Corn Belt

Recurrent drought has combined with a smaller cattle inventory to begin shifting the cattle industry, centered in the southern and central Plains, to the north and east, says Meatingplace in a seven-part story, "Dry Age Beef."

The U.S. corn and soybean crops are in phenomenally good shape for the first week of August, said the weekly Crop Progress report, despite dry July weather in the western Corn Belt.

Agricultural banks say loan volume for feeder livestock rose by 50 percent in the second quarter of this year after rising by 13 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve in its Agricultural Finance Databook.

There's buzz about the Corn Belt moving northward into Canada's prairie provinces. Top Producer magazine says, "Leading the charge are Manitoba, where corn acreage has doubled to 380,000 in just two years, and Alberta, which grows almost 25,000 acres of corn."

Analysts expect record U.S. corn and soybean yields this fall that will be 3.5 percent higher than the marks set five years ago, according to a straw poll by Reuters. On average, the 20 analysts pegged the corn yield at 170.5 bushels an acre and soybeans at 45.6 bushels an acre, compared to the record 164.7 for corn and 44.0 for soybeans. The analysts figures are higher than USDA's projections of record-setting crops. USDA will make its first field-based estimate of the crops on Aug 12.

U.S. soybean yields could exceed 46 bushels an acre for the first time this year, according to separate forecasts. The record, set in 2009, is 44 bushels. Based on current conditions, Commodity Weather Group said yields would average 46.1 bushels an acre, which would mean a record crop of 3.88 billion bushels, said Farm Futures.

It's field trip weekend for some of the students in a University of Illinois program that introduces people to fruit and vegetable farming. The program, offered at three sites around the state, is in its second year and has roughly 100 participants ranging from beginning farmers to crop farmers who want to diversify. "Our graduates are responding to the desire for local produce," says project manager Mary Hosier.

Corn Belt farmers could lose money on this year's crop if prices are in the range that USDA expects, says economist Gary Schnitkey of U-Illinois. At farmdoc daily, Schnitkey presents sample balance sheets showing potential revenues and costs for a corn farmer in central Illinois with high-yielding land. There is a $100 range for revenue, depending whether prices are $3.65 a bushel or $4.35.

Despite a late, wet and chilly planting season, the U.S. corn crop is in prime condition. "U.S. crop conditions in the most recent Crop Progress report are the best in four years for the aggregated 18 reported states...

The main cause of declines in the monarch butterfly population is loss of habitat in breeding grounds in North America, particularly the U.S. Corn Belt, says research by the University of Guelph.

The National Weather Service sees an increased likelihood of an El Nino weather pattern developing by this summer and through the rest of the year.

With the fall harvest getting under way, traders expect the USDA to trim its estimate of the U.S. corn crop by more than a quarter-billion bushels on Monday but to stick to its forecast of the largest soybean crop ever, at roughly 4.5 billion bushels. Dry weather in the western Corn Belt, including powerhouses Iowa and Nebraska, will lower corn production to just below 14.1 billion bushels, or 1 billion bushels less than last year, according to the average estimate from traders surveyed by wire services.