The Wrath of Mother Nature 

By Kent Theisse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

This past weekend, southern Minnesota once again got an extreme example of how quickly the wrath of Mother Nature can change things...

Farmfest Forums in Summary 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Another very successful year of FARMFEST Forums has come and gone. After Farmfest is over, it is kind of interesting to look back and see what “nuggets” are the take-home messages from the various forums...

Some Much-Needed Rainfall 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

This past weekend, the extremely dry areas of southwest and south central Minnesota, and adjoining areas of northwest Iowa, finally received some much-needed rainfall, with most areas receiving 1 in. to over 2 in. of rainfall...

Farmfest Focuses On Ag Policy 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Farmfest will feature an exciting lineup of Feature Forums and a Farm Family of the Year recognition event in 2007. The forums will be held August 7, 8, and 9, in the forum tent on the Farmfest site...

Some Rain 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Depending where you are located you may have gotten some much-needed rainfall in the past 7-10 days, or may have received virtually no rainfall. There have been several rainfall events that have moved through the upper Midwest during the past couple of weeks...

Hot And Dry 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Some portions of south-central Minnesota received some much needed rainfall on the evening of Sunday, July 8; however, much of southwest and south-central Minnesota missed the rainfall entirely. Rainfall amounts...

Hail Damage 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Many farm operators in south-central Minnesota got a reminder on June 20 and 21 of just how fragile crop growing weather conditions can be in the Upper Midwest. Crop conditions in south-central Minnesota have been almost ideal for the first two months of the 2007 growing season...

More Ethanol Plants 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

U.S. BioEnergy Corporation held a groundbreaking ceremony on June 15 for a new 100 million gallon ethanol plant, located just east of Janesville, MN, in Waseca County...

Crop Conditions Good 

By: Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Growing conditions for corn and soybeans continue to be good to excellent in most areas of southern Minnesota. However, there are some locations starting to get a little on the dry side, with the warm ...

Crop Update 

By Kent Thiesse, Vice President, MinnStar Bank

Most crop producers in southern Minnesota are fairly pleased with the 2007 corn and soybean crop, as of June 1. As usual during the early potions of the growing season, there is a lot of variation in the crop progress, due to planting dates, rainfall amount, and...