Agriculture

A non-profit organization is leaning on U.S. farmers, agribusinesses and land grant universities to provide resources that can help small and medium sized farmers rebuild in Ukraine. “These people are the least protected and they need our help again.” Roman Grynyshyn with World to Rebuild Rural Ukraine tells Brownfield small and medium sized farms have been hardest hit by the war and in many cases have lost all of their […]

The USDA has increased 2022 production expectations for red meat and poultry, with bigger outlooks for beef and broilers cancelling out declines for pork and turkey. Beef production is seen at 27.842 billion pounds, up 132 million from April, due to larger than expected placements pushing up slaughter rates, with an average steer price of $140.10 per hundredweight, $.60 higher, and larger exports, imports, and per capita consumption. Pork is […]

USDA has raised its forecast for 2022 milk production with higher cow inventories expected to offset slower growth per cow.  In its May supply and demand report, USDA also raised butter and cheese prices because of strong demand while nonfat dry milk and whey prices were lowered.    The Class III and Class IV prices for 2022 were lowered and the all milk price forecast decreased five cents to $25.75 per hundredweight.  […]

The USDA says 2021 upland cotton production was 17.191 million bales. That was up more than 3 million bales from 2020, with lower yield and planted area canceled out by a big increase in harvested acreage. Still, that was down from the April estimate, which pulled old crop ending stocks lower, while new crop ending stocks are expected to fall short of 3 million bales with a projected smaller crop […]

Compeer Financial lending officer Leigh Rodebaugh says low inventory has driven up home prices in both rural and urban areas. Specific to rural properties, she says interest was getting stronger even before the pandemic as people searched for ways to get out of urban and suburban areas and out into the country. She also points to historically low interest rates as another market driver. ...

The USDA is projecting a smaller winter wheat crop in 2022. Production is expected to be 1.174 billion bushels, 8% under 2021 with an average yield of 47.9 bushels per acre and harvested area of 24.499 million acres. A year ago, winter wheat production totaled 1.277 billion bushels with an average yield of 50.2 bushels per acre and harvested area of 25.464 million acres. Drought is impacting hard red winter […]

Missouri’s omnibus ag bill has passed the state legislature with House approval Tuesday. Missouri Cattlemen’s Executive Vice President Mike Deering calls it’s a win for all the state’s agriculture. “It has the Missouri Department of [Agriculture] tax credits in there that producers can utilize to create new jobs and expand opportunities,” he said. “The one that we are most familiar with would be on the meat processing side, that is […]

The USDA has lowered old crop soybean and wheat ending stocks estimates, while leaving corn unchanged. Soybean ending stocks for the current marketing year are seen at 235 million tons, down 25 million from April on an increase in exports. 2021/22 wheat was reported at 655 million bushels, 23 million lower, on higher food and export demand. Corn came out at 1.44 billion bushels, with no adjustments to the balance […]

A technical agronomist says patience pays off for hybrid selection during a late planting season. Jeff Spieler with DEKALB Asgrow in South Dakota says it might be too early to switch to short-season corn because the crop could lose its top-end yield. “If you’re in the mid to lower end of your RM, we probably aren’t going to change too much because we put that original hybrid out there for […]