The ranking member of the House Ag Committee says climate policy and crop insurance shouldn’t be tied together in the next farm bill. Glenn “GT” Thompson is a Republican from Pennsylvania. “How can we change the safety net or crop insurance to be more climate friendly? I think that’s looking at the problem completely the wrong way. Rather, we should be asking ourselves how do we make climate policy farmer […]
Soybeans were mostly lower on spread trade and profit taking. Beans continued to react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halting energy and vegetable oil exports, but couldn’t follow through on the periodic gains, with a lower move in soybean oil. Soybean meal did finish higher on commercial buying. The trade is also monitoring the near-term rain forecast for dry parts of Argentina and southern Brazil. It’s generally been a dry […]
A policy expert says sanctions on Russia’s economy will likely exacerbate global supply chain issues. Mike Dankler with Michael Best Strategies says many countries have banned exports, and that will have ripple effects for the agriculture industry. “That’s throwing a lot of things into turmoil. With all of these shipping companies saying “ok we’re not sending things to Russia,” I think we’re going to have a lot of things to […]
A group of Minnesota farm and food system leaders and organizations applauds the ag budget proposed by Governor Walz. Erin McKee with the MinneAg Network says there were several priorities addressed in the proposal. “One was increasing financial and capacity investments in infrastructure, small to mid-sized processing and market development statewide, so that ties in with local and regional supply chains and food systems infrastructure investments.” She tells Brownfield the […]
The combined U.S. and Canadian livestock herds were smaller at the start of 2022 than at the start of 2021. The joint report by the USDA and Statistics Canada shows a 2% decline in the combined cattle inventory to 103 million head, due to several factors, including higher feed costs and drought in parts of the U.S. Plains and Canadian Prairies. That included decreases of 2% in the U.S. and […]
An ag economist warns of further uncertainty as farmers prepare for the next growing season. Sam Funk with Iowa Farm Bureau tells Brownfield many questions surround commodity prices, input costs, and input availability. “So a big aspect of what we need to think about is really what kind of margins can we try to start locking in. With all the uncertainty, sometimes we just want to make sure if there’s […]
Ag producers were asked to project their farm’s annual growth rate over the next five years in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. Purdue Ag Economist Jim Mintert says “In 2022, 39 percent of the producers said they had no plans to grow over the next five years and 14 percent said they plan to retire in the next five years. So, that’s 53 percent in the no […]
An FFA member is passionate about stopping the stigma surrounding mental health in youth in the agriculture industry and rural communities. Jaden Maze, Indiana FFA District Four vice president, started a mental health club after a student in her school committed suicide. “I’ve been working with the mental health topic since 2019, almost my entire high school career. I’ve given several speeches on mental health in agriculture through 4-H and […]
