Where I live, deep in corn country, harvest has been in full swing for a couple of weeks, and the dust has been flyin’, both from very dry,  corn and from really dry soybeans. It has been windy and conditions have remained dry allowing for a swift and somewhat early harvest. Along with that wind  Read more »

Where I live deep in corn country, harvest has been in full swing for a couple of weeks, and the dust has been flyin’, both from very dry,  corn and from really dry soybeans. It has been windy and conditions have remained dry allowing for a swift and somewhat early harvest. Along with that wind  Read more »

As the Great Recession takes its toll in many sectors of the economy and job prospects for current and future college graduates look dismal, one sector is attracting young people like never before — farming. And, though many of these jobs are on traditional row crop and livestock operations, there is a trend toward urban  Read more »

Farmland prices continue to rise in the Upper Midwest as farming in general continues to percolate along at a good clip in what is otherwise an unstable economy. According to Professor Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. his own farmland index rose in September from 61.9 to 66.9. Goss said this  Read more »

“I wonder whether to trust the weather?” – Uncle Fud The good news is that the U.S. corn crop will be huge, in fact, the third largest on record. The bad news is it could have been much bigger if it weren’t for flood, drought, and in some cases, frost. According to the trusty old  Read more »

The past few weeks have been dominated by what government should or should not do, and how much it should be cut. Deficits and budgeting have been the grist of the media mill. It almost seems anticlimactic that this is also the beginning of talks on the 2012 Farm Bill, which will be hacked out  Read more »

The utterly mind-boggling debt crisis at home and in Europe has farmers running up and down the down staircase in recent weeks. All we need is Abbot and Costello and their “who’s on first” routine to make things complete. As I write, the politically-imposed Aug. 2 deadline for raising the nation’s debt ceiling is looming  Read more »

This has been a long, hot, and sometimes soggy summer in rural America, and a timely reminder that the rural housing stock needs some help. To that end the U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking applications for grants that could improve the quality of rural housing. These grants, now available, are designed to help low-and  Read more »

The Associated Press reported July 1 that higher U.S. food prices may back off a bit later this year due to the fact that farmers have planted the second-largest corn crop in about 70 years. From my standpoint here on the Missouri River bottom, and that of folks in many southern states, that seems a  Read more »

What if you go to the paint store to get some green paint, but all you can get is bluegreen. You either accept that or get none. That’s where the ethanol industry thought it was last month when the Senate passed a bill to significantly curtail its 30 – year-old subsidies. They got the bluegreen.  Read more »

As I write, the nation is getting ready to celebrate its independence, and what better way to celebrate than to note that at least one segment of the American economy is doing very well, thank you very much. Third quarter results for Monsanto are out, and Dan Piller of The Des Moines (IA) Register reports  Read more »

If you’ve ever seen the TV commercial wherein an RC toy enthusiast attempts to deliver his family’s dinner to the table via miniature helicopter, with disastrous results, you’ve certainly chuckled, even guffawed. Not so disastrous is a University of Florida research team’s use of miniature helicopters to enhance observation of agriculture. It’s no laughing matter.  Read more »

The vote June 16 was largely symbolic, but it could be the beginning of the end for the $5 billion-per-year U.S. subsidy for the still-growing ethanol industry. As an increasingly skittish Congress moves toward less spending on the ag sector, the vote in the Senate could be a portent of things to come. The vote  Read more »

It’s true that commodity and livestock prices have been high and stable lately, giving rise to a healthy farm economy in the midst of economic angst across the rest of the economy, but tables can quickly turn and the fight to keep farmers competitive continues apace. What goes up can and will come down, and  Read more »

Here comes Captain Spending Cut. Look out, he’s zeroing in on farm subsidies — Holy Hog Hair. Seriously, folks, the deficit hawks and guv’ment haters in Congress are taking a hard look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget, in particular, the vast trove of so-called farm subsidies, as places to make severe cuts as  Read more »