Author: staff

This past March, I spoke at the Commodity Classic conference in Denver for Successful Farming. My presentation highlighted how the price patterns for corn and soybeans in 2025 could be very similar to 2024. I recommended earlier seasonal selling dates, and highlighted some key weeks to watch for a change of trend — as well as the importance of avoiding sales in August. The main recommendation was to get new-crop corn, soybeans, and wheat protected in April, May, and June with a combination of hedges, forward contracts, and puts.  Did my predictions work? Let’s take a look, starting with a…

Check out these farmland sales from June and July 2025. 176.5 acres in Tuscarawas County, Ohio Date: June 24, 2025 Price: $5.3 million The iconic Trealayne Holsteins Family Farm in eastern Ohio sold at live auction for $5,317,400. This generational property was well known for its registered dairy herd and quality operation. The farm was offered in eight parcels, ranging from 6.1–46.3 acres, and included a mix of excellent tillable farmland, wooded recreational land, and scenic country building sites. The property featured several farm buildings, including a 250×42-foot dairy barn, a 100×40-foot bank barn, and a 22×50-foot equipment shed, all in…

By Cami Koons Warm, dry conditions across the state for most of the week gave Iowa farmers plenty of time in the fields to harvest corn and soybeans.  According to the latest crop progress and condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17% of soybean acres and 15% of corn acres across the state have been harvested.  Harvest figures for the Sept. 22-28 reporting period mean soybean farmers are three days behind last year and the five-year average, while corn farmers are four days ahead of last year and one day ahead of the average.  Iowa Secretary of Agriculture…

By Cami Koons U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday he is hopeful the Trump administration will come up with a plan to “improve morale among farmers” in response to the apparent loss of the Chinese soybean export market.  China is historically the largest foreign buyer of U.S. soybeans, but after leveraging retaliatory tariffs in response to those imposed by President Donald Trump, the country has turned elsewhere for its soybean shipments this year.  According to reporting from Reuters, China bought roughly 1.3 million tons of soybeans from Argentina. The same week, the Trump administration announced a $20 billion bailout deal with Argentina.  Grassley,…

BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 30 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei in two weeks, Argentina said on Tuesday, as Milei seeks to clinch a credit swap line from the U.S. that has rankled some Republicans as the South American nation offloaded billions of dollars in soy to China. The two will meet at the White House on October 14, during the week the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to convene in Washington. The Argentine foreign ministry called the meeting a “new opportunity to continue strengthening the strategic partnership between both countries.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week announced negotiations…

1. Wheat Futures Lower as Stocks Top Forecasts Wheat futures were lower in overnight trading after a quarterly report showed stockpiles at the beginning of September were higher than expected.  Inventories on Sept. 1 totaled 2.12 billion bushels, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. That’s up 6% year over year and topped analyst expectations for 2.041 billion bushels.  Corn futures also declined overnight after USDA’s stockpiles estimate topped forecasts.  Stockpiles on Sept. 1 were reported at 1.532 billion bushels, the agency said. While that’s down 13% annually, it easily topped trade projections for inventories of 1.336 billion bushels.  The stockpiles…

Harvest is underway, but there’s still uncertainty about where some of those crops will go. Agri-Pulse Newsmakers asked Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., if he thinks the U.S. is losing valuable global markets and how bailout trade aid payments for farmers could be funded through tariff revenue.Also on the show, Virginia Houston, with the American Soybean Association, and Joe Glauber from the International Food Policy Research Institute discussed what China’s recent soybean purchase from Argentina means for the U.S. and if it’s concerning to not see an October World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report because of the government shutdown. Watch…

Isabell Olsasky grew up on her family’s farm in south-central Iowa, showing pigs and chickens at the county fair. Joining FFA at Southeast Warren Junior-Senior High cemented her love for agriculture. After graduating last spring, she spent the summer in Mexico as a Borlaug-Ruan International Intern with the World Food Prize. Now, Olsasky is studying agronomy at Iowa State University. Watch Our Interview Meet Isabell Olsasky Olsasky said she always wanted ag to be part of her future but wasn’t sure what that would look like. An FFA visit to Iowa State’s McNay Research and Demonstration Farm was a lightbulb…

While harvesting a field of irrigated corn, Quentin Connealy noticed something unusual: The dryland corners were outyielding the acres under the pivot.  “That’s where it red-flagged for me that something had happened,” said Connealy, who raises corn and soybeans in eastern Nebraska. That field, like so many others, had hidden challenges that didn’t become obvious until harvest. In this case, saturated conditions early in the season led to crown rot, weakening stalks, and limiting yield under the pivot.  Eventually, every farmer faces a field that doesn’t live up to expectations. Whether it’s due to uneven emergence, nutrient loss, disease, or…

This week the U.S. Drought Monitor showed drought-stricken areas, from southern Missouri and Arkansas into the northeast U.S., received amounts of 1-2 inches with locally higher amounts in northwestern and southern Arkansas, parts of Tennessee and Kentucky and in eastern New York and southern New England. At the same time, dry weather continued in northern parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, most of Lower Michigan and the northern Great Plains and Upper Midwest. Above-normal temperatures were standard across the majority of the U.S., except for parts of Arizona and New Mexico. In most of the U.S., temperatures were between 2-6°F above…