Author: staff

1. Soybean Futures Higher in Overnight Trading Soybean futures rose in overnight trading on reduced U.S. acreage and concerns about dry weather in the Delta region.  Area planted with soybeans in the U.S. is expected to fall 4% year over year to 83.4 million acres, the USDA said in a report on Monday. That’s also down slightly from the March Prospective Plantings report.  Acreage is forecast to decline in 25 of the 29 largest producing states.  U.S. producers instead planted more corn whose area is forecast to grow 5% annually to 95.2 million acres, the agency said.  Potentially adverse weather…

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Khanh Vu WASHINGTON/HANOI, July 2 (Reuters) – The United States and Vietnam struck a trade agreement that sets 20% tariffs on many of the Southeast Asian country’s exports following last-minute negotiations, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vietnamese state media said on Wednesday. The rate is lower than an initial 46% levy Trump announced in April on goods from Vietnam which was due to take effect next week. Trump said that goods from Vietnam would face a 20% tariff and that any trans-shipments from third countries would face a 40% levy. Details were scarce and it was not immediately clear how the trans-shipment provision would be implemented.…

The National Dairy Herd Information Association launched its 2026 scholarship program, which provides $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors and college undergraduate students. Applicants must be full-time, incoming, or continuing students at a technical college or a two-year or four-year college/university. To be eligible for a National DHIA scholarship, the applicant must be a family member or employee of a herd on DHI test, family member of a DHI employee, or an employee of a DHI affiliate. The DHI affiliate for the herd or affiliate employee must be a member of National DHIA. Members of National DHIA include AgSource Dairy,…

“Knee-high by the Fourth of July” is an adage most growers know. According to BASF, knee-high corn in early July was at one time believed to be an indicator of high yields. These days, thanks to advancements in agriculture, farmers can expect corn to be a lot taller by the summer benchmark date. According to Iowa Corn, corn plants grown under good conditions usually reach a height of about 8 feet by midsummer in Iowa. As June came to a close, 8% of the crop in the country’s top corn-growing states reached the silking stage, USDA reported. Since corn plants…

After a marathon session, the U.S. Senate has passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a wide-ranging reconciliation package that delivers significant wins for agriculture, including strengthened safety net programs and expanded tax provisions. The 51-50 vote was decided by Vice President JD Vance, breaking the Senate tie and sending the bill back to the House, where it’s expected to reach President Donald J. Trump’s desk by July 4. American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall praised the bill’s passage, emphasizing its potential to bring much-needed certainty to farmers. “Improvements to farm safety net programs that reflect today’s agricultural economy and…

Take look at these three farmland transactions that transpired in January and February 2025. 173.69 acres in Madison County, Ohio Date: March 25, 2025 Price: $19,200 per acre Farmland in central Ohio sold for $19,200 per acre, totaling $3,334,848 for the 173.69-acre tract. The farm featured 159.19 tillable acres of highly productive Kokomo and Crosby soils, ideal for high-yield grain production. With substantial frontage along Lafayette Plain City Road and I-70, the property also offered strong development potential. The strong per-acre price reflects the continued demand for premium farmland in Madison County, with excellent soil productivity, strategic location, and development…

Dozens of farm and agricultural workers have died from heat stroke since 2015, according to federal data.  This week, swaths of the U.S. are dealing with high temperatures and warnings of heat stroke, a potentially deadly condition. The heat wave comes just as federal regulators have convened public hearings on a Biden-era proposal aimed at preventing deaths related to heat illness among U.S. workers. Farmworkers are among those most at-risk, according to a study by the National Institute of Health. They often wear pants and long sleeves to protect themselves from pesticides while laboring, and some employers push workers to…

When the rare opportunity arises to buy farmland — arguably a farmer’s most valuable asset — what are some things to keep in mind? Three experts offer their advice to streamline the land-buying process.  Organize Your Finances  Curt Covington, senior director of managed accounts at AgAmerica, said, “Your accountant and lender will thank you” for having your financial records in order. He said it’s important to have on hand an up-to-date balance sheet and other key financial documents such as tax returns, bank statements, equipment lists, and yield sheets. “Lenders ask for information, and they ask for that information for good reason,…

While we’ve all heard of salmonella in chickens, salmonella in cows is likely unknown to many. Nevertheless, Salmonella dublin is a disease that has been present in cattle herds for decades — in Denmark as well as many other countries. And it is on the rise globally. It causes pneumonia, blood poisoning, and abortions, and kills many thousands of calves and cows every year. Although Salmonella dublin infects humans far less frequently than the more regular salmonella, there is every reason to take it seriously: it is significantly more dangerous and kills up to 12 percent of those who become…

We’ve all heard it said: farming makes up 10 percent of America’s greenhouse gas emissions. It’s been repeated so often, folks take it as gospel. And sure enough, if you dig into the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s reports, you’ll find a tidy number — about 600 million metric tons of CO2e a year, or 10.8 percent of the total. But here’s the catch. That number only tells half the story. It counts what’s coming out of the barn, but not what’s going into the ground. And it treats cow burps like they stick around forever, when in reality they vanish…