Midwest

The two biggest agricultural cooperatives in the country are based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, but there's no question who is No 1. It's CHS, a grain handler, farm supplier and energy producer, best known in the Plains and upper Midwest.

Cropland values are steady or starting to erode while ranch and pasture land is rising in value, say agricultural bankers in the Midwest and central Plains.

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.

Landowners in five states in the upper Midwest are eligible for $8 million in payments if they establish new habitat for honey bees on land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve, says USDA.

Widespread and locally heavy rain storms in the central Plains and Midwest capped four weeks of an easing in the extent and severity of drought across the nation, said the Drought Monitor.

Energy crops may be best suited for planting on marginal land or in Southeastern states when compared to likely earnings from corn and soybeans, the two most widely grown U.S. crops, say two researchers from the University of Illinois.

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 National Weather Service forecasts more precipitation than usual in the Midwest, the Plains and the Pacific Northwest for late April, which could delay spring planting but relieve dry conditions in the western Corn Belt and the central and southern Plains.