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Star of the West Milling Company is partnering with The Nature Conservancy on a wheat incentive program in Michigan’s Saginaw Valley region. Star of the West sustainability director Lisa Woodke tells Brownfield white and red wheat growers who participate in the pilot will receive tiered incentives for implementing a minimum of four conservation practices. “Which include online tracking, edge of field risk evaluation, integrated pest management, and diversity which simply […]

It appears most of Iowa will head into spring on the dry side. State climatologist Justin Glisan tells Brownfield subsoil moisture is generally at or below 30 percent of full capacity coming out of what’s setting up to be the 15th driest winter on record. “But we don’t get infiltration given that the soils are frozen, so looking at the fall we did have the eighth-wettest October on record. So […]

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle were lower, pressured by the week’s cash and wholesale business.  April live cattle closed $2.57 lower at $135.77 June live cattle closed $2.62 lower at $132.52. April feeder cattle closed $3.27 lower at $157.25 and may feeder cattle closed $3.15 lower at $162.35. It was a quiet Friday for direct cash cattle trade activity.  For the week deals in the South […]

One of the states hit hardest by the avian influenza outbreak in 2015 is on high alert as the virus continues to spread. Minnesota, the nation’s leading turkey producer, lost about 9 million birds either to disease or depopulation. Minnesota House Agriculture Committee chair Mike Sundin calls high path avian flu a looming concern. “Think back five, six years when we had to euthanize (pretty much) all the poultry in […]

The Departments of Labor and Transportation are partnering with the American Trucking Associations as part of its registered apprenticeship program to increase the number of drivers across the U.S. American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry which estimates a shortage of more than 80,000 drivers. Drivers in the program will help accelerate efforts to enhance supply chains including food and agriculture which are heavily […]

Corn farmers should have another tool available to battle above and below-ground pests for the 2024 growing season. Sean Cohen with Bayer says the company recently received EPA approval for VT4PRO with RNAi Technology. “This VT4PRO prod will really boost our corn portfolio offering another choice for growers to use in a low-to-moderate corn rootworm pressure areas and where there is a higher risk for corn ear work and western […]

Iowa lawmakers are considering legislation to address labor challenges facing dairy farmers in the state. Iowa State Dairy Association executive director Mitch Schulte says companion bills in the House and Senate would provide grants to help with on-farm and local processing. “Getting some dollars out to those farmers to start some new operations or expand what they have. And it also deals with the same deal as being grants or […]

Dairy groups are rejecting Canada’s proposal for reallocating U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) dairy tariff-rate-quotas. Global Affairs Canada recently submitted their proposed changes as part of a dispute case under the USMCA which the U.S. dairy industry says do not go far enough. Shawna Morris is the senior VP of trade policy with the U.S. Dairy Export Federation and National Milk Producers Federation.  She tells Brownfield, “We’ve very much looking to try […]

Milk futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed out the week mostly higher while cash markets were mixed. March Class III milk was up 12 cents at $22.55. April 24 cents higher at $23.68. May up seven cents at $23.62. June a penny lower at $23.44. July through September 10 to 19 cents higher. Dry whey up $0.0025 at $0.7575. One sale was made at that price. Blocks up $0.0475 […]