Farmers might be looking for new ways to turn a profit with tight margins expected again in 2025. Adam Kiel with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund says their Midwest Climate-Smart Commodity Program offers payments that align with outcomes produced from certain conservation practices. “There are things that farmers do...

Cold Front Brings Chance for Snow Thanksgiving Week

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live cattle were mostly higher, and feeders were higher ahead of the week’s direct business and Friday’s On Feed numbers.   December live cattle were down $0.27 at $186.30 on February lives were down $.07 at $187.92.  January feeder cattle closed $.32 higher at $252.32 and...

Researchers are looking for ways to extend the freshness of cheese curds, and that means making the squeak last longer.  Consumers of cheese curds know the more squeak you hear while eating them, the fresher they are.  Rani Govindasamy-Lucey’s research team is working to understand what makes the squeak and...

Pictured: Brownfield’s Brent Barnett (left) with Stanton, Iowa farmer Mark Peterson at the 2024 NAFB Convention in Kansas City. A southwest Iowa farmer says his 2024 harvest was better than expected. Mark Peterson farms 500 row crop acres near Stanton. “I don’t want to affect the markets too much, but...

The USDA says farmers and ranchers hired more employees in October and paid them more compared to last year. According to the department’s latest Farm Labor Survey, wages in October were up two percent from last year and the number of hired workers was up three percent to 797,000. The...

Dec. corn closed at $4.30 and 1/4, up 3 centsJan. soybeans closed at $9.90 and 1/2, down 8 centsDec. soybean meal closed at $289.40, up 80 centsDec. soybean oil closed at 43.28, down 156 pointsDec. wheat closed at $5.52 and 1/2, up 2 and 3/4 centsDec. live cattle closed at...

An industry expert says advances in technology are bringing more uses for propane to the farm. Mike Newland, director of agriculture business development with the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), says irrigation systems are a prime example. “They’re bringing a new, heavier built engine to the marketplace that will...

Pictured: RFA’s Robert White at the 2024 NAFB Convention in Kansas City (Photo by Brent Barnett/Brownfield) A leader with the Renewable Fuels Association says he hopes a federal solution for year-round E15 will get prioritized now that the election is over. Robert White, senior vice president of industry relations and...

Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling. Soybeans continued to follow the lead of bean oil, which followed the lead of global palm oil, while watching conditions in South America. ABIOVE estimates Brazil’s 2025 soybean crop at a record 167.7 million tons, with exports projected at an all-time high...

An Ohio State University professor says budgets won’t get easier for farmers in 2025.  Farm Income Enhancement Chair Ani Katchova says income in 2024 is expected to be down by 4%. “It’s coming off last year’s decline in farm income,” she says. “For two years in a row, we have...

More dairy cows and improved production increased milk supplies incrementally last month. Production in the U.S. during October totaled nearly 19 billion pounds with production per cow up three pounds from last year. USDA says farmers increased the dairy herd size by 10,000 head from last year and 19,000 from...

U.S. broiler sets and placements were up solidly on both the week and the year. The USDA says 247.440 million broiler-type eggs were set into incubators, up 8.883 million on the week and 4% on the year as hatcheries try to meet demand expectations. The average hatchability improved slightly, remaining...

An agricultural machinery manufacturer is looking to grow its pipeline of engineers through an apprenticeship program in Omaha, Nebraska.   John Schofield, with CLAAS tells Brownfield… “They have a a split role. They’re working at CLAAS, but they’re also working college classes for three years to kind of build up to...

An Ohio State University professor says several multi-year studies across the Midwest have shown that farmland is being lost to urban development. Ani Katchova says her study showed that Ohio has lost 930,000 acres since 2002. “Not surprisingly, most of the agricultural land that was converted to development is around...