wheat

Crop scouts set off today for the annual inspection tour of the winter wheat crop in Kansas, the No 1 grower. The tour provides a timely look at a crop that will be ready for harvest in a few weeks.

The leaders of the United States and Japan say "they have made significant progress on the agriculture and auto issues that have blocked a huge Asia-Pacific trade deal following intense talks," says Politico.

Cold, wet weather is holding the spring planting season to a slow start, says the weeklyCrop Progress report from USDA. At the start of this week, 6 pct of corn was planted in the major states vs the usual 22 pct.

President Obama will meet the leaders of four nations - Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines - during a trip through Asia that begins on Tuesday.

Nothing says spring planting like snowfall across the upper Midwest in mid-April, does it? Up to five inches of snow fell in north central Wisconsin on Monday with forecasts of an inch or two of snow today in Detroit and Toledo.

Science Daily says a field test conducted by the University of California-Davis "has demonstrated that elevated levels of carbon dioxide inhibit plants' assimilation of nitrate into proteins, indicating that the nutritional quality of food crops is at risk as climate change intensifies."

The Agriculture Department plans to begin monthly reports in September or October on soybean crush, corn mill grind and cotton mill use, a senior official told reporters on Monday.

Half of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good or excellent condition at the start of the week, a vast improvement from the drought-scarred 2023 crop, said the USDA's Crop Progress report on Monday. The USDA will make its first forecast of the harvest on Friday. Winter wheat usually accounts for three-quarters of all U.S. wheat production.