commodity prices
In debut, Purdue/CME barometer finds uptick in ag economy
Low commodity prices mean farm income stress
Based on average yields and costs, Corn Belt farmers would barely make money at the corn and soybean futures prices now offered for this year's crops, says economist Gary Schnitkey of U-Illinois.
When China cuts corn supports, soybeans look good
Farmers in the top corn-growing province of China say they will shift land to soybeans or other crops now that the government is reducing the support price for corn. The decision to allow the market to set the price for corn "should transform the agricultural landscape," says Reuters.
Low prices pull down U.S. crop plantings
Farmers say they'll plant the third-largest amount of corn grown since World War II and the third-highest soybean area on record, superlatives that disguise some of the bad news in the annual Prospective Plantings report.
Agricultural economy weakening, seen soft throughout 2016
A string of years featuring low crop prices and persistently elevated input costs has led to weakness in the farm sector, with the recent downturn in livestock as an additional factor, says the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
After two years of steep declines, farm income stabilizes
U.S. farm income plummeted by a combined 31 percent in 2014 and 2015. It will fall again this year, says a USDA forecast, but by a modest 2-3 percent. Large crop-subsidy payments, estimated at $9.5 billion, will buffer a 4-percent drop in livestock receipts and a 1-percent decline in crop receipts.
AFBF chief says low prices mean trying times on the farm
With farm income down sharply since 2013, "farmers are going through a trying time," said Zippy Duvall, the newly elected president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest U.S. farm group. "It is a very difficult time with commodity prices as low as they are."
Big gap between farm costs and likely crop revenue
Corn and soybean growers in the Midwest face nearly $480 an acre in fixed costs and land rent going into the planting season, and hundreds of dollars more in per-acre expenses for the so-called variable costs of producing a crop, says economist Brent Gloy.
Facing tough year economically, cotton growers to expand plantings
Cotton growers face the third year of low commodity prices, high production costs and financial hardship, says an economic outlook presented at the industry's annual meeting.
The new normal for farmers — tighter credit
With U.S. agriculture in the third year of a commodity-price slump, bankers are toughening their rules for lending money to growers, says Reuters, which quoted a Farm Credit Systems official as calling for belt-tightening by farmers.
Lowest U.S. corn, soy, wheat prices in a decade
The outlook for commodity prices has worsened since last fall due to large harvests that fattened stockpiles around the world, said USDA chief economist Robert Johansson at the annual Outlook Forum.
As crop prices sink, farm subsidies soar
The government faces three high-cost years for farm subsidies, beginning with $5.8 billion for this year, says the Congressional Budget Office, as low commodity prices drive up the cost of programs that stabilize crop revenue. In its latest budget baseline, CBO forecasts crop subsidies will cost a total of $22 billion for fiscal 2016, 2017 and 2018. That's a 9 percent increase from the estimate it made a year ago of $20.1 billion for the period.
A big hill to climb for farm income
Weak crop and livestock prices combined to pull down U.S. net cash farm income -- a measure of farmers' ability to pay bills and make payments on debt -- 28 percent in 2015, the second year of falling income.
‘Further tightening in the agricultural economy’ – Fed
U.S. inventories of corn, soybeans and wheat more than doubled on average since 2013 while consumption has stagnated, says the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. "The outlook for the agricultural economy has continued to become more pessimistic."
Higher interest rates may pull down crop prices slightly
The Federal Reserve Board decision to increase interest rates for the first time in seven years is likely to ripple into commodity prices, economists told Harvest Public Media.
USDA: Slow growth, low commodity prices in coming years
Corn, wheat and soybean prices soared to record season-average prices during the 2012 drought and plummeted in following years under the weight of mammoth harvests. The USDA says low prices will continue for years, a reflection of slow U.S. and world economic growth and large food supplies.
Grain-farm income to be lowest in at least a decade
Average net income on Illinois grain farms is projected at $20,000, dramatically lower than the $104,000 average last year. "At current projections of commodity prices, net incomes in 2016 likely will be low as well," writes U-Illinois economist Gary Schnitkey at farmdoc daily.
Sharply smaller crops for two big cotton producers
Two of the four largest cotton-growing nations in the world are harvesting markedly smaller crops this year, says the monthly World Agricultural Production report. Low commodity prices are a factor for the reductions in China and Pakistan, along with local conditions.