Farmers across corn-producing states made decent progress in the last week, going from 12% planted on May 5 to 28% of the overall corn crop planted by May 12. This is still well behind the five-year average of 65% planted....More

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Monsanto in the case of Bowman v. Monsanto, saying, “Patent exhaustion does not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission.”...More

Although challenges to planting the 2013 crop may provide some degree of support to corn and soybean prices, they have quickly faded from the 2012 highs and are threatening to diminish further from the highs that began in 2007....More

Farm Bill markup likely will begin soon in both the Senate and House Agricultural committees. Much of the focus for traditional program crops will be around three programs: a revenue program, a target price program and a supplemental crop insurance program. While the exact nature of the programs will depend on negotiations, what is almost certain is that the programs' rationale will be risk management. Given a risk management focus, farm bill negotiations will need to debate and somehow resolve the following seven questions....More

Corn planting progressed a bit last week, moving up 7 points from the week before to 12% planted overall. The five-year average is 47% planted, and last year the overall corn planting progress was 69% at this time. North Carolina and Texas have the most corn in the ground at 89% and 70% completed so far, and slightly behind the five-year averages for each state....More

With the window to respond to the 2012 Census of Agriculture officially closing on May 31, the USDA is urging farmers and ranchers not to miss this opportunity to be counted and help determine the future of farming in America. USDA has already received more than 2 million completed Census forms....More