Author: staff

July corn ended the day up 3¢ at $4.45½ per bushel. July soybeans closed up 5¼¢ at $10.77¾ per bushel. July wheat contracts closed mixed. CBOT wheat ended the day up 7½¢ at $5.24¾ per bushel. KC wheat was up 11¼¢ at $5.23. Minneapolis wheat was down 3¾¢ at $5.77. “Corn and soybeans spent much of the session fractionally mixed in lethargic trade,” said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting. “Spread trade dominated the early part of the session and generated this mixed trade, as did conflicting supply and demand data. … Corn also benefited from technical buying as…

Nearly 20 percent of children across the country are experiencing food insecurity and in some rural counties, child food insecurity rates are estimated to be as high as 50 percent, according to Feeding America’s annual Map the Meal Gap study. While most children in the U.S. live in urban metropolitan areas, over 80 percent of U.S. counties with the highest estimated rates of child food insecurity (in the top 10 percent of all counties) are rural. Map the Meal Gap, now in its 15th year, is the only study that provides local-level estimates of food insecurity and food costs for…

U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) today introduced the Strengthening Tactics to Obstruct the Population of Screwworms (STOP Screwworms) Act, which would authorize funds for and direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture to begin construction on a new sterile fly production facility to combat the growing New World screwworm outbreak that threatens to wreak havoc on the American cattle industry: “Combatting the destructive New World screwworm is vital to protecting our cattle, Texas producers, and the American livestock industry as a whole,” Cornyn said. “I am proud to…

According to the USDA’s most recent Crop Progress report released on May 12, Illinois corn planting is running 6 percentage points behind the five-year average. Soybean planting is running 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average, according to the report. Take a closer look at the numbers and get some first-hand perspective from agronomists in Illinois.  Corn Planting and Emergence Despite the 24-percentage-point increase from the previous week, corn planting is still 6 percentage points behind the five-year average in Illinois, according to Monday’s report. Illinois is the Midwestern state that’s farthest behind on corn planting progress. It may…

As I follow the latest agricultural news, I can’t help but notice a continued interest in integrating more technology into many production systems. Precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, and agricultural robotics are some of the most talked about and fast moving. My concern with technology is that we are placing too much emphasis on it and not enough on our foundational resource, the soil. Precision agriculture has been around for a while now, using data and advanced equipment to apply crop protection products and fertilizer with greater accuracy across a field. Precision agriculture has evolved from simply mapping soil sampling data…

Kioti has launched the CS30 Series sub-compact tractor — the first of its size with a factory-installed climate-controlled cab.  “We’ve been working to be the first in the market to offer a four season, climate-controlled factory cab on a subcompact tractor,” said Joel Hicks, product line manager for tractors at Kioti. “Not only does it fit well in southern states where it typically gets a lot hotter, but also in the northern states and Canada where it gets colder. It can go anywhere and still be comfortable to operate.” Kioti has designed this tractor to work in disparate climates for…

A bee attack in Comanche, Texas, left a family grieving the loss of three of their rodeo horses. The attack, which occurred on May 9, involved an aggressive swarm believed to be Africanized bees that targeted both animals and their owners: Baillie Hillman and her partner, James. “This was the scariest day of my life,” Hillman wrote in a viral Facebook post. “It was a day you see only in horror films and made-up nightmares. A day that only the devil would enjoy.” The morning started routinely. The couple turned out a few horses near their home to graze. Hours…

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of four articles highlighting the contributions farmers and their tractors made to winning World Wars I and II. This story first appeared in Ageless Iron Almanac. The shell-pocked muddy morass of World War I’s battlefields offered the ultimate performance test for a pioneering tractor originally designed to traverse the soft peat soils of California farms. Holt’s massive model 75 crawler proved so effective at pulling large artillery pieces and supply wagons across the war-wrecked landscape of Europe’s Western Front that over 3,000 Caterpillars would eventually see use during the Wars To…

By Cami Koons More than half of corn and soybean acres are planted, which puts Iowa farmers more than a week ahead of last year’s pace, according to the crop progress and condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Thirty percent of corn and 16% of soybean acres have emerged as of Monday.  Stu Swanson, president of Iowa Corn Growers Association, said despite weather delays last month, his fields, and those in his north central region are “sitting in a really good spot.” “Farmers tend to be worriers,” Swanson said. “We worried that we weren’t going to get back in, and…

1. Grains, Soybeans Lower in Overnight Trading Grain and soybean futures were lower in overnight trading after the USDA issued a lofty production outlook for corn.  USDA forecast corn production for the 2025/2026 marketing year at 15.82 billion bushels on yield of 181 bushels an acre. That’s up from a February outlook for 15.585 billion bushels, though the yield outlook was unchanged.  If realized, that would be up from the 14.867 billion bushels forecast for the 2024/2025 season, according to government data. Yield in the current marketing year is pegged at 179.3 bushels an acre.  Corn stockpiles at the end…