Agriculture

The United States is falling behind its competitors in reducing global trade barriers, according to a recent report by Corn Refiners Association. President and CEO John Bode says the report tracks new market-opening trade agreements entered into by the U.S. and its major economic competitors since 2010. “Since 2010, China has entered into 12 new market opening trade agreements and other major competitors have entered into lots of new agreements. […]

Eastern Iowa farmer Dave Walton says drought has already taken its toll on his crops. “Our corn has been rolling most afternoons for the past two or three weeks.  We’re living on subsoil moisture and the surface moisture is basically gone.” He tells Brownfield his soybeans are in worse shape. “They’re stunted right now.  I have beans that were planted two months ago and they’re ankle high right now.  That’s […]

Missouri’s Ag Director is the new president of the Midwest Association of State Departments of Agriculture. MASDA consists of 13 state ag departments including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Chris Chinn was elected at the MASDA meeting in Minnesota this week and will take over as president in September. Chinn tells Brownfield she will oversee the Midwest delegation. “Mainly, […]

East Central Kansas farmer Paul Renner says his winter wheat harvest has been a mixed bag so far. “We’ve harvested about four or five fields.  The high has been about 45 bushels per acre and low has been in the high teens to mid 30s.” He tells Brownfield the crop struggled through weed pressure, immense drought stress and early freeze, but late season rain brought some optimism. “It’s been a […]

An extension agronomist says weed pressure has been heavier than normal during the growing season. Iowa State University’s Meaghan Anderson says some farmers have had a tough time keeping waterhemp in check. “Now that we’ve pretty much wrapped up most of our post applications, I’ve started to notice that we really did have some trouble controlling some of those weeds.” She tells Brownfield now is the time to scout fields. […]

Mike Frazier, a farmer from Kahoka, Missouri tells Brownfield missed rains are taking a toll on the corn and soybeans. “Corn is shrinking on the clay. You can see down the rows of soybeans with yellow spots on the leaves, starting to show stress and there’s firing on the corn. It’s getting serious quickly.” He says a half inch of rain would save the crop for a few days, but […]

Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook calls for the likelihood of ongoing hot weather in the south-central U.S. and warmer-than-normal conditions in Florida, New England, and the Pacific Northwest, while near- or below-normal temperatures will cover the remainder of the country. Meanwhile, near- or above-normal rainfall across most of the U.S. should contrast with drier-than-normal weather from the Four Corners States to the western half of the Gulf Coast […]