The USDA’s projections of U.S. and world corn and feed grain supply-and-demand conditions presented in the May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report set the benchmark by which the corn market will judge unfolding events. According to Darrel Good, a University of Illinois agricultural economist, those events are continually unfolding, with some of the more important ones to be revealed this summer....More

As grain farmers make the transition from planting corn to soybeans, Shaun Casteel, a Purdue Extension soybean specialist, says they need to keep a few basic principles in mind. Planting conditions and timing, seeding rates and depths and insect awareness play major roles in the crop's yield potential....More

USDA blew the cobwebs off its calculators and forecast a 14.8-billion-bushel corn crop for 2012, helped by a 5.1-million-acre increase in corn and a record 166-bu. yield average. With increased demand for corn all around, there will still be a 1.9-billion-bushel carryout at the end of the marketing year in August 2013. For the new crop, total use will be up 9% from the old crop, based on higher use for feed and exports, along with sweeteners and starches....More

While no state is completely finished planting corn, some are getting close as the entire corn crop is 71% planted for 2012. This is well ahead of the five-year average of 47% by this date, and even further ahead of last year’s 32% pace....More

A new innovation can completely reshape an industry – inspiring both optimism and debate. The development of genetically engineered (GE) crops in the 1980s ignited a buzz in the agricultural community with the potential for higher crop yields and better nutritional content, along with the reduction of herbicide and pesticide use. GE crops grew to play a significant role in the U.S., with more than 160 million acres of farmland used to produce GE crops in 2011. However, the development of new GE crops has recently slowed to a trickle due to litigation over field testing and deregulation. University of Minnesota researchers Esther McGinnis, Alan Smith and Mary Meyer set out to determine the cause of these litigation lulls responsible for slowing GE progress in the U.S....More