Author: staff

The two-year decline in commodity prices drove down farm income in the northern Plains this summer, ag bankers said overwhelmingly in a survey by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, and they expect income to fall again this winter. Farmers have cut back on major purchases, the bankers said, and loan demand is up. Regional Fed banks in Chicago and Kansas City have also reported lower farm income in their districts. Nationwide, ag bankers say the volume of new operating loans was 40% higher than in the third quarter of 2023. Farm-state lawmakers say the disaster aid package being assembled by…

1. Grain, Soybean Futures Little Changed Overnight Grain and soybean futures were little changed in overnight trading as investors weigh favorable South American weather against signs of demand for U.S. agricultural products.  “Rain in (the) short term and again after (the) break next week keep most of northern Brazil stable,” Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.  Weather models favor precipitation in parts of southern Brazil and Paraguay that likely will offer relief from dry conditions, the forecaster said.  Still, “disappointing showers” will stress soybeans in a quarter of southern Brazil and two-thirds of Paraguay, CWG said.  Prices…

President-elect Trump is expected to offer former Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) the position of Secretary of Agriculture, according to a CNN report. Loeffler, who turns 54 next week, is the co-chair of Trump’s inauguration committee. Trump was scheduled to meet with Loeffler Friday afternoon at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Loeffler represented Georgia in the Senate from 2020 to 2021. She was appointed to the seat in 2019 after the retirement of former Sen. Johnny Isakson. In 2021, Loeffler lost her seat in a special election to current Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat. Loeffler was present on the campaign trail for Trump…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists intercepted live larvae from a rare and potentially destructive fruit fly at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. A specialist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Systemic Entomology Laboratory confirmed the specimens as caper fruit fly this month. The larvae were discovered among fresh caper flowers in June, after an arriving traveler from Italy refused to answer agriculture questions and was referred for a baggage examination. Local USDA and CBP officials tentatively identified the specimens as caper fruit fly, which was only previously intercepted on one occasion 20 years ago in Tampa, Florida. A specialist at…

By Brittney Goodrich The Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index (PRF-RI) is a crop insurance product underutilized by Illinois livestock and forage producers. Only 6% of the eligible acres in Illinois were insured in 2024, much lower than use west of the Mississippi. Like other Federal crop insurance programs, PRF-RI is heavily subsidized. Over time, PRF-RI has returned $1.29 in payments for each $1 in producer-paid premium. Illinois and Midwest livestock and forage producers should consider using PRF-RI as a risk management tool. PRF-RI Use in Illinois PRF-RI has been available as a risk management tool for livestock and forage producers in…

Image by HannieVerhoeven, Shutterstock Holstein Association USA has recently updated Official Holstein Pedigrees to include designation for animals carrying the Slick gene, when genetic test results are on file in the Holstein herdbook database. On a pedigree, it will be displayed in the row above an animal’s name. “We are excited to make this enhancement to our Official Holstein Pedigrees,” said Lindsey Worden, Chief Operating Officer. “Breeders interested in these genetics have been asking for this for some time now.” Slick cattle have a natural genetic mutation of the prolactin receptor gene which results in a shorter hair coat. The…

By Brittney Goodrich Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index Insurance (PRF-RI) is an underutilized insurance product by livestock and forage producers in the Midwest (see Farmdoc Daily article from Oct. 9, 2024). One aspect of PRF-RI that sets it apart from traditional crop insurance is that producers choose the months they want to insure against low rainfall. This allows for flexibility in insuring different types of forage production systems that may benefit from rainfall at different times during the year. Enrolling in different months throughout the year affects the total premium paid by the producer, the amount and frequency of…

March corn is up 2¢ this morning. January soybeans are up 1¼¢. March wheat contracts are mixed. CBOT wheat is down 2¼¢. KC wheat is down less than a penny. Minneapolis wheat is up 1¼¢. This morning, USDA announced new soybean export sales. Unknown destinations are buying 198,000 metric tons of soybeans for the 2024/2025 marketing year. Speaking of exports, this morning Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX, discussed the future of commodity trade under President Elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration: “There’s been a great deal of speculation about the potential impact of President Trump’s promised tariffs. The assumption…

SERAFINA, N.M. — You saw the Super Bowl commercial, right? The one with Stone Cold Steve Austin, his dog, and even a bald eagle rocking a mullet as an all-new Kawasaki UTV ripped past them. It was the kind of commercial that gets people talking. But, what was the point of their “business in the front, part in the back” promotion?  Kawasaki introduced the RIDGE earlier this year to an eager audience, wondering what the Japanese OEM had up its sleeve. Patent filings complete with prototype sketches were analyzed by the media, speculating that this might be a new…

Let’s take a break from the typical Interesting Iron column and do something a bit lighter this week. Today, I want to present the Interesting Iron-approved list of gifts for the tractor nerd in your life. Here are some toys, tools, and other cool stuff that everybody who works on “stuff” needs in their life! For the most part, these are all things that I either use every day, or enjoy using/collecting/reading. A couple of them are still on my personal list, and one of them is being delivered tomorrow. If you’re stumped as far as what to buy for…