years, at the height…

The Lowering Egg Prices Act was introduced in the House on March 19 by Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.), alongside Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.), and Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.). The bipartisan bill aims to reduce grocery costs by overturning a federal regulation that forces farmers to discard nearly 400 million eggs annually. Current regulations require eggs to be refrigerated within 36 hours of being laid, regardless of whether they are table eggs, which are sold raw, or breaker eggs, which are pasteurized and used in processed foods like cake mix and pasta. The bill seeks to amend this…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this week that it will reinstate the July Cattle and County Estimates for Crops and Livestock reports after cutting them last year due to budget constraints, despite concerns about reduced market transparency. The reinstatement will apply to the 2024 season for row crops — including corn, cotton, peanuts, rice, sorghum, and soybeans — and the 2025 season for small grains such as barley, oats, and wheat. The July Cattle report will be released on July 25, while NASS County Estimates will be staggered throughout May: May 6: Corn, sorghum, and soybean yields May 12:…

A proposal from the U.S. Trade Representative to impose new fees on ocean carriers with ties to China could take a major toll on America’s farmers and ranchers. Two-thirds of all agriculture exports by volume are shipped overseas, and the cost of transporting them to international trading partners could increase dramatically. In an effort to address China’s dominance in global shipbuilding and logistics, the Trump administration has proposed a series of fees targeting Chinese-operated vessels and Chinese-built vessels that access American ports. Individual fees would go as high as $1.5 million per port call. American Farm Bureau Federation economists analyzed…

Agriculture and basketball have been intertwined since the sport’s inception in 1891.  James Naismith created the sport of basketball at a Massachusetts YMCA, using a ball and peach baskets (where the game got its name) in an effort to create new indoor activities for members. Before inventing basketball, Naismith grew up on a farm in Almonte, Ontario, Canada, and often did chores around his grandparents’ property after school — learning how to “chop trees, saw logs, and drive horses” as a kid, according to the Naismith Basketball Foundation. The connection between basketball and agriculture has continued into the modern day…

Republicans on an Iowa House subcommittee have approved a bill requiring Deere & Co. to return half of its 2024 state research tax credit due to large-scale layoffs. HSB 306 targets companies that laid off over 1,500 workers in 2024, mandating repayment of up to 50 percent of funds received through Iowa’s Research Activities Tax Credit. Deere laid off approximately 1,700 workers at its Iowa plants, prompting lawmakers to push for financial accountability. Radio Iowa reported that Republican Representative Derek Wulf of Hudson linked the measure to President Donald Trump’s economic policies, stating, “In my opinion, this bill is the…

Ever since he can remember, farming with his father has been Andrew Morgan’s dream. The Morgan family farms corn and soybeans in rural southern Minnesota, sitting near “a triangle of towns,” Morgan said. Waseca and Waterville are the closest towns, but Morgan adds they’re still 10 miles away. That is where the Nebraska senior grew up, on farmland once owned by his grandfather. Morgan says his father, Keith, bought back the family’s farmland and equipment after his grandfather lost the farm in the mid-1980s farm crisis.  “I grew up in the country, 100%,” Morgan said. “I was kind of away…

Ahead of 9 a.m. CT, May corn was up 4½¢ at $4.66½ per bushel. May soybeans were down a penny at $10.07¼ per bushel. May wheat contracts were lower. CBOT wheat was down 6½¢ at $5.57 per bushel. KC wheat was down 10½¢ at $5.84¼. Minneapolis wheat was down 6¼¢ at $6.05½. Following the end of the overnight market and ahead of the 8:30 a.m. open, Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor at Total Farm Marketing, described corn and soybean trade as rangebound, and said the wheat market is experiencing profit taking following the recent wheat rally. This morning, USDA released…