soybeans
Global GMO plantings rose in 2016
The amount of GMO crops grown worldwide in 2016 was up from the year before. Increased GMO plantings in Brazil and the United States accounted for most of the rise.
Two long-time wheat states fall in love with soybeans
Kansas and North Dakota perennially vie for the title of the largest wheat-producing state in the nation; last year, they reaped 35 percent of the U.S. wheat crop. This year, Kansas and North Dakota are leading the U.S. stampede into soybeans. In fact, North Dakota will plant more land to soybeans than to wheat, according to USDA estimates based on a March survey of growers – 6.9 million acres of soybeans vs 6.6 million acres of wheat.
Blessed by good weather, Brazil harvests record corn and soybean crops
To boost cover crops, shift funds from crop subsidies and insurance, group urges
Cover crops are a well-known way to reduce nutrient runoff and soil erosion when farmland is idle outside of the growing season but few corn and soybean farmers plant them, says the Environmental Working Group. In a report, EWG suggested "shifting a small allocation" of money from crop subsidies and crop insurance to pay for a dramatic boost in the cost-share funds that help farmers get started with the practice.
USDA projects 5-percent leap in record soybean plantings
U.S. farmers are projected to plant 88 million acres of soybeans, up 5 percent from the record set last year, while cutting back on corn and wheat, said USDA chief economist Robert Johansson. Futures prices indicate soybeans will be more profitable than corn and wheat this year.
U.S. farm export forecast raised to $136 billion
An upsurge in demand by China, the top customer for U.S. food and agricultural goods, will boost U.S. farm exports to $136 billion this year, the first upturn in sales since 2014, said the Agriculture Department. The quarterly forecast is $2 billion higher than USDA's estimate in November, "largely due to expected increases in livestock, poultry, and dairy exports."
Big drop in U.S. wheat crop driven by smallest plantings since 1919
U.S. farmers will plant the smallest amount of land to wheat, 46 million acres, since record keeping began in 1919, the USDA projected at its annual Outlook Forum. Wheat has lost ground to corn and soybeans, which offer higher yields per acre and more potential for profit, for more than three decades.
Record soybean plantings to top corn for first time in 34 years
In a survey by Farm Futures magazine, farmers say they will abandon corn and wheat in favor of planting the largest area ever to soybeans, the crop most likely to turn a profit this year. "If achieved, soybeans would attract more acres than corn for the first time since the PIK year of 1983, when growers idled ground in a government program," says Farm Futures.
Smallest U.S. winter wheat plantings in 108 years
Faced by the lowest average wheat prices in a decade, U.S. growers slashed winter wheat plantings to their lowest level since 1909, when USDA began its wheat records. The 10 percent cut in acreage from 2016 sets the stage for potentially the smallest harvest in four decades of winter wheat, used in bread and other baked goods.
Tough year ahead for farmers due to low grain prices, says Purdue
Grain prices will run at or near decade lows, keeping farm income in a slump, say Purdue agricultural economists. In the Purdue Agricultural Economics Report 2017, they say the average value of farmland in Indiana was $7,041 an acre, down by 13 percent from the 2013 peak because of weakness in the farm sector.
Iowa farmland values down for third year, more declines expected
Farmland values in Iowa, the No. 1 corn and hog state, are down by 17.5 percent since the collapse of commodity prices in 2013, says an annual survey by Iowa State University. ISU researchers joined other analysts in forecasting land values will continue to fall for a couple years more in the first significant adjustment in U.S. values since the agricultural recession of the mid-1980s.
Some U.S. crops are boosting yields and improving sustainability, while others fall behind.
The Field to Market alliance says in an assessment issued every four years that, on the whole, 10 major U.S. crops have produced more yield on less land with improved environmental outcomes on a per-unit-of-production basis. The alliance calls this "a significant step toward a more sustainable farming system," but cautions that "improvements are plateauing for a number of crops and indicators."
A ‘cold plasma’ way to avoid trans fats in hydrogenated soybean oil
Two researchers from Purdue developed a hydrogenation process to solidify soybean oil for use in foods without creating trans fats, which can raise cholesterol and lead to heart disease and diabetes. The FDA started a three-year phase-out in 2015 of partially hydrogenated oils from the food supply.
Growers embrace some GMO crops, but only give GMO alfalfa a handshake
Two decades after the first GMO crops were approved for cultivation, nearly half of U.S. cropland is planted with genetically engineered seeds, chiefly corn, soybeans and cotton. Farmers have greeted GE canola and sugarbeets with ardor, but alfalfa is the wallflower at the GMO party, says a USDA report.
Mexico loses appetite for U.S. grain after Trump win
Traders and industry analysts say campaign promises by President-elect Donald Trump to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement have spooked the cross-border grain trade as well as driving down the value of the peso, said Reuters.
Groups get $200 million to build markets for U.S. ag exports
The Agriculture Department awarded $200 million through two programs to help 70 agricultural organizations build overseas markets for U.S. farm exports, which generate 20 cents of each $1 in net cash farm income. Most of the money, $173.5 million, will flow through the cost-sharing Market Access Program (MAP).
More organic acres than ever in U.S.
The amount of U.S. acres in organic farmland increased 11 percent in 2016 from 2014 numbers to reach 4.1 million acres, says a report by the data-service company Mercaris. The individual number of organic farms also jumped in that period by 1,000, to 14,979. The increase is largely due to consumer demand and economics, Scott Shander, an economist at Mercaris, told Civil Eats.
Food companies vow to fight deforestation. But can they really help?
Four hundred of the biggest food companies in the U.S. and Europe have pledged not to buy from suppliers responsible for deforestation. But no one can say for sure whether their promises are actually protecting forests, according to a report from Climate Focus.