If you ask someone, “How much corn is planted, or how much spring fieldwork has occurred in your area?” the response is likely to be quite different. A major snowfall event in early May, followed by frequent rainfall events throughout most of May, in the eastern half of southern Minnesota, as well as areas of northern Iowa, has caused significant delays in corn planting....More

There is considerable discussion among agricultural economists and lenders concerning the status and trends of U.S. farm debt. Let’s dig deeper into the subject and provide perspective....More

With the farm bill in what could be the final stages before vote, there’s still some talk of cutting crop insurance subsidies. This led Tom Zacharias, president of National Crop Insurance Services to point out that before farmers received a dime in crop insurance indemnity payments, they had shouldered $12.7 billion in losses as part of their deductibles to crop insurance policies. In addition, the premiums paid by farmers totaled $4.1 billion – bringing their share of the disaster to $16.8 billion....More

South American supplies will NOT be able to help overall shortages in both U.S. corn and soybeans....More

Some define success as the long-term succession of your kids at the farm. Albert Schweitzer defined success as loving what you do. How you treat others, from family to strangers, is Barbara Bush's definition of success....More