Author: staff

1. Soybeans, Grains Little Changed Overnight Soybean and grains were little changed in overnight trading as investors weigh weak crush rates for beans against dry weather in the southern Plains that may affect the wheat crop.  Processors crushed 177.87 million bushels of soybeans in February, below trade forecasts and down more than 11% from January, according to data from the National Oilseed Processors Association.  That was down almost 5% from the same month a year earlier.  Still, precipitation forecast for next week may slow fieldwork for farmers in parts of Argentina, said Don Keeney, an agricultural meteorologist with Maxar.  “Limited…

By Cami Koons Iowa landowners and pipeline fighters gathered Tuesday at a rally in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda asking lawmakers to ban eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines. Senate Democrats also pushed for an amendment that would help pipeline and eminent domain bills go to the floor for debate. The protesters have opposed a large carbon sequestration pipeline, headed by Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, for several years. The opponents have significant support in the Iowa House, which advanced more than 10 related bills ahead of the legislative funnel deadline, but Iowa senators have historically allowed similar bills to stall in their…

DAILY Bites A University of Illinois study found that heat stress leads to a 1% annual decline in U.S. dairy milk yield, equating to $245 million in losses over five years. Smaller farms suffer more, losing 1.6% of annual yield on average, while larger farms can mitigate losses with better cooling strategies. Climate projections suggest extreme heat days will become more frequent, increasing milk yield losses by 30% by 2050. DAILY Discussion Livestock agriculture is bearing the cost of extreme weather events. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores how heat stress affects U.S. dairy production, finding…

By Joana Colussi, Nick Paulson, Gary Schnitkey, and Silvina Cabrini South American countries, which together produce about 55% of the world’s soybean supply, are on track to set a record in the 2024-2025 crop season, despite localized drought challenges in some regions. Brazil’s soybean production is expected to reach an all-time high, Argentina’s production is projected to remain steady compared to last season, while Paraguay’s soybean output is forecast to decline from last year’s record harvest. In this article, we analyze the latest forecasts for South America’s harvest season and how record production in the coming months should keep downward…

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, has proposed an unconventional approach to tackling the bird flu epidemic plaguing U.S. poultry farms: allowing the virus to spread naturally through flocks. Instead of culling birds upon detection of the virus, Kennedy suggested that farmers “should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds that are immune to it,” he said in a recent interview on Fox News. He has repeated this stance in other interviews on the network. Although Kennedy…

Manufacturers come to mind when talking of the pantheon of tractor pioneers include J.I. Case, Hart-Parr, Huber, Holt, International Harvester, John Deere, and Massey Harris. Yet deserving the same status – if not primary standing among these American giants of industry – is a European manufacturer that not only advanced the concept of mobile horsepower on that continent but also deserves credit for: Manufacturing the first diesel engine in the world.Building the first tractor to be powered by a diesel engine.Creating an engine ignition system that would lead to the success of Bosch.Being among the first manufacturers to introduce a…

The Mississippi Board of Animal Health has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H7N9 in a commercial broiler breeder chicken flock in Noxubee County for the first time in eight years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory verified the positive test results. While low pathogenicity avian influenza H7N9 has been previously detected in wild birds through surveillance efforts, this marks the first documented case of highly pathogenic H7 in U.S. commercial poultry since 2017. The strain, of North American wild bird origin, is unrelated to the Eurasian H5N1 virus that has been circulating in the…

What Happened The release of the USDA World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report on March 11 was “much ado about nothing.” There were little changes made to U.S. expectations and only slight changes to world expectations. It appears the USDA kicked the can down the road, waiting for more crop progress information from the Southern Hemisphere before changing production estimates. Potentially, the quarterly Grain Stocks and Prospective Plantings reports — both released on March 31 — will be more impactful and provide the next direction for grain markets. Why This Is Important Last month at the annual Agricultural…

Tariffs, budget cuts, and other actions of the second Trump administration have made the words “farmers” and “farming” a regular occurrence in media headlines. Across industry publications and mainstream outlets, these supersized words — such as Tariffs are not ‘fun’ and farmers are frustrated or Funding freezes and staff cuts pull the rug out from under farmers — attempt to corral American growers into a single identity. Not only is that impossible to do, but it also does a disservice to unique and nuanced components of U.S. food production. And farmers hate when that happens. Wait, I mean, some farmers hate…

Just after 9:00 a.m. CT, May corn was up ¾¢ at $4.59½ per bushel. May soybeans were 1¢ weaker at $10.11¾ per bushel. Angie Setzer, Partner with Consus Ag Consulting said, “While the flow of news seems to be slowing, the uncertainty over what happens these next few weeks when it comes to global trade remains present.” Wheat markets were mixed starting off halfway through the week. CBOT wheat was up ¾¢ at $5.65¾ per bushel. KC wheat dropped 6¢ at $6.00¼ per bushel. Minneapolis wheat rose 3¼¢ at $6.17¼ per bushel.  April live cattle were up $1.67 at $202.67 per…