brownfield

The Illinois Conservation Management Program has released new data highlighting conservation efforts by more than 400 farmers in the state. Laura Gentry with the Illinois Corn Growers Association tells Brownfield the Business Case for Conservation summarizes their findings since the program began in 2015.  She says 2022 data continues to show that farmers who follow the University of Illinois suggested Maximum Return to Nitrogen Rate (MRTN) are most profitable. “And […]

The USDA has projected domestic beef consumption to decline for both 2023 and 2024.  David Widmar with Agricultural Economic Insights says that could spell trouble for the cattle industry and the overall farm economy.  “We have less pounds of beef being demanded or utilized by consumers and it’s going for lower price,” he says.  “That means it’s lower revenues, lower calf prices, lower cow prices, lower passenger rent, lower passenger […]

Some Wisconsin FFA members are learning mechanical skills by restoring old tractors. Advisor Matt Reinders has been the agricultural instructor at Edgar for the past nine years and taught at Loyal for nine years before that.  His classes have been restoring old tractors the entire time. “I do have some students that have been around this stuff but I also have some students that have never turned a wrench, really, […]

Across the Corn Belt, a compact, slow-moving storm system centered near Lake Erie is resulting in cool conditions and beneficial showers in portions of the eastern Lakes States.  Wednesday’s high temperatures will remain below 80°F in Michigan and portions of neighboring states.  Meanwhile, warm, dry weather prevails west of the Mississippi River.  On June 11, Midwestern topsoil moisture rated very short to short ranged from 35% in North Dakota to […]

Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook calls for the likelihood of above-normal temperatures across the central one-third of the U.S. and the Deep South, while cooler-than-normal conditions will cover the West and the middle and northern Atlantic States.  Meanwhile, near- or above-normal rainfall across most of the country should contrast with drier-than-normal weather in the upper Great Lakes region and much of the south-central U.S. ...

A dairy cooperative’s members would like to see changes in how their milk is priced.  Karen Gefvert with Edge Dairy Farmers Cooperative tells Brownfield producers are seeking changes, and there needs to be flexibility in each federal order to allow pricing to better adjust to what the milk is used for. She says that will require legislation to pass modifying the Agricultural Marketing Act. “The reason why that needs legislation […]

Southern Indiana farmer Ben Kron says rain over the weekend provided some relief to crops. “We probably didn’t get a rain for about at least three weeks, if not a little bit more,” he says. “We had gotten to a point where we were running irrigation almost non-stop and then we finally caught enough rain to at least buy us a few days.” He says he’s hoping for some more […]

The Biden administration plans to release a final set rule under the Renewable Fuel Standard next week. Growth Energy general counsel Joe Kakesh says his group and the Environmental Protection Agency submitted notice to the U.S. District Court of Columbia Tuesday extending the deadline to issue Renewable Volume Obligations for 2023, 2024, and 2025 to June 21st. “And this was after discussion with EPA leadership, we consented to this deadline […]

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle ended the day higher waiting for direct business to develop.  August live cattle closed $.72 higher at $173.92 and October lives closed $.55 higher at $177.02.  August feeder cattle closed $1.40 higher at $240.45 and September feeders closed $1.32 higher at $243.40.  It was a quiet Tuesday for direct cash cattle business.  Bids and asking prices did not surface.  There were […]