Informa Economics told clients Friday it expects USDA will peg corn production in September at 164.8 bushels per acre, and soybeans at 44.1 bpa, and it also released a "mostly likely final estimate" of the crop size and yield for corn.
Iowa Farm Bureau's Laurie Johns wrote this op-ed piece about the egg recall. After the article posted Thursday on the recall, I wanted to make sure to post the op-ed from Johns.
Recently I reported that the permanent farm disaster aid program made princes and paupers out of farmers in states struck by farm revenue losses when it first launched for the 2008 crop last January. SURE, the Supplemental Revenue Assistance program, rewarded some growers with maximum $100,000 payments while others with equally legitimate losses collected zero because of technical glitches.
In a Renewable Fuels Association blog by Geoff Cooper, vice president of research and analysis, http://dld.bz/utgd, he said the number of speculators holding net long positions in the corn market are today equal to what they were leading up to the 2008 commodity bubble.
The U.S. faces two new challenges in growing Japanese beef demand: a falling birth rate in Japan, and a rising average life expectancy of Japanese citizens.
Presidential election years are normally a period of high volatility in Brazil. It is an indication of how far the country has come, though, with just over a month to Election Day and the financial markets have hardly flinched as left-wing female candidate Dilma Rousseff leads the polls.
Feverish opposition doomed USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System, but the backup plan of 50 state systems isn't likely to provide the rapid traceability needed to head off the worst consequences of contagious animal diseases.
Recent dry weather and a weak economy have been hard on East Tennessee farmers but one farmer is trying an alternative crop to survive in agriculture, WATE-TV Channel 6 Knoxville reported on Thursday. Don Bailey of Loudon County planted 50 acres of sunflowers in an attempt to generate more income.
9/3 2:41PM Buying from commercial and noncommercial traders pushed grains sharply higher, making market bulls awfully confident heading into the long, 3-day Labor Day weekend. Corn posted the most impressive gains technically as the December contract closed at a level not seen since June 2009.
Weather
Next Rain Chance Monday9/3 2:08PM Saturday will continue to be dry. The next chance for rain in the main U.S. crop areas does not show up until Monday afternoon, with light showers in the Northern Plains and southern Canadian Prairies.
Crops
Sesame produces small seed pods (inset) that can be harvested with normal equipment. (Photo by Dan Davidson, inset by Danny Peeper)
Sesame -- A New Summer CropSesame Can Out-Compete Corn, Milo in Hot, Dry Environments7/28 3:25PM Sesame is spreading across the southern Great Plains as a new crop to rotate with winter wheat. It can out-compete corn and milo in that hot environment.
Wed Aug 4, 2010 01:09 PM CDT Use of Bt hybrids doesn't mean growers should forget about checking for corn rootworm infestations. Root pruning and adult silk feedings still can be possible.
Thu Aug 26, 2010 03:05 PM CDT Sudden death syndrome symptoms are common this season, and sightings are on the rise. What growers should understand is the infections occurred back in May.
Tue Aug 3, 2010 01:03 PM CDT Experts expect fertilizer prices to return to typical price fluctuations for the next 18 months, as more stability comes into global and domestic markets. Strong corn plantings should keep fertilizer demand strong in the U.S.
Livestock
Uniformity is the key when selling cattle via a camera lens. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Larry Fleming)
Cyber Sale BarnSecrets to Success in Video Auctions8/30 9:39AM Joe Lichtie remembers Superior Livestock's first live video auction. It was 1987, at the Western Stock Show and some 20,000 head changed hands that day. "All the big players were there," recalls Lichtie. "They all sat there, bidding, watching the sale. But when we left the sale barn that day, 85% of the cattle had been sold over the phone to someone not physically at the sale. They had watched the animals on a satellite broadcast. That really opened some eyes."
Mon Aug 30, 2010 09:41 AM CDT The father of the boy who showed the champion 4-H steer at this year's Iowa State Fair says the results show cloning works and can provide results. While the industry now keeps a voluntary moratorium on food from cloned livestock entering the food chain, it's possible clones or their progeny can help provide more protein in the future.
Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:14 AM CDT About 1,300 people showed up for Friday's meeting in Fort Collins, Colo., on livestock competition. Comments made at the meeting will be factored into the public comment period for the proposed GIPSA rule.
Mon Aug 30, 2010 09:45 AM CDT How can you plump up cows before calving after a hot, stressful summer?
Land Management
Capital gains and other earnings accumulate tax free if land is owned within a Roth IRA. (DTN file photo by Scott R Kemper)
How Land Can Dodge Capital GainsThere's a Compelling Case for Land Ownership Inside an IRA8/16 2:24PM Investors who buy land with a Roth IRA lock in tax-free gains in the future. But complex tax rules often make IRA land ownership a better deal for investor landlords than farmer operators.
Tue Aug 31, 2010 12:00 PM CDT Every farmer knows equipment causes compaction. But results from a recent study show just how long that compaction lasts and how severe it really is.
Fri Aug 13, 2010 07:56 AM CDT At Carson and Barron Farms, "partners are like family, they just aren't blood relatives." Their business model is to help mid-size farmers and semi-retirees compete with agriculture's acreage giants.
Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:37 AM CDT How do I title the land so my nephew gets it and pays the least amount of taxes?
Farm Business
Central Iowa farmers, like Dean Taylor of Prairie City, face a washout on some fields after receiving 10 to 15 inches of rain last week. Knocking 70 bushels per acre of potential out of a corn field would erase a renter's margins, given today's record rents. (DTN photo by Elizabeth Williams)
Cash Rent Hangover - 1Legacy of 2008 Haunts Cash Renters8/19 6:12AM Cash rents never recalibrated after the 2008 commodity price spike. Input costs remain stuck at the second-highest level in history. That means renters shoulder higher outlays and credit lines, but with stagnant or smaller profit potentials.
Manufacturers Unveil Tillage ToolsFall Work Made Easier with New Tillage Implements8/30 10:47AM New implements ranging from a new disc harrow to a series of field cultivators will help farmers handle corn residue, increase chemical incorporation and offer flexibility to meet their terrain's challenges.
Tue Aug 31, 2010 01:43 PM CDT Vertical tillage tools have taught DTN Agronomist Daniel Davidson how to handle corn residue and prepare a better seedbed.
Wed Sep 1, 2010 02:28 PM CDT Case IH on Tuesday unveiled a new series of Steiger and Magnum tractors featuring new engine technology that meets 2011 government regulations for diesel engine emissions.
Ag Policy
Those groups willing to comment agreed that incidents such as salmonella-contaminated eggs and the recall of more than half a billion eggs tarnishes agriculture as a whole. (Photo courtesy of MSU Ag Communications)
Agvocates Lay Low on DeCosterGroups Created to Tout Ag Aren't Willing to Denounce Egg Farm9/2 3:22PM Some of the agriculture advocacy groups created by various producer organizations and allied industries have opted not to discuss the 550-million egg recall and the large farm organization at the center of the federal health probe and possible criminal investigation.
Thu Aug 5, 2010 06:36 PM CDT Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., thinks the White House has the legal authority to approve a disaster package and doesn't think that her plan unfairly rewards farmers compared to the permanent disaster program created in the 2008 farm bill.
Mon Aug 2, 2010 11:43 AM CDT Farm Program Flirts With Own Disaster he experiment with SURE -- the complex revenue-based disaster program authorized by the 2008 Farm Act -- results in on-again, off-again payments, errors and inequities. Some growers receive princely payments and their neighbors with nearly identical circumstances receive nothing.
Tue Aug 17, 2010 03:21 PM CDT With a large federal deficit and the need to find more resources for programs that could help young farmers, members of the Iowa Farm Bureau are looking at trading in the direct-payment program for a better farm revenue protection program.
Farm Life
Cheaper production costs attracted Joe Osterkamp (foreground) and his family to Texas. (Progressive Farmer image by Karl Wolfshohl)
Move Your Farm to ExpandFarmer Relocates Dairy to Texas8/31 9:54AM There is nothing more permanent than the location of your farm, right? Not necessarily.
Tue Aug 31, 2010 09:55 AM CDT We look at the labor shortages that make working the land difficult for farm families. "Finding anyone to work on a farm now is nearly impossible," says Chuck King.
Tue Aug 31, 2010 09:56 AM CDT Farm On is a service to help preserve the family farm business by matching beginning farmers who do not own land with retiring farmers who do not have a successor for the farming operation.
Featured Column
Crop estimates generated from magical, mysterious formulas are sometimes hard to fathom. (DTN graphic by Steve Negus)
Newsom on the MarketCollege Football, USDA and Labor Day9/3 6:24AM Fall is reaping/sowing time. Work often requires distractions in numerous pastimes. Although rain abounds, grains rally as projections hacked.
Satellite companies such as WildBlue, SkyWay USA and HughesNet are beefing up their offerings to hone in on those last residents left unconnected. (Progressive Farmer Photo by Jim Patrico)
Link Up RightPicking the Right Provider When High-Speed Options Limited7/7 8:10AM With rural broadband money included in the stimulus package, satellite internet providers are champing at the bit to reach those in rural America deemed unreachable by traditional broadband companies.
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NH3 on Upward Trajectory
