DTN/The Progressive Farmer: Agriculture Markets, News and Weather

NEWS

Success in marketing relies on knowledge, time spent in the office and knowing how your personality affects your choice of strategies. (DTN photo by Russ Quinn)

Assess Your Marketing Proclivities Assessment Tool Helps Farmers Make Disciplined Marketing Decisions Fri Feb 3, 2012 06:51 AM CST
Would you hire yourself to market your production? Consider using an assessment tool to identify what you are and are not doing well.

The last two years have seen U.S. corn yields fall well short of trendline, leading to smaller-than-projected total production. (DTN file photo by Katie Micik)

Newsom on the Market $3 Corn? Fri Feb 3, 2012 12:54 PM CST
As we make our way through the offseason in the grain markets -- an offseason that comes to an end on March 31 -- the long-term price forecasts for corn are becoming more dramatic.

Seed companies are learning more about how extreme growing conditions affect crop growth in order to develop better-performing varieties and hybrids. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Jim Patrico)

Seed Outlook - 3 Optimize Genetics by Environment Fri Feb 3, 2012 06:31 AM CST
Experts still can't predict what curves Mother Nature will throw each year, but seed researchers continue to reduce the effect of the environment on crop yield and quality by developing better-performing varieties and hybrids.

Japan is the fourth-largest importer of U.S. ag products. (Map courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

An Urban's Rural View The Surprising News From Japan Fri Feb 3, 2012 06:21 AM CST
The news from Japan usually has a predictable quality about it. So American agriculture, which exports a lot to Japan, should take note when the country produces a genuine news flash, as it did recently.

Japan is expected to lift the age limit on cattle from 20 months to 30, probably in the second quarter of the year. (DTN/The Progressive Farmer file photo)

Beef Exports Still Growing Asian Countries Seen as Strongest Prospects for Growth in Beef Consumption Fri Feb 3, 2012 03:58 PM CST
Exports of U.S. beef may not grow at 2011's record pace, but will still be respectable, according to attendees of NCBA's convention.

Special Interest

What DTN Is Watching

Fri Feb 3, 2012 06:13 AM CST

Markets: Winter storm moving across the Plains. Continued talk of reduced South American crop production.

Outside markets: January nonfarm payrolls, unemployment rate, average hourly earnings. December factory orders.

Weather: Rain or thunderstorms develop in the southwest Midwest Friday, spreading eastward across the southern half of the region through Saturday, changing to snow late Friday. A blizzard warning continues in Colorado into Kansas and Nebraska.

Ag Policy: A House hearing in Washington will examine issues involving the Keystone XL pipeline.