Kent Thiesse | Thiesse's Thoughts
Kent Thiesse is a former University of Minnesota Extension educator and now is Vice President of MinnStar Bank, Lake Crystal, MN. You can contact him at 507-726-2137 or via e-mail at kent.thiesse@minnstarbank.com.
Use Caution On Cash Rental Rates
Feb 2, 2010, By Kent Thiesse
Cash corn and soybean prices remained at fairly high levels during 2009, with local cash grain prices during the year in southern Minnesota near $4/bu. for corn, and around $10/bu. for soybeans. The higher grain prices in the past couple of years have lead to some very rapid and dramatic increases in land values and in annual cash rental rates...
SURE Program Available for 2008 Crop Losses
Jan 12, 2010, By Kent Thiesse
The 2008 Farm Bill included a new Supplemental Agriculture Disaster Assistance Program (SURE), or so-called permanent disaster program, which was initiated for the 2008 crop year...
No Easy Decision on Climate-Change Legislation
Jan 6, 2010, By Kent Thiesse
One of President Obama’s goals as he entered the U.S. presidency in 2009 was to address global warming and concerns over world climate change...
Looking Ahead to 2010
Jan 4, 2010, By Kent Thiesse
The coming year is setting up to be another challenging year in the agriculture industry, following a very difficult year in 2009 – especially in the livestock sector ...
2009 Ag Review
Dec 23, 2009, By Kent Thiesse
As we reach the end of the year, it is a good time to reflect on what happened agriculturally in the region in 2009...
Check Grain Bins
Dec 15, 2009, By Kent Thiesse
Corn and soybean producers across the Midwest have had a long fall harvest season, with many farm operators completing harvest by early December, while others are still battling the winter weather...
Flexible Lease Agreements Offer Alternative
Dec 8, 2009, By Kent Thiesse
The rapid rise in corn and soybean commodity prices in the past few years, and the resulting projected increase in gross crop income per acre...
How Good Was November Weather?
Dec 1, 2009, By Kent Thiesse
The favorable November weather was much needed, since it followed one of the worst October’s ever as far as harvest weather...
Harvest Drags On
Nov 24, 2009, By Kent Thiesse
Corn harvest is starting to wind-down in some regions, while in other areas a considerable amount of corn remains to be harvested, and many of this fall’s harvest problems continue for farm operators...
Harvest Moves Forward
Nov 17, 2009, By Kent Thiesse
The rain late last week halted corn and soybean harvest for a couple of days in western and central Minnesota, but had very little impact on harvest progress in southern Minnesota or northern Iowa...







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