Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) issued the following statements after the House Agriculture Committee approved the farm bill, H.R. 1947, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act of 2013, by a large, bipartisan vote of 36-10. Committee members also adopted, by voice vote, an en bloc amendment....More

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack reminds farmers and ranchers that the USDA will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up from May 20 to June 14. Vilsack also announces the restart of sign-up for continuous CRP, including the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Initiative, the Highly Erodible Land Initiative, the Grassland Restoration Initiative, the Pollinator Habitat Initiative and other related initiatives. Sign-up for continuous CRP began on May 13 and will continue through Sept. 30, 2013....More

You can now assess your corn’s nitrogen (N) needs every 24 hours. The Adapt-N online computer model, from Cornell University, simulates the complex processes in a corn field: local precipitation and temperatures, soil type, soil organic matter and slope, previous crops, inputs, tillage, planting date, population, hybrids, rotation, type and date of starter and yield potential. Using high-resolution weather information (3x3-mile grids), the web model tailors site-specific N recommendations to your farm in almost real time....More

Soybean planting is off to a slower start across the region, including Ohio, compared to the 10-year average (National Agricultural Statistics Service). During the week of April 29-May 5, generally 23% of Ohio soybean acres are planted. However, this year only 1% of the soybean acres were planted due to cool/wet soil conditions. With the slow start, it’s important to consider planting date, seeding rate and relative maturity when planting soybeans this spring....More

November soybean futures have seen little movement since late April; soybean prices have ranged from $11.90 to $12.40/bu. They closed Monday (May 13) at $12.09. And with USDA’s projected average season prices as low as $9.50, beans in the teens and even $12 prices may soon be history....More

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

One of the problems with a wet start to the season when planting gets compressed into short periods is the lack of time to apply preemergence herbicides and 28% before corn emerges. Most pre-emergence corn herbicides can be applied to emerged corn, and some of them have enough foliar activity to control small, emerged weeds without the need to add postemergence (post) herbicides....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