The commodity party isn't over, but you should keep your eye on the punchbowl, advises Barclays Capital in a quarterly research publication, according to a news release on the investment bank's website.
Three senators are starting to offer some details on their proposed climate bill. Details that emerged from some reports Wednesday offer some food for thought. That's especially true for the biofuels industry if the senators can advance the idea of a carbon tax on fuels.
Does a landowner owe self-employment tax on Conservation Reserve Payment (CRP) income? It depends. Welcome to a debate that first started in 1988 and has yet to be resolved.
The Renewable Fuels Association said that if federal lawmakers allow the 45-cent blenders tax credit to expire in 2010, there will be significant job losses and reduced federal revenue, according to The Hill in Washington, D.C.
While romantics like to remind us that absence makes the heart grow fonder, realists may be closer to the truth when it comes to the international meat trade: Absence makes the appetite grow dull and change.
I attended a meeting this week of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association, known as Abag, with over 200 representatives from different sectors discussing proposalsthat willbe presented to Brazil's next president, ahead of the October elections.
Fighting air and water pollution from manure runoff is a good thing, but regulators and courts need a better understanding of the problem and the possible solutions than the popular notion that all we need to do is shut down "factory farms."
Last fall's delayed harvest not only troubled farmers who had to deal with high moisture corn and testing for mycotoxins, but created problems for ethanol plants as well, Ethanol Producer reported. While some farmers harvested corn anywhere from 14 to 40 percent moisture, ethanol plants typically accept corn of about 16.5 percent moisture or lower.
3/18 2:38PM With a late flurry, corn and soybeans were able to finish higher despite a bearish outside market influence. Wheat closed lower on spill-over pressure from the stronger U.S. dollar index.
Weather
Rain, Snow Return Friday3/18 1:21PM Rain and snow will move into the western and central Plains Friday. This moisture will expand across most of the central U.S. during the weekend.
Crops
The 2010 season could tell the tale whether rootworms are becoming tolerant or resistant to current Bt traits. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer file photo by Jim Patrico)
Rootworms Strike Back
High Insect Counts, Crop Damage, Show in Some Bt Fields 3/11 10:36AM Entomologists are baffled why some Bt corn fields had rootworm damage in 2009. What they do stress is that problems continue to increase as the number of farmers planting insect-resistance-management refuges remains at less-that-desirable levels.
"With a management-intensive grazing system superimposed on the newest biotechnology in grass farming, we are able to utilize our land for 365 days of the year if Mother Nature lets us," Schuette says. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Jim Patrico)
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:05 AM CDT Officials kicked off the first of five meetings scheduled this year on antitrust and competition issues in agriculture. Topics ranged from the Packers and Stockyards Act to seed patents.
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:12 AM CDT Distillers dried grains prices continued their downhill slide last week.
Land Management
Agriculture in Iroquois County, Ill., has a lot going for it, which is why it is ranked near the top of counties in Illinois for production of farm goods. (Progressive Farmer image by Jim Patrico)
Your Best Farm
Markets On The Horizon3/16 2:49PM Part one of our series that originally ran in the February issue of "The Progressive Farmer."
While fisticuffs do happen, farming families would be more productive to deal with any conflicts before it gets to that point. (Photo courtesy Wayne Short)
Farm Family Matters
How to Handle a Bum Brother 3/16 11:21AM Few farm families give themselves a performance review. If a partner isn't pulling his weight, make expectations known before tensions escalate, advises farm and business mediator Lance Woodbury.
Hydraulic systems have their enemies. They are dirt, vibration, water and heat. We might squeeze one more in there: the lack of preventative maintenance. It is a difficult exercise to shut down work to maintain a system that appears to be functioning perfectly well. But preventative maintenance is a practice that pays off with your hydraulic system. (Progressive Farmer image by Benjamin Krain)
Make Cents of Hydraulics
Here's How to Deal With the Enemies of Hydraulics3/8 2:01PM The great flexibility of hydraulics applications comes from the physical fact that fluid doesn't compress, but changes shape. Hydraulic oil can be forced under pressure to change into any shape as it travels from the oil reservoir, through the pump and then on to anywhere in the tractor and out to its implements before it recycles back to the reservoir.
Mon Mar 8, 2010 02:05 PM CST Vernon Nelson has been installing center-pivot irrigation units on his 3,000 Nebraska acres for years. More recently, he has put four more units in place???this time with some federal help.
Mon Mar 8, 2010 02:12 PM CST At first glance, Bill Schroeder's shop looks like most other buildings of its kind???rectangular and open. Walk around, however, and you'll discover features that serve Schroeder's needs.
Ag Policy
Rice, and its insurance coverage, may be a problem as southern farmers talk to their bankers. (DTN file photo by Marcia Taylor)
South Seeks Safety Net Solutions
Producers Face Losses From Last Year, But No Protection 2/24 7:42AM Rice and cotton farmers heard sympathetic words from House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., about their lack of a safety net. But they are having a hard time getting backing for a disaster package.
Most accidents are preventable. Accident victims nearly always tell us the same two things. One: ???I was in too much of a hurry.??? Two: ???I should have stopped the machine before I started working on it.??? (DTN/Progressive Farmer illustration by Ray E. Watkins Jr.)
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:20 AM CDT While most on-farm deaths, such as tractor overturns and power-take-off shaft incidents, are decreasing, the number of children and adults being engulfed in grain is rising every year, reports Bill Field, Purdue University Extension safety specialist. In 2008 there were 34 grain entrapments natiionwide compared to 33 in 2007.
Mon Mar 15, 2010 09:30 AM CDT The Dakota County farmer shows up at schools, community festivals and even the Minnesota State Fair dressed in a hard hat, goggles, white lab coat and huge fireman's boots.
3/18 11:12AM Despite overwhelmingly bearish fundamentals, the wheat market refuses to sell off as anticipated. Is there reason to hope a larger downturn can be avoided?
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Farmers Find Surprises as They Check Bins
