Author: staff

1. Corn Drops as USDA Raises Production Outlook Corn futures were lower in overnight trading after the USDA unexpectedly raised its already lofty outlook for U.S. corn output.  Production in the 2025/2026 marketing year that started on Sept. 1 is now forecast at 16.814 billion bushels, USDA said in a monthly supply and demand report. Yield was projected at 186.7 bushels an acre.  Both would be records if realized.  The estimates compare with month-earlier forecasts from the agency for 16.742 billion bushels on yield of 188.8 bushels an acre, while analysts polled by Reuters were expecting output of 16.516 billion…

Country music star Luke Bryan is no stranger to rural life. The son of a peanut farmer, Bryan is intimately familiar with the challenges of farming.  “I talk to my father every day,” Bryan said. “He tells me the ups and downs of farming. I understand how hard it is to make it as a farmer.”  Bryan sat down with Successful Farming ahead of upcoming shows to talk about how he’s giving back to farm communities through partnerships with Bayer and Feeding America.  Making the Music Lessons learned while working for his father’s peanut mill prepared Bryan for a career…

Key Takeaways Corn and soybean harvests are just beginning, with progress close to or slightly ahead of average.Crop conditions slipped slightly, with corn at 67% and soybeans at 63% good/excellent.Winter wheat planting is behind normal pace, while spring wheat and oats are nearly fully harvested. Today, the USDA published the 24th Crop Progress report of the 2025 growing season. Here’s a look at the latest corn, soybean, wheat, and oat numbers. Corn As of Sept. 14, 85% of the corn crop across the country’s top 18 corn-growing states had reached the dent stage. With that, progress is 1 percentage point shy of the five-year average.…

When Class 8 combines were introduced, around 2003, it quickly became apparent that their combination of size and power were a good fit for many farms. Even as combines have grown into Classes 9, 10, and 10+, Class 8 machines remain in high demand.  “Back in the day, they were saying combines would never get above a Class 7, that the roads wouldn’t be able to handle them,” said Andy Campbell, Tractor Zoom director of insights. “But now, the 8s are the dominant size, and people are saying that about the 9s and up, that roads and bridges can’t handle…

This year’s National Farm Safety and Health Week will kick off on Sunday and go through September 21, shining a spotlight on one of agriculture’s most pressing issues: protecting the health and lives of those who work in farming, forestry, and fishing. Agriculture remains one of the most hazardous industries in the nation. While overall fatal occupational injuries decreased slightly in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 5.38 percent increase in deaths within agriculture-related industries from 2022 to 2023. That reality underscores the importance of this annual campaign, organized by the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.…

After peaking in 1920, Black-owned farms have dwindled. It hit a low of less than 20,000 in the late 1990s. After the Civil War, the U.S. government promised 40 acres, either from abandoned plantations or unused land, to formerly enslaved Black people. But then President Andrew Johnson intervened. He pardoned Confederates, returning their land. It became a common theme. In the following decades, some Black farmers gained land through deals with white landowners: After being tenant operators, they could buy acreage, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. But as Jim Crow laws proliferated in the early 19th century,…

October feeder cattle ended the day up $8.70 at $354.50 per hundredweight (cwt). December live cattle closed up $4.35 at $236.28 per cwt. December lean hogs were up 23¢ at $88.85 per cwt. Last Tuesday, October feeder cattle lost more than $9 per cwt, and by Friday the contract had fallen $6.55 for the day and $12.10 week-over-week. “Cattle futures recovered all of last Friday’s losses and then some today, as heavy buying took place in both feeders and live contracts,” said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting. “Much of this was technical, but strength in the cash market…

An Australian bio-agritech company is taking a different angle on managing herd health, reproduction, and sustainability … through measuring cow’s breaths. Using nano-sensors originally developed through NASA programs, Ascent is analyzing cow’s breaths to diagnose pregnancy in cattle in real time.  “Every breath tells a story,” the company says, and its technology is designed to make those stories measurable and actionable for producers. The Agscent Breath device, with its $10,000 price tag, enables farmers to detect pregnancy in cows from as early as day 16 to 18 post-insemination by analyzing volatile organic compounds in the animal’s breath. “We have developed…

Plant stem cells are crucial for the world’s food supply, animal feed, and fuel production. They lay the foundation for how plants grow. Yet, much about these mysterious building blocks remains unknown. Previous analyses have failed to locate many of the important genes that regulate how these cells function. For the first time, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory plant biologists have mapped two known stem cell regulators across thousands of maize and Arabidopsis shoot cells. Their research also uncovered new stem cell regulators in both species and linked some to size variations in maize. This method for recovering rare stem cells…

McDonald’s, which sells nearly 2.4 billion burgers annually, is joining a nationwide initiative to promote and accelerate regenerative grazing practices, habitat restoration, water and wildlife conservation on cattle ranches spanning 4 million acres across up to 38 states. The fast-food chain is pledging $200 million over the next seven years, marking this as its largest investment in “regenerative agriculture” ever through the Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative, which is being done in conjunction with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and some of McDonald’s U.S. suppliers. Through this initiative, McDonald’s says…