Author: staff

1. Grain, soybean futures moderately higher overnight Grain and soybean futures were modestly higher in overnight trading ahead of today’s supply and demand reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The government is expected to reduce its forecast for U.S. corn and bean ending stocks while raising its outlook for wheat inventories in its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report due out at noon in Washington.  Corn stockpiles at the end of the 2024-2025 marketing year likely will be projected at 1.526 billion bushels and soybean inventories at 374 million bushels, according to a Reuters poll. That…

A newly released report has found that there were 212 ransomware incidents against the food and agricultural sector in 2024. These attacks largely targeted sectors defined as critical manufacturing and commercial facilities and showed a slight increase (0.3 percentage points) in volume compared with 2023. The data was compiled by the Food and Agriculture-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Food and Ag-ISAC), which provides threat intelligence, analysis, and effective security practices that help food and agriculture companies detect attacks, respond to incidents, and share so they can better protect themselves. The 212 food and ag incidents were a subset of nearly…

Planting soybeans early helps maximize yield by increasing the plant’s productive life. When April planting dates come with cool, wet soils, sulfur management is key to ensuring yield potential.  Sulfur is an essential nutrient for nitrogen fixation, nodule formation, and seed protein content. Soybean plants draw sulfur from organic matter within the soil, but the amount readily available in early spring can be limited.  “When the soil is cooler, mineralization of microbial activity is limited, so there is an opportunity to bolster it with a soluble source of sulfur,” said Shaun Casteel, an agronomy professor at Purdue University.  Granular products,…

By Gabriel Araujo SAO PAULO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Brazil’s soybean harvest for the 2024/25 season reached 15% of the planted area as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 6 percentage points from the previous week. At the same time last year, 23% of the total area had been reaped, AgRural added in a statement, meaning work in the fields overall remains delayed and may affect sowing of Brazil’s second corn crop in some areas. Parana state in southern Brazil has been leading the way as a third of its soy area has been harvested, but top grain-producing state of Mato…

This story will be continually updated as new cases are reported to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. To date, 962 dairy herds in 16 states have been found to be carrying Highly-Pathological Avian Influenza (HPAI), a virus originally found in wild birds and usually associated with turkey and poultry flocks. The first known transmission found in a dairy cow herd was announced on March 25, 2024 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with herds in Kansas and Texas suffering from illness and testing positive.  Since the original diagnosis, herds in New Mexico, Ohio, Idaho, Michigan, North Carolina,…

Since learning that almost one third of Illinois counties are in favor of exploring seceding from their home state, the speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives wants to give citizens in those counties another state to call home. If his “Indiana-Illinois boundary adjustment” bill, which will soon face a committee hearing and then a House vote, ultimately becomes law, there could be major implications for both Indiana and Illinois farmers and the agriculture industry at large. Representative and House Speaker Todd Huston is the author of Indiana House Bill 1008 (HB1008), which would establish the so-called “Indiana-Illinois boundary adjustment…

Sioux Honey Association Co-Op has the first of two honey brands to join the growing list of American Farmland Trust’s U.S. Farmed certified program. The program includes a standard for consumer-packaged goods proven to contain at least 95 percent of ingredients grown in the United States. Sioux Honey Association Co-op’s brands Sue Bee and Aunt Sue’s are the first honey brands to make the list.  Last year, Anheuser-Busch was the first to adopt the certification and seal, which costs an annual $5,000 certificate fee as well as requiring a licensing royalty/contribution, which is done on a sliding scale based on the…

A heartbreaking incident has left an Arizona FFA family searching for answers after their daughter’s pig is believed to have been beaten and stolen from a school land lab. The family posted to Facebook over the weekend to report the incident, saying that they had increased the reward to $800 for information leading to those responsible for the apparent attack. Rachael Flores, whose daughter, Olivia, has been active in both 4-H and FFA, described the horrific scene discovered at the land lab over the weekend. Olivia’s pig, Maggie, was part of her carcass project — a culmination of months of…

CHICAGO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Nevada has confirmed its first human case of bird flu in a farm worker who was exposed to infected dairy cattle, the Central Nevada Health District said on Monday, after authorities last week reported a second strain of the virus in cows in the state. The case broadens the U.S. outbreak of the virus that has infected nearly 70 people, mostly farm workers, since April. The H5N1 virus has reduced milk output in cattle and pushed up egg prices by wiping out millions of laying hens. The Nevada worker is recovering after suffering from conjunctivitis, or pink eye, the Central Nevada Health…

After two years of decline, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects a strong rebound in farm income for 2025. According to the latest Farm Sector Income Forecast, net farm income is expected to rise to $180.1 billion, an increase of $41 billion (29.5 percent) from 2024. Similarly, net cash farm income is forecast to reach $193.7 billion, up $34.5 billion (21.7 percent) from the previous year. Even after adjusting for inflation, both figures remain well above historical averages, though still below the record high of 2022. Despite this projected income boost, total farm cash receipts are expected to decrease slightly,…