crop prices
Difficult times ahead for grain elevators; merger pressure to rise
Grain elevators "are in for a difficult 2016/17 season," says agricultural lender CoBank, pointing to demands for more storage space while prospects darken for revenue from grain merchandising and grain drying.
U.S. heads for record corn crop, price to fall for fourth year
Corn farmers are within reach of the largest U.S. crop ever grown, topping the 2014 record by more than 200 million bushels, USDA said in its first projections of the fall harvest.
U.S. wheat glut may top 1 billion bushels, in world awash in grain
American wheat growers are aiming for their smallest crop in a decade at the same time the U.S. stockpile is mushrooming and world wheat supplies are at record levels. USDA is scheduled to release one of its most important crop reports of the year today and for the first time since 1988, it may call for a price-depressing wheat carry-over of more than 1 billion bushels.
China cuts back on cotton, U.S. expands
At the same time China is whittling down its huge cotton surplus, high production costs will discourage its farmers from growing the fiber this year, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee. "Area in China is expected to decrease by 10 percent, to 3.1 million hectares in 2016/17," says ICAC, and with normal yields "production would fall by 10 percent, to 4.6 million tonnes."
In debut, Purdue/CME barometer finds uptick in ag economy
Top question for 2018 farm bill: Is the safety net working?
Congress is two years away from drafting the new farm bill but Roger Johnson already can name the leading question for farm policy. "The big issue in the next farm bill will be, is the safety net really working for farmers?" Johnson, the president of the National Farmers Union, told Ag Insider. "We have a lot of folks who are beginning to struggle financially."
Modest increase in world cotton crop likely
"Poor returns for competing crops and relatively stable cotton prices may encourage farmers to plant more cotton" this crop year and boost production 3 percent, to 23 million tonnes, from the 2015/16 level, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
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.
Hybrids may propel wheat in yield race
Wheat, the dominant crop of the Great Plains, is losing the race for higher yields -- and returns to the grower -- to corn and soybeans.
Cargill to exit crop-insurance sales
Agribusiness giant Cargill is selling its crop-insurance agency to Silveus Insurance Group, based in Warsaw, Ind. In a joint announcement, the companies said the transaction is expected to become final in mid-January. Terms of the sale were not announced.
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.
Farm income under pressure into 2016, says CoBank
Bumper crops, the strong dollar and slower growth in China will combine to hold down U.S. farm income for the rest of this year and into 2016, says a CoBank report.
As crop prices decline, losses loom for farmers
Growers in the Midwest are headed for the third year of season-average corn prices below $4 a bushel. Given the cost of planting, cultivating and harvesting a crop, "This … implies 2016 would be the third year of losses if costs are not lowered," says economist Gary Schnitkey of U-Illinois.
KSU sees higher prices for 2015 crops than USDA
U.S. corn, wheat and soybean growers will sell their 2015 crops for a higher average price than USDA projected a month ago, says ag economist Dan O'Brien of Kansas State University.
USDA projects third mammoth corn crop in a row
U.S. farmers will grow their second-largest soybean crop ever this year, and the third-largest corn crop, according to the USDA's revised projections of spring planting. In the opening day of its Outlook Forum, the department projected corn plantings of 89 million acres and soybeans at 83.5 million acres. That's 1 million more acres of corn than was projected in December and 500,000 fewer acres of soybeans. It would put soybean plantings just below the record 83.7 million acres of 2014.
U.S. farm income to plummet by one-third in 2015
U.S. farm income will drop to its lowest level in six years under the weight of sharply lower crop prices and a plunge in milk prices, according to a forecast from the Agriculture Department. Net farm income, which reflects earnings from production in the current calendar year, would fall by 32 percent from 2014 levels. The USDA said another measure of the farm sector, net cash farm income, would slump by 22 percent, a smaller decline because it includes revenue from stocks carried over from last year.
Farm sector borrowing up sharply as lower crop prices pinch
Low crop prices and high production costs depressed profits for farmers in the closing months of 2014, "leading to a sharp rise in farm-sector borrowing and a slight decline in farmland values," said the Agricultural Finance Databook produced by the...
Beef and dairy prices – one will go up, one down, in 2015
The record-high beef prices of 2014, averaging nearly $6 per pound, are the starting point for increases this year, says USDA - "Average annual retail beef prices in 2015 are expected to be slightly higher than they were in 2014."
Farmer income declines, but land prices rise in Plains
The decline in farm income in the central Plains intensified as crop prices remained weak this summer, according to 135 ag bankers who took part in a quarterly survey by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. Six out of every 10 of the bankers said farm income during the third quarter was lower than a year earlier; only one in 10 reported an increase.