crop yields
As wheat price falls, U.S. makes progress in export race
U.S. wheat exports are forecast for 900 million bushels this year, "up significantly from the previous year's depressed total," says USDA's monthly WASDE report. The United States would rank third among the wheat-exporting nations of the world, trailing the EU and Russia, and a step ahead of last year's fourth-place finish.
‘Farms are becoming more like factories’
Thanks to sensors and computer control of water and nutrients, technologically advanced growers like California almond farmer Tom Rogers are leaders in what The Economist calls "smart farming."
Big ARC payments are temporary cushion against low prices
Corn, soybean and wheat growers would receive significant payments — as high as $80 an acre for corn — under the insurance-like Agriculture Risk Coverage subsidy based on the low commodity prices now forecast, says Ohio State economist Carl Zulauf.
Bayer-Monsanto merger, in doubt for now, has farm and food implications
Monsanto says Bayer isn't offering enough to justify a merger but that it's open to continued talks with the German company. An official at Johns Hopkins' Center for a Livable Future says a merger would "be a real shock to the food system" because of the potential of higher prices to farmers for seeds and agricultural chemicals in a sector undergoing consolidation, reported Marketwatch.
DC veteran Goule to become Wheat Growers chief executive
Texas native Chandler Goule, a senior official at the National Farmers Union, will become chief executive of the National Association of Wheat Growers effective July 5, reports Agri-Pulse. The selection follows a suggestion by Jim Palmer, the departing NAWG leader, that the commodity group should recruit someone with experience in farm policy development and advocacy.
U.S. should broaden its safety review of new plant strains, says NAS panel
The National Academy of Sciences, pointing to the emergence of new technology such as gene editing and the sometimes startling effects of conventional plant breeding, said the government should conduct safety reviews of all new plant varieties that pose potential hazards, not only the results of genetic engineering.
Organic is big in Yuma County; blight-resistant potatoes in UK
Organic farms operate 1 percent of U.S. cropland, so Yuma County in the southwestern corner of Arizona is exceptional. As much as 12 percent of farmland in the county is in organic production, reports the Yuma Sun, up from an estimated 7 percent in 2012.
In rebound from El Niño, world heads for record rice crop
Rice growers around the world are planting more land to rice this year, an additional 2.8 million hectares that the USDA estimates will result in a record harvest of 480.7 million tonnes, 10 million tonnes larger than last year. "The global area expansion is largely due to few economically viable alternative planting options, producer support programs in several Asian countries and a desire by many countries to rebuild stocks after El Niño reduced production in 2015/16," said the monthly Rice Outlook report.
Honeybee colony losses highest since 2013
Beekeepers across the United States lost 44 percent of their honeybee colonies in the past year, nearly as bad as losses sustained in 2012-13, according to a survey by researchers. Losses were more than twice the economically acceptable rate for owners of the pollinators that add an estimated $15 billion to U.S. agriculture through higher yields.
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."
Massive corn crop, lowest market price in 10 years
If they take their cues from recent changes in the futures markets, U.S. farmers will plant slightly more soybeans and correspondingly less corn, says the think tank Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
Kansas wheat tour the first step in crop-forecasting frenzy
Seven dozen crop scouts are to begin a hectic three-day motorized sprint across Kansas today, with the goal to sample roughly 500 fields and produce an estimate of the crop in the nation's No. 1 winter wheat state. Their estimate, expected at midday Thursday, will be the first in a shower of crop forecasts that will run through the fall harvest.
Harvest-time rain cuts Argentine soy crop 15 percent
The Argentine weather agency says the late-season rains that swamped the soybean harvest have reduced the crop by 9 million tonnes, or 15 percent, said Reuters.
Unprecedented saltwater intrusion in Mekong Delta
Low water levels in the Mekong Delta has allowed seawater to penetrate 56 miles inland, ruining vast swathes of cropland, says Reuters.
Record wheat crop in Europe cements role as world’s top exporter
Thanks to a generally favorable growing season, wheat growers in the European Union reaped a record 160 million tonnes of the grain in 2015, part of a record-setting harvest worldwide.
Wheat research generates large returns
Nearly half of the world's wheat-growing land is sown with varieties developed by an international network of plant scientists, or their national partners, says a report by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Adoption of the new varieties has been particularly brisk since 2010, "which may be due to the introduction of rust-resistance varieties in recent years," says the study.
Abandoning wheat, farmers head for monster corn crop
U.S. farmers say they will plant the third-largest amount of land to corn since World War II -- 93.6 million acres -- the first step toward a record-setting fall harvest, assuming normal weather and yields.
As growing season opens, winter wheat in strong condition
In its first Crop Progress report of the year, the USDA rated 59 percent of the winter wheat crop in good or excellent condition, 15 points higher than a year ago.
Higher ag productivity may be cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions
The least expensive way to attack greenhouse gas emissions on the farm may be larger investment in agricultural research and development, said University of California professor Aaron Smith in a blog on Tuesday. He cited a 2010 study that estimated agricultural R&D reduced carbon emissions through higher productivity at a cost of $15 per ton, "a much lower cost" than some commonly suggested practices, such as cover crops and conservation tillage.