Brownfield

The expanding drought conditions across the heart of the country sent soybeans higher Friday.  The biggest concern is that the drought conditions are hitting some of the highest-producing parts of the country.   And while there’s some scattered rain in the forecast, it still has to materialize.  The market is also finding strength as soybean oil stocks fell and the prices pushed higher.  Soybean meal export demand is improving.  Also contributing […]

Jul. corn closed at $6.40 and 1/4, up 17 centsJul. soybeans closed at $14.66 and 1/2, up 38 and 1/4 centsJul. soybean meal closed at $394.20, up $4.50Jul. soybean oil closed at 59.69, up 126 pointsJul. wheat closed at $6.88, up 26 and 1/2 centsAug. live cattle closed at $171.72, up 65 centsAug. feeder cattle closed at $234.92, up 80 centsJul. lean hogs closed at $92.85, up 92 centsJul. ...

Representatives from several dairy organizations reviewed their proposed changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Order system with USDA officials Friday. Erin Taylor is a director with the Agricultural Marketing Service. She says Friday’s meeting was to discuss and better understand the various pricing proposals but not the merits of each proposal. Requests for a hearing on the federal orders initially came from the National Milk Producers Federation, the Wisconsin Cheese […]

A hydrologist with the National Weather Service says Mississippi River levels are low again after improving earlier this year and that could affect grain movement if significant rains do not come. There is rain in the weekend forecast, but Mary Lamm, based in Paducah, Kentucky, says she is not expecting significant moisture from the system. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor says 89% of the Midwest is experiencing dryness in mid-June, […]

A U.S. Senator from Minnesota says the farm bill budget is still being negotiated. Amy Klobuchar tells Brownfield it could be early fall before the details are finalized and the current farm bill expires at the end of September. “We have to get a bill passed by then or an extension through the end of the year, which happens, and around then, we’ll hear more about money amounts.” In the […]

The chair of the United Soybean Board says progress is being made on a project to deepen the lower Mississippi River and improve the efficiency of ag exports. The Army Corps of Engineers is deepening more than 250 miles of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. This part of the river moves more than half of U.S. corn and soybean exports. When the project […]

Milk futures were higher except for July and August, and cash dairy prices were mixed Friday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. June Class III milk was up $0.01 at $14.94.  July was down $0.07 at $15.31.  August was down $0.02 at $16.16.  September was up $0.02 at $17.24.  October through May contracts ranged from six cents higher in May to twenty cents higher in October. Dry whey was up $0.0025 […]

After months of traveling, National FFA Eastern Region Vice President Gracie Murphy returned to her home state of Illinois this week. Murphy tells Brownfield it has been a wild ride traveling to 24 states in the last 8 months but she has valued the opportunity to witness the diversity of US agriculture. “You get told in class all the time about how agriculture is so different, but you don’t fully […]

A southwestern Illinois farmer says crop conditions are a mixed bag for mid-June. Rich Guebert of Randolph County tells Brownfield the lack of rain has caused inconsistent stands in his soybean fields. “I’ve got some beans that have been in the ground four weeks and haven’t come up, and then we’ve got beans that are three or four inches tall, so getting the crop to even up is going to […]