Category: Ag News

Brownfield’s Amie Simpson will be on the ground in Indianapolis on December 9, 2019 for a Conservation Roundtable with Ag Secretary Perdue and Indiana Director of Agriculture Bruce Kettler. Continue reading Conservation Roundtable with Ag Secretary Perdue and Indiana Director of Agriculture Bruce Kettler at Brownfield Ag News.      

Brownfield’s Amie Simpson will be on the ground in Indianapolis December 9 for the National Grain and Feed Association Country Elevator Conference. Continue reading National Grain and Feed Association Country Elevator Conference at Brownfield Ag News.      

The director of an ag organization based in southern Minnesota says while production agriculture is feeling the pain of low commodity prices, the value-added chain is strong. Sam Ziegler leads GreenSeam, which was formed several years ago to build on existing agricultural prominence in the region. “People are still eating, they’re still driving. So the …

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A class-action lawsuit between retailers and the National Milk Producers Federation might end in a 220-million-dollar settlement.  National Milk’s President and CEO Jim Mulhern says, “We’re really trying to avoid the clearly, very crippling damage we would have suffered as a dairy industry had there been a four-billion dollar judgement against the dairy industry.” Mulhern …

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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tells Brownfield one of his top priorities for the upcoming legislative session is to get a good bonding bill. “Those are things that impact communities, road and bridge infrastructure. Thinking about those water treatment plants, that hard infrastructure. Education pieces that will come with that.” The latest state budget forecast shows …

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The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council have filed a lawsuit against the State of California.  Travis Cushman with AFBF tells Brownfield the lawsuit filed late Thursday was necessary because Proposition 12 reaches outside the borders of California in an unprecedented way. “It creates very arbitrary animal confinement requirements that have …

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Milk futures were mixed and cash dairy prices were mostly down on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Friday.   December Class III milk was up $.18 at $19.55.  January was up $.02 at $18.62. February was down $.06 at $17.85.  March was down $05 at 17.44. The milk futures from April through next November ranged from two …

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The president of the Missouri Corn Growers Association says the Japan deal is great for corn growers.  Mike Moreland farms south of Kansas City near Harrisonville. “It takes some of the tariffs off and it will make us more competitive so our market share will probably go up even more. They like quality and we …

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Illinois-based ag cooperative Growmark is acquiring the agronomy and energy assets of Mid-Iowa Cooperative. According to a Mid-Iowa news release, Growmark’s operating company, New Century FS, will take over and operate Mid-Iowa’s agronomic and energy supply businesses. On the grain side, Mid-Iowa will collaborate with Growmark’s AgVantage FS. Mid-Iowa has 14 locations in east-central Iowa. …

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A sprawling Pacific storm system will move inland across the western U.S. during the weekend. The heaviest precipitation will fall in northern and central California, where flooding may occur in valleys and coastal ranges. Weekend snowfall in the Sierra Nevada could reach 1 to 4 feet, with snow eventually spreading eastward across the northern and …

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Farmers could see a plateau in farm income over the next decade. Purdue Extension Director Jason Henderson says this is part of the traditional agriculture cycle. “Traditionally, we go up in terms of a boom, we hit a downturn, and then we usually get a decade of a long plateau in terms of profitability,” he …

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As 2019 comes to a close, not only are farmers looking forward to a new year, but also a new decade. In this managing for profit, Linda Kull, agriculture innovations director for the Illinois Soybean association, talks about the role technology will play for ag production moving forward and what it will take for farmers …

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Legislation to restrict artificial dairy and meat products from using terms like meat and milk is moving quickly through the Wisconsin Legislature.  State Senator Howard Marklein tells Brownfield his three-bill package introduced last month would give Wisconsin authority to enforce what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has so far ignored. “If we can get …

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A new study finds five U.S. airports with the highest risk of entry of African Swine Fever in smuggled pork products. National Pork Board’s vice president of science and technology, Dave Pyburn, has the list: “San Jose, California; John F. Kennedy in New York; L.A. airport; George Bush in Houston and the Newark airport in …

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Missouri now has a hemp application process in place. Sami Jo Freeman is with the Missouri Department of Agriculture and tells Brownfield Ag News, “One of the main questions we’ve had in Missouri ag for the last 12 to 18 months is ‘how can I get my registration to grow hemp?’ And what we released …

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The USDA says pork exports for 2019 delivery topped 30,000 tons. Both Mexico and China bought more than 10,000 tons of U.S. pork during the week ending November 28th, with net sales up 20% from the week before and 5% from the four-week average, but sales for 2020 delivery were a net reduction after a …

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Fall applied nitrogen can be risky especially as farmers consider weather volatility and narrowing margins. In this Managing for Profit, Precision Planting research agronomist Cory Muhlbauer explains why feeding the plant when it needs food makes sense – both agronomically and to the bottom line. Continue reading Focusing on split application of nitrogen at Brownfield …

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The challenging growing season has shown just how many factors are out of a farmer’s control that can lead to stress. Illinois farmer Rob Sharkey says he’s pleased there is more awareness surrounding mental health in agriculture. “The growing season was tough and if you have the weight of that on you and you don’t …

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Ag groups continue to call on Congress to ratify the US Mexico Canada Agreement and a USDA official says he’s hopeful it will happen soon. Jason Hafemeister is the secretary’s trade counsel at the USDA.   “In Washington there’s a lot of people working around the clock on this so that’s always a good sign that …

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The 2019 season has been a learning lesson for many Midwestern farmers. Southern Ohio Farmer Greg Corcoran wrapped up harvest two weeks before Thanksgiving. He says there was a lot of variability in his yields “We had some fields that actually did exceptionally well, we also had some fields that really were head-scratchers for us, …

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