Agriculture

For the remainder of Monday, widespread showers and thunderstorms will affect the Southeast, with 1- to 2-inch totals common from Georgia to Virginia.  Farther west, rain will expand and intensify during Monday across the central and southern Plains, with heavy showers slowly shifting into the eastern U.S. by Thursday.  Five-day rainfall totals could reach 2 to 6 inches from portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas eastward to the southern Appalachians.  […]

The USDA says wheat export inspections as of the week ending May 19th were in-line with what’s needed to meet projections for the current marketing year. The 2021/22 marketing year got underway June 1st, 2021 for wheat and September 1st, 2021 for corn, sorghum, and soybeans. The USDA’s next set of supply and demand estimates is out June 10th. Wheat came out at 309,501 tons, down 39,436 from the week […]

Looking ahead, the 6- to 10day outlook calls for the likelihood of near- or above-normal temperatures nationwide, except for cooler-than-normal conditions from the Pacific Northwest to the northern Plains.  Meanwhile, above-normal rainfall across Florida’s peninsula and from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest should contrast with drier-than-normal weather from California to western Texas, and from the Mississippi Delta to the middle and northern Atlantic States. ...

Across the Corn Belt, widespread frost was reported Monday morning in the upper Great Lakes region, particularly in northern sections of Michigan and Wisconsin.  The cool weather trails last week’s multi-day Midwestern severe weather outbreak, which included a fatal tornado on May 20 in Gaylord, Michigan.  The chilly conditions, with Monday’s high temperatures remaining below 70°F, are also slowing a return to fieldwork in areas that recently received heavy rain. […]

Minnesota legislators passed the supplemental ag spending package over the weekend. The bill includes more than $18 million in drought relief, $210 million for broadband expansion, $1.5 million for meat processing, and over $3 million to support new and emerging farmers. Minnesota Farmers Union president Gary Wertish says many of the organization’s priorities are addressed in the package, and he thanked the House and Senate ag chairs for “getting this […]

A South-Central Nebraska farmer says he’s wrapped up planting after being delayed by severe drought and then rain. Andy Jobman of Gothenburg tells Brownfield “It was a pretty unusual planting season from the starting point, we were extremely dry.  It was probably one of, if not, one of the driest springs that anybody’s seen in our area.”  He says irrigated many fields to help recharge the soil. “A lot of […]

Persistent drought and natural disasters have led to a 25 percent drop in projected yield for hard winter wheat in Kansas. Farmer David Schemm of Sharon Springs tells Brownfield crop conditions have rapidly declined in western areas of the state. “That plant is definitely atrophying those lower leaves and even some fields that flag leaf, which is so vital to the quality of the plant and the yield that it […]

Photo from President Biden’s Twitter account The U.S. Department of Agriculture is playing a vital role addressing the infant formula shortages caused by Abbott Nutrition’s voluntary recall. U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Indianapolis on Sunday to meet the first shipment of formula brought to the U.S. under Operation Fly Formula. “We’re sending, through the Department of Defense, airplanes to Zürich Switzerland to pick up one and a half […]

Cargill announced plans to build a new soybean crush plant in Missouri’s bootheel. Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council Vice Chairman and farmer Aaron Porter says work by the checkoff board helped get the plant. He says the plant will have a big impact on Missouri farmers and add value to their beans. Learn more at mosoy.org. Brought to you by Missouri’s soybean growers and their checkoff. ...