Author: staff

U.S. farm exports will be the smallest in four years due to lower prices for wheat, corn, and cotton, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. China would remain the No. 1 customer for food and ag products, with Mexico a close second. In a quarterly forecast, the USDA estimated food and ag exports at $169.5 billion this fiscal year, down 5 percent from fiscal 2023, which ended on Sept. 30. Imports were pegged at $200 billion, “largely driven by the strong U.S. dollar and resilient domestic demand.” The agricultural trade deficit of $30.5 billion, the largest ever, would be nearly…

Exceptional drought conditions continue to impact nearly three-quarters of the state of Louisiana. Cattle producers say some land has deep cracks that can break ankles and water troughs have been put out where they’ve never been needed before. Shannon Midkiff, a cow/calf producer in DeRidder, Louisiana, says the drought has impacted his operation “tremendously” this year.  Midkiff says, not only has his herd been affected, but he’s seeing the economic strain of the drought. He was only able to grow and harvest 25% of the hay that he normally produces to feed his herd through the winter months. As a…

GROWMARK, Inc. has partnered with InnerPlant on a commercial pilot of InnerSoy, the world’s first soybean fungal sensor. InnerPlant genetically engineers plants to emit optical signals when the plants are stressed from a lack of water or nutrients, or under attack from pathogens, like fungi. Using specialized equipment such as drones or satellites to detect the plant’s signals, farmers get the earliest possible warning to take action to protect their crops. The program will establish a number of sentinel plots located near production soybean farms to provide precision scouting and improved agronomic intelligence.  “GROWMARK’s focus on providing farmers with the tools they need to…

The Center for Dairy Excellence recently awarded a collective total of $205,000 to 41 Pennsylvania dairy producers through the latest Dairy Excellence Grant program round. Leveraging funds provided through the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, this investment from Ag Excellence has supported a collective reinvestment of more than $3,894,639 into Pennsylvania dairy farms across all of the funded projects to date. The grants are designed to support dairy farm improvement projects that enhance efficiency and cow comfort. “This grant program has really helped Pennsylvania dairy producers advance their operations, drive efficiency, and commit to cow comfort over…

The 2023 Peoples Company National Land Values report says expect a flat farmland market for 2024.   “When you get right down to it, what we’re saying is the land market performed really well in 2023 and the outlook in 2024 is that the land market remains flat, even though your intuition is it should soften with lower commodity prices and higher interest rates,” says Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Company. Bruere says there are a few specific reasons prices should hold. “[One,] you’ve got farmland leveraged at 14% nationwide,” he says. “There’s very little leverage, so the interest rate impacts…

By John McCracken Over the past two decades, Greg Gunthorp carved out a niche operating a small meat processing plant in northern Indiana. He sold several kinds of meat to chic Chicago and Indianapolis restaurants and to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, he said. He also sold direct to consumers. But selling in grocery stores was not an option, as the largest meatpackers often have those contracts. In his circumstances, he found it difficult to compete in the chicken industry, and he recently stopped raising and slaughtering the bird. “In an extremely concentrated marketplace,” he said, “it’s difficult for a small…

Governor Kathy Hochul announced this month that Hypercell Technologies of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, is the grand prize winner of this year’s Grow-NY business competition. Grow-NY is a startup challenge focused on enhancing the emerging food, beverage, and agriculture innovation cluster in Central New York, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier. Now in its fifth year, the program awarded $3 million- including the $1 million grand prize to seven finalists participating in the business development accelerator and two-day pitch competition at the Grow-NY Summit this year, which was held in Binghamton. The winning teams must commit to operating in the…

Based on today’s report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, net farm income, a broad measure of profits, is forecasted to be $151.1 billion in the calendar year 2023, a decrease of $31.8 billion (17.4 percent) relative to 2022 in nominal (not adjusted for inflation) dollars. Meanwhile, the median total farm household income is forecast to increase to $99,802 in 2023. That is a nominal increase of 4.6 percent (a 1.2 percent increase after inflation) between 2022 and 2023. This follows an increase of $42.4 billion (30.2 percent) from 2021 to a record high of $182.8 billion…

Livestock accounted for slightly more than half of the 14 percent increase in global greenhouse gas emissions by agriculture from 2000 to 2021, said a Food and Agriculture Organization report on Wednesday. The carbon footprint of cattle and sheep was several times higher than the footprint for pigs, chickens, and dairy, when calculated per kilogram of product, said the FAO’s Statistical Yearbook, released on the eve of the UN climate summit. Agricultural emissions worldwide totaled 7.8 billion metric tons in 2021, said the yearbook. “Around 53% derive from livestock-related activities, and with 2.9 [billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent], the emissions…

The government will provide up to $300 million for the first year of a new program to build food and ag export sales in nontraditional markets, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. The USDA has committed $1.2 billion over five years for the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) after the second year in a row of declining ag exports. “It takes significant investment to open and develop new export markets, and this new fund will be dedicated to helping provide that start-up capital so that American exporters can diversify their markets and create new opportunities,” said Vilsack. The largest customers for…