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With talk about a food shortage, U.S. farmers are focused on growing a large crop this year, despite challenges from Mother Nature. However, the truth is 90% of the corn growing across the U.S. isn’t used for food.

The core of the Corn Belt is forecast to see above normal temperatures and below normal rain next week, and it could hit as the crop is in prime pollination with 50% of U.S. corn planted in a two-week period in May.

There were no major surprises in USDA’s latest WASDE report. USDA didn’t adjust U.S. corn or soybean yields in the July report, but cotton abandonment shows the brutal reality of this year’s drought.

Non-GMO soybeans at R2 to R3 are seeing weed flushes. You will ‘burn’ the beans to get rid of waterhemp, but that’s a better option than leaving the weed to flourish, go to seed and fill the seed bank for next spring.

With tar spot’s ability to rapidly spread, agronomists fear another wave of the disease will hit the Midwest again this season.

It’s not difficult to rebuild centrifugal spray pumps like the Hypro pumps used on many farms. But there are things that ease the process.

The July WASDE report from USDA shows while soybean production this year is expected to fall due to fewer soybean acres planted across the U.S., USDA is also forecasting a drop in exports.

“The closing of this acquisition marks Koch’s first substantial investment on the African continent,” said Brad Razook, Executive VP of Koch Industries and CEO, Resources.

Monarch Tractor says it has the first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor, but the leading edge company has bumped against state regulations limiting its expansion.

NCGA sees the new labeling requirements as a way to “impose arduous new restrictions and mitigation measures on the herbicide, limiting how much of the product farmers use.”