Ag News
Member of Congress tells Trump to keep immigration and trade separate
Minnesota’s Second District Representative echoes other members of Congress who say President Trump should not intertwine trade and immigration. Democrat Angie Craig tells Brownfield new tariffs on Mexico could destroy the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement. [Read More…]
Virginia Tech’s SmartFarm will benefit farmers, consumers
Virginia Tech is creating a network to connect its campus with each of its extension research centers and local extension offices. The SmartFarm Innovation Network will connect extension specialists with producers to develop technologies to [Read More…]
Cover crop seed could be at a premium because of prevent plant
Cover crop seed could be at a premium as the U.S. prepares for a likely record total of prevented plant acres in 2019. Minnesota Department of Agriculture seed unit supervisor Denise Thiede says the number [Read More…]
A “yo-yo” type of spring
An agronomist in southern Minnesota says planting delays have created a “yo-yo effect” for many farmers. Mike Schultz with NK Seeds tells Brownfield wet weather has plagued the Corn Belt this spring. “You look at [Read More…]
Sorghum-Sudan grass seen as good forage alternative
An agronomist points to sorghum-Sudan grass as a good forage alternative given the weather challenges this spring. Jon Zuk with Winfield United says feed concerns are intensifying because of poor first-crop alfalfa and corn planting [Read More…]
McKinney on lack of China talks
USDA Trade Under Secretary Ted McKinney says he’s not aware of any talks between the U.S. and China in the last few weeks. “Is it my hope that we get back to the negotiating table [Read More…]
Class III milk still struggling to stay over $17
A commodity analyst and broker says the Class III milk market landscape appears different from recent years. Mike North with Commodity Risk Management Group says, “That’s not to say that the buyer’s response to prices [Read More…]
Perdue says MFP payment details are coming soon
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says he will announce payment details of the $16 billion market facilitation program Friday or early next week. USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson was clear about unplanted acres when asked by [Read More…]
Illinois River lock and dam repairs underway
Scheduled repairs to locks and dams along the Illinois River began June 1st. Scott Sigman, Transportation and Export Infrastructure Lead with the Illinois Soybean Association, says repairs to the Marseilles and Starved Rock locks this [Read More…]
Minimizing nitrogen loss during a wet spring
Unrelenting rains have slowed planting to levels never seen before, and one of the many dilemmas is what to do about fertilizer. A nutrient management specialist with the University of Minnesota is concerned about nitrogen [Read More…]
ARA says prevent plant acres will leave unsold seed, products in retailers’ hands
Agricultural Retailers Association CEO Daren Coppock says the ARA supports disaster relief legislation but says the ARA doesn’t want undue incentives for growers to claim prevent plant acres. “All of us in the system, whether [Read More…]
Farm and Ranch to School Act gives priority to locally produced meat
Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota has introduced a measure to make local meat procurement a priority for school lunch programs. Johnson tells Brownfield the current Farm to School Program has successfully gotten local fruits [Read More…]
South Dakota’s Dusty Johnson wants grazing date pushed up
Congressman Dusty Johnson wants farmers to be allowed to graze cover crops on prevent plant acres before November first, the date now allowed under crop insurance rules. “So much of the nutritional quality has waned, [Read More…]
McKinney knows ag not happy about Mexico tariffs
USDA Under Secretary for Trade – from his trade mission in Colombia – says they know agriculture is not happy with Trump’s Mexico tariff threat, “Clearly, only a week or two prior the steel and [Read More…]
USDA will NOT include prevent plant acres in MFP2
Agri-Pulse reports USDA will NOT include unplanted acres in the next round of trade assistance payments. Ag Secretary Perdue said earlier this week his staff was hoping to make a decision on prevented planting by [Read More…]
Producer sentiment drops to lowest score in two years
Producer sentiment continues to decline according the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. The barometer fell 14 points to 101 in May, the lowest reading since October 2016. But Purdue University’s Jim Mintert says [Read More…]
ASF found in a commercial hog herd in Poland
The third domestic case of African Swine Fever has been detected in Poland. The virus was found on a commercial pig farm and more than 8,000 animals had to be euthanized to prevent the spread [Read More…]
NCBA stays out of Mexico tariff/immigration fray; remains focused on USMCA passage
NCBA president Jennifer Houston National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president Jennifer Houston says they are choosing to stay out of the fray over President Trump’s threat to impose a tariff on Mexico over the immigration issue. [Read More…]
Rains to diminish; cool days ahead for the Heartland
An active weather pattern will return across much of the country during the next several days, as a pair of storms interact with tropical moisture. Five-day rainfall totals could exceed 10 inches along the Gulf [Read More…]
Scattered rains across much of the Heartland
Across the Corn Belt, a brief period of dry weather has largely ended. Currently, some of the heaviest showers are occurring in the eastern Corn Belt, where many of the most significant corn and soybean [Read More…]