Corn hybrids move in and out of the marketplace at a faster rate of speed than ever today. The revolving door means farmers have less time to evaluate and pick the seed best-suited for their fields. Mike McLaughlin’s solution to that challenge is to evaluate multiple hybrids in his own on-farm test plot each year. “The plot doesn’t make me an expert at picking hybrids, but it gives us a good feel for how different hybrids perform on our farm,” says...
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the tax reform bill. Early Wednesday morning, the Senate also passed the bill. The House will have to vote on the bill again on Wednesday because of theByrd Rule which limits the kind of provisions that can be included in a bill via reconciliation. Long story short, it’s widely expected Congress will pass tax reform, and President Trump promised to sign the bill in time for Christmas. What does all of that mean...
The world gets a new supply of soybeans every six months, as the U.S. and South America are on opposite production cycles. As a result, weather conditions are in constant focus. Back-to-back record crops, however, have resulted in the need for even more robust demand growth than what traders have grown accustom to. Therefore, without a weather event that trims production in 2018, there will be even more focus than usual on demand. Demand has been a highlight for the soybean...
Last year, rural Americans who believed Donald Trump’s promises to help small farmers played a key role in putting him in the White House. Since then, the Republican administration’s Department of Agriculture moved to block an Obama-era rule that provided those farmers with a powerful tool to fight anti-competitive conduct by big agriculture. So now some of those farmers have sued. The rule in question would have helped independent farmers, such as poultry growers, to sue massive, vertically integrated meat companies...
The low number of farms for sale is supporting values, said three farm real estate professionals at the recent Agricultural Bankers Conference. However, their outlook for the next two to three years remains guarded in light of weak grain prices. “We are still seeing some very strong prices. It almost defies logic,” says Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Company, Clive, Iowa. He points to a $17,000-per-acre sale in Iowa and a $13,400-per-acre auction in central Illinois as examples. “It’s the very...
