TW: Mentions of suicide. Farming is physically demanding, emotionally taxing, and often deeply isolating. Add in extreme weather, market fluctuations, labor shortages, and the stress of running a small business, and you get one of the most high-pressure jobs out there. Studies show farmer suicide rates are two to five…

By Ryan Hanrahan Ongoing trade tensions and uncertainty about U.S. biofuel policy contributed to second quarter profits hitting multi-year lows for a number of crop trading companies — including Archer-Daniels-Midland and Bunge Global SA — while ag equipment manufacturers warned those trade tensions will begin increasing equipment prices in the…

By Cami Koons Corn across Iowa is a couple of days ahead of schedule, with 53% of corn acres reaching the dough stage and 9% entering the dent stage, according to the latest Crop Progress and condition report from the USDA. Eighty-nine percent of soybean acres have bloomed and 65%…

By Roberto Samora SAO PAULO, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Grupo Potencial will invest 2 billion reais ($392.9 million) to build a corn ethanol plant in Lapa, Parana state, as part of a plan to develop the world’s largest biofuels complex, Vice President Carlos Eduardo Hammerschmidt said. The group is already in…

By Cami Koons Iowa Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, said Iowa farmers are “hurting” and that the “status quo is not working” as he offered farm policies he would push for if elected to the U.S. Senate.  Scholten’s policies, discussed Monday at Griffieon Family Farm outside of Ankeny, a Des…

Spring wheat harvest is officially underway in all six spring wheat-growing states, according to the USDA’s first Crop Progress report of August. Across the six states, 5% of the crop has been harvested, behind the five-year average of 9%.  But as more of the wheat gets cut, the overall condition…