Author: staff

U.S. tractor sales reflected a divided market in September, with smaller machines showing modest strength while sales of large equipment and combines continued to weaken, underscoring the cautious mood across farm country. According to the latest Association of Equipment Manufacturers Ag Tractor and Combine Report, total two-wheel-drive tractor sales rose 5.1 percent year-over-year, buoyed by a 17.3 percent increase in mid-sized 40-100 horsepower models and a 2.5 percent gain in units under 40 horsepower. However, demand for higher-horsepower tractors fell 11.5 percent, and four-wheel-drive models dropped 32.7 percent. Sales of self-propelled combines slid sharply, down nearly 22 percent from a…

A Huron County, Michigan, investigation has uncovered a multi-county tractor theft ring linked to a Sebewaing man accused of stealing and reselling farm equipment across Michigan. According to ABC12 News, Sheriff Kelly Hanson reported that Jeffery S. Nunnery, 54, faces multiple felony charges after deputies recovered several stolen items, including a Massey Ferguson utility tractor taken from a shed in Rubicon Township, a John Deere utility tractor believed to have been sold in the Hemlock area, and a utility trailer stolen from Roscommon County. Nunnery remains in the Huron County Jail on a $25,000 cash bond, and further charges are…

Ahead of 9 a.m. CT, December corn was down 2¾¢ at $4.15½ per bushel. November soybeans were down 7¼¢ at $10.15 per bushel. December CBOT wheat was down 2¢ at $5.04½ per bushel. December KC wheat was down 3¾¢ at $4.86 per bushel. December Minneapolis wheat was down 3¾¢ at $5.53¼. “Grain and oilseed futures were mostly lower overnight, pressured by prospects for good harvest activity amid favorable weather this weekend, and a lack of positive demand news,” The Brock Report said this morning. Ahead of 9 a.m. CT, December live cattle were down 28¢ at $239.63 per hundredweight (cwt).…

Red crown rot (RCR) continues its march across the Midwest, with the first confirmed case in Minnesota. The soilborne soybean disease known to weaken plants and cut yields was detected in a Rock County field in August, according to Dean Malvick, University of Minnesota plant pathologist. “This is the first known case of red crown rot in Minnesota, and the nearest known infection before this was more than 400 miles away in NW Illinois,” Malvick wrote in a University of Minnesota Extension bulletin. “It raises questions about how this pathogen is moving and whether it has gone undetected in other…

People often joke that their favorite snack is “like crack” or call themselves “chocoholics” in jest. But can someone really be addicted to food in the same way they could be hooked on substances such as alcohol or nicotine? As an addiction psychiatrist and researcher with experience in treating eating disorders and obesity, I have been following the research in this field for the past few decades. I have written a textbook on food addiction, obesity and overeating disorders, and, more recently, a self-help book for people who have intense cravings and obsessions for some foods. While there is still…

Do you know an outstanding high school senior who is interested in pursuing a career in agriculture? Strong agriculture leaders are vital to the sustainability and growth of the soybean industry, and the American Soybean Association, in partnership with BASF, wants to provide a student interested in agriculture with a college scholarship to begin their degree. The Soy Scholarship is a $7,000, one-time award presented to a high school senior who plans to pursue agriculture as an area of study at any accredited college or university in the 2026-27 academic year. The scholarship is managed by ASA and made possible…

By Mary Hightower Arkansas farmers will lose hundreds of dollars per acre this year for their corn, cotton, long grain rice, and soybean crops, according to an analysis by extension economists with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The analysis, “The State of the Arkansas Crop Economy in 2025,” conducted by Hunter Biram, Ryan Loy and Scott Stiles, examined net returns on the state’s principal crops. They factored in expected yield, expected price, expected revenues, operating costs and rent. They found that Arkansas farmers can expect losses of: $273.71 per acre for corn$352.75 per acre for cotton$258.84 per acre…

Today, no news is the news. Due to the government shutdown, the USDA won’t release the October World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report that was scheduled for this morning.  This means the market won’t receive updated production data at a time when, according to one expert, traders are “fixated with yields.”  “There’s still a chance we could get the October reports later this month, though USDA would have to restart field survey work, so that seems unlikely at this point,” said Brian Grete, a senior grain and livestock analyst with Commstock Investments.  Experts say in 2013 and 2019,…

Autonomous farm machinery is no longer a technology of the future — tasks such as tillage and grain cart operations are now operating nearly on their own. John Deere and AGCO have been working toward full autonomy for years. Familiar functions, such as guidance lines, automated turns, and implement guidance, have been the building blocks for the truly driverless tractor.  Deere’s autonomous upgrades and AGCO’s OutRun aftermarket kit have moved past the trial stage, with limited commercial availability in 2025 — the first growing season in which farmers are buying and using this technology outside of testing programs. Dozens of units have…

By Amanda Stephenson CALGARY, Oct. 8 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney raised the prospect of reviving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to the United States during his Tuesday meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the discussions and a CBC News report on Wednesday. Carney, who is under increasing pressure in Canada to address painful U.S. tariffs on steel, autos and other goods, asked Trump if he would be interested if the Keystone project were to be revived and had Canadian support, the source said. The source emphasized discussions are at a very early phase, and declined to say whether…