Author: staff

The federal government has a bad habit of spending money on problems before even figuring out what’s really wrong, and the recent New World screwworm scare is a prime example. This is typical Washington behavior — prematurely spending first and asking questions later. But here in Texas, we do things differently. We solve problems with proven solutions, not government handouts and wasteful spending. While protecting Texas cattle from disease is always our number one priority, we need to carefully consider the ripple effects of drastic measures like closing the border to livestock and animal products. It’s a surefire way to…

Born into farming and drawn back to the family farm in Manson, Iowa, after years in college and in the workforce, Brent Johnson has been doing double-duty as farmer and president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. Initially wanting to stay on his family farm, Johnson’s parents encouraged him to get an education, which led to an agronomy degree from Iowa State University. He has also started an independent crop consulting business. In December 2023, Johnson spoke with Successful Farming magazine about his education and how it has helped him advance his family farm and how he manages being an Iowa…

This Yuletide season has seemed a bit peculiar for my wife and me. Our impression that this was an off-kilter Christmas was mainly due to a summer and fall that passed in a blur of chemotherapy and radiation treatments and doctor’s appointments to treat my tonsil cancer. We were in Brookings one evening and decided to take in the view of residential Christmas lighting. We were somewhat disappointed when we could find only isolated islands of cheerful lights, not the blocks-long, dazzlingly luminous holiday vistas we had hoped to see. I recently had a couple of follow-up checkups in Sioux…

Image by Nokwan007, Shutterstock Top Third Ag Marketing helps farmers become better agricultural marketers with the goal of marketing crops and livestock in the top third of prices. Mark Gold and his team provide AGDAILY.com with the latest information and a look ahead in their audio commentary. Listen here! https://www.agdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ag-daily-2024-12-23.mp3

March corn and soybeans have been choppy this morning and not trading too far from unchanged. March corn is currently up less than a penny, while March soybeans are down 1¼¢. “I think that the low last week in soybeans will prove to be a long-term low on the soybean chart,” said Al Kluis, managing director of Kluis Commodity Advisors. “Not getting super bullish, but the market is really cheap, and end users around the world are stepping in to buy.”  The USDA announced new corn and soybean export sales this morning: Unknown destinations are buying 132,000 metric tons of…

A 234.65-acre tract of farmland in southeast Minnesota with two wind turbines on the property sold for about $2.87 million at an auction held on Dec. 4.   The land is about 15 miles east of Austin in Mower County, which sits along the Iowa border. Drone pictures of the property show dozens of wind turbines on adjoining and nearby farms.  Greg Jensen, the LandProz agent handling the auction, wasn’t surprised by the sales price. About a dozen bidders took part in the sale, he said, with bidding starting at $10,000 an acre. But a much larger crowd of close to…

Brooke Rollins is sure to be confirmed by the Senate as agriculture secretary in the new Trump administration, and she will start with a valuable asset — an ongoing relationship with the president, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “She has, I think, a very important asset … she has a relationship with the president. Boy, that’s really, really important in the ag job,” said Vilsack, who served under two presidents in his 12 years as secretary. Rollins was head of the White House domestic policy council during President-elect Trump’s first term, and more recently led a pro-Trump think tank. It…

Major U.S. farm groups said they would try to torpedo a short-term government funding bill in Congress this week unless it contains a multibillion-dollar bailout for agriculture. Negotiations fell apart over the weekend on inclusion of so-called economic aid in the only must-pass bill left before adjournment, scheduled for Friday. “I call on members of Congress who represent agriculture to stand with farmers by insisting the supplemental spending bill include economic aid for farmers and voting it down if it doesn’t,” said president Zippy Duvall of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Groups speaking for soybean, wheat, cotton, rice, and sorghum…

1. Wheat Futures Decline in Overnight Trading Wheat futures were lower in overnight trading amid favorable weather in parts of Australia.  Rainfall will be limited in the next 10 days, allowing farmers to get back into fields and continue harvesting their wheat, said Don Keeney, an agricultural meteorologist with Maxar.  Rainfall will favor parts of Queensland and Victoria into the weekend, the forecaster said.  Precipitation fell in parts of the U.S. Delta region where soft red winter wheat is overwintering. Rains in northern growing areas likely improved crop prospects.  Global wheat production in the 2024/2025 marketing year is now forecast…

President-elect Donald Trump called for a “streamlined spending bill” that also increases the federal debt ceiling on Wednesday as a replacement for the three-month government funding bill that congressional leaders produced the preceding day. That bill included $10 billion to offset a decline in farm income and $21 billion in disaster relief for agriculture. “Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025,” said Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance in a statement on social media. “The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined…