Author: staff

With spring right around the corner, it’s time to think about tillage. With an abundance of options in the used marketplace, there are opportunities to find something that works for your operation at a variety of price points. It’s also time to think about making a move in the sprayer market. Most sprayers sell in the February-April time frame, and dealers don’t want to hold inventory too long – so there may be deals out there. Andy Campbell and Dave Mowitz discuss all this and more – including a search for a tractor that came into Andy’s family in an…

AGDAILY Reporters · March 12, 2025 A community-driven effort in Big Sandy, Montana, is making locally raised beef more accessible to schoolchildren and seniors through a nonprofit meat processing initiative. In November, 12 beef were sent for processing in partnership with local producers, resulting in thousands of nutritious meals. According to 3KRTV, the program ensures transparency and quality by keeping the meat sourced, processed, and distributed within the community, strengthening the connection between producers and consumers. With the support of producers, financial contributors, and volunteers, the initiative continues to grow, aiming to process 12 to 16 cattle annually. The effort…

Sorghum’s uptake in dairy rations has continually grown, but the crop’s limiting factors have laid hurdles for those who desire to partially replace corn silage in the diet while promoting water use savings. The team at Texas A&M University developed a means to control and even avoid some of these former challenges with the new male sterile sorghum variety. “When we started the research, we didn’t have the technology to process the berries properly,” explains Douglas Duhatschek, extension graduate assistant under Dr. Juan Pineiro at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center. “The first big opportunity with male sterile…

As farming communities across the country recover from recent natural disasters, U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), along with Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Austin Scott (R-Ga.), announced bipartisan, bicameral legislation they hope will improve access to federal agriculture disaster programs. Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture prohibits payments to growers with combined farm and nonfarm adjusted gross income above $900,000, which excludes the vast majority of specialty crop growers, such as those growing strawberries in California or apples in North Carolina, from receiving critical disaster relief. The Fair Access to…

The beginning of the end of Echelbarger Hay, LLC landed as a letter at Kim and Justin Hannah’s farm near Greentown, Indiana, early last September. It was from John Deere Financial. It struck Kim as odd. Justin did repairs and field work for Echelbarger Hay – a custom hay business he co-owned with Dustin Echelbarger. Echelbarger lined up the work and handled all finances.  “I called John Deere Financial because it had Justin’s name on it,” Kim Hannah said. The woman who answered described a lien, an unpaid loan, on a tractor the Hannahs no longer owned. According to the…

The first day of spring is nearly a week away, but severe Midwest weather shows no sign of letting up.  Risks for potential severe thunderstorms, high winds, hail, flooding, and even tornadoes are expected to impact the Midwest later this week. There is also a chance for snow in the Northern Plains and into Minnesota on Saturday.   “There’s a tornado threat here, there’s no doubt about that, as well as a chance for hail and high winds,” said David Tolleris, meteorologist and owner of WxRisk, a weather consulting firm. Tornado and High Wind Threat According to data from the National…

U.S. tractor and combine sales did not start 2025 off strong, and those sluggish performances continued into February, according to the latest data released from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. The organization showed that U.S. sales of agricultural tractors declined 17.7 percent in February compared with the same month in 2024, while U.S. sales of combines dropped 48 percent. The biggest change on the tractor side involved 4WD farm tractors, which fell more than 41 percent — and year-to-date, the number is even more dire. “While the recent decline in agricultural tractor and combine sales reflect current market challenges, including…

Not long past 8:30 a.m. CT, May corn was down 7½¢ at $4.62¾ per bushel. May soybeans were down 7¢ at $10.04¼ per bushel. May wheat contracts were also lower. CBOT wheat was down 1¾¢ at $5.55 per bushel. KC wheat was down 2¼¢ at $5.69¾. Minneapolis wheat was down 3¼¢ at $5.94. April live cattle were up 50¢ at $200.05 per hundredweight (cwt). April feeder cattle were up $1.20 at $278.90 per cwt. April lean hogs were up 50¢ at $87.05 per cwt. April crude oil was up $1.18 at $67.43 per barrel. The U.S. Dollar Index March contract…

1. Soybean, Grain Futures Lower Overnight  Soybean and grain futures dropped in overnight trading amid uncertainty over tariffs after President Donald Trump suspended his plan to double levies on steel and aluminum and Ontario rescinded the 25% tariffs it had placed on electricity flowing to the U.S.  Trump on Tuesday threatened to double tariffs on shipments of steel and aluminum to 50%, leading the government of Ontario to pull back on its threat to impose 25% levies on electricity it sends to several northern U.S. states.  Steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. will still face a 25% tariff, which…

1. Corn, Soybeans Gain in Overnight Trading Corn and soybean futures were higher in overnight trading on expectations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will lower its outlook for inventories of both commodities in a monthly supply and demand report today.  USDA will likely cut its forecast for ending stockpiles of corn in the 2024/2025 marketing year that ends on Aug. 31 to 1.516 billion bushels, according to a survey of analysts by Reuters.  That’s down from the government’s February projection of 1.54 billion bushels.  Soybean stocks at the end of the marketing year probably will be pegged at 379…