Category: Ag News

Across the Corn Belt, largely favorable weather prevails throughout the Midwest, favoring harvest activities in areas where fields are relatively dry and where corn and soybeans have sufficiently matured. In the western Corn Belt, producers continue to assess the effects of recent growing season-ending freezes on corn and soybeans that were not fully mature. On …

Continue reading

Dairy prices for the week were up in the European Union and the U.S., but down in New Zealand except for Class Four milk and skim milk powder. Analysts at Vault Dairy say skim milk powder prices went up nine-tenths of a percent in the U.S., 2.9% in the EU, and 3.2% in New Zealand.  …

Continue reading

A petition to bring whole milk back to school children is gaining support.  The petition by Grassroots Citizens for Whole Milk for Healthy Kids has more than 56-hundred signatures so far, asking Congress and President Trump to support legislation in the House and Senate to allow whole milk on school menus. Schools and daycare centers …

Continue reading

Tropical Storm Nester is forecast to move northeastward across the Gulf of Mexico and make landfall early in the weekend across western Florida. However, regardless of further development, storm impacts could include a significant storm surge along Florida’s Gulf coast; tropical storm-force winds (39 mph or greater) in the eastern Gulf Coast region; and rainfall …

Continue reading

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live cattle closed lower on technical pressure, weak export sale numbers, and ahead of widespread direct cash business.  Feeder cattle closed lower on the same factors.  October live cattle closed $1.92 lower at $110.47 and December live cattle closed $.75 lower at $113.62.  October feeder cattle closed $.70 lower at …

Continue reading

Soybeans were modestly higher on short covering and technical buying, ending the week mixed. Export sales topped most expectations, China was the leading buyer, and overall, the numbers were neutral to bullish, with a good week for shipments. According to reports, China has also resumed buying soybeans from Brazil, atypical for this time of year, …

Continue reading

Skepticism abounds despite U.S. and Chinese officials touting major progress in trade negotiations. CHS Hedging brokerage director Kent Beadle says the market seems to be discounting the impact of last week’s so-called “first-phase” agreement. “I think the Administration was fairly clear that it was going to be three to five weeks before what they had …

Continue reading

A cattleman testified to a Senate clean air subcommittee Tuesday that livestock grazing does not hurt the environment. Eastern South Dakota cattle feeder Todd Wilkinson of DeSmet, South Dakota, told subcommittee members climate change policies fail to recognize the positive role of cattle. He says most of the methane emitted by cattle oxidizes to CO2, …

Continue reading

May 22, 2019: Clint Bowyer Dekalb shoot in Concord, NC. (HHP/Harold Hinson) NASCAR Driver Clint Bowyer is driving Sunday partly on behalf of FFA students who have a chance to benefit from a scholarship presented by DEKALB. The Number 14 DEKALB Ford Mustang will compete in Sunday’s NASCAR event at the Kansas Speedway, according to …

Continue reading

Progress continues in establishing a new foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank, according to USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky. He gave an update on the timeline for getting the new bank up and running during a Senate Ag Committee hearing Thursday. “The department issued a sources sought notice on September 10 to the vaccine manufacturers to get …

Continue reading

Tyson Foods says it will prohibit the use of ractopamine in the market hogs it buys from farmers beginning in February 2020.  In a statement released Thursday, Tyson says they are making the move to help meet growing global demand for pork. Ractopamine is not allowed in some countries that are potential export markets for …

Continue reading

Harvest is finally underway, and some farmers have their eyes set on post-harvest fieldwork. Fall anhydrous ammonia applications are a beneficial management practice, but only if the soil temperature is cool enough. In this managing for profit, Dan Schafer with the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association will identify the right time to make fall nitrogen …

Continue reading

Pork exports notched a marketing year high during the week ending October 10th. The USDA says sales for 2019 delivery were 292,200 tons, with Mexico, China, and Japan the leading buyers, while sales for 2020 delivery were 58,900 tons, mainly to China. Mexico is the biggest purchaser of U.S. pork, followed by China and Japan, …

Continue reading

A bill that aims to help curb farmer suicide has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Jon Tester of Montana. Grassley says it’s the Seeding Rural Resiliency Act, “That bill aims to decrease the growing suicide rates through a voluntary stress management training program. We need to continue supporting …

Continue reading

Senators Chuck Grassley and Jon Tester have introduced a bill that aims to help curb farmer suicide. Grassley says it’s called the Seeding Rural Resiliency Act, “That bill aims to decrease the growing suicide rates through a voluntary stress management training program. We need to continue supporting our farmers and doing what we can to …

Continue reading

Milk futures were mostly down and cash dairy prices were mixed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Thursday.   October Class III milk was down $.02 at $18.60.  November was down $.12 at $18.56. December was down $.04 at $18.02.  January was unchanged at 17.28. The milk futures from February through next September ranged from zero to …

Continue reading

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says she expects President Trump to stand behind the deal he made with biofuels advocates Reynolds told reporters the language contained in the proposal released by EPA this week is not what was agreed to in meetings with President Trump and other administration officials. The deal, Reynolds says, was for 15 …

Continue reading

Want to know more about wild rice and whether it is actual rice? Listen to our Healthy Living program and found out. Healthy Living ~ wild rice Continue reading Is wild rice… rice? at Brownfield Ag News.      

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live cattle ended the day mostly lower on profit-taking and ahead of widespread direct cash business.  Feeder cattle closed lower on pressure from the day’s modestly higher move in corn.  There could also be some outside pressure as Cargill shut down its operations on Thursday at the Dodge City, Kansas …

Continue reading

Michigan’s Senate Ag Committee has passed legislation that will bring the state in line with national cage-free egg standards by 2025.   Senate Bill 174 passed out of committee and will be sent to the full Senate where it could be voted on as early as next week.  If passed and signed into law, Michigan would …

Continue reading