Cotton

Corteva Brands Seed And Genetics Business With New Name

Mon, 04 May 2026 21:50:06 GMT

Corteva announced on Monday that its advanced seed and genetics business, formerly operating under the placeholder “SpinCo,” will be branded as Vylor, Inc. The spin-off remains on track to become an independent company no later than the fourth quarter of 2026.

Corteva will continue to sell crop protection products – herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and biologicals.

For farmers who have spent decades planting Pioneer, Brevant and Hogemeyer branded seed products, the changes mark a massive consolidation of research and development power. Vylor will launch with a significant intellectual property portfolio, including more than 4,000 germplasm patents and 2,000 biotechnology patents, according to a Corteva press release.

Heritage Meets High-Tech

The branding is a deliberate nod to the past and the future of the American farm. The name “Vylor” is derived from valor, a tribute to the grit of U.S. farmers and workers who have helped “feed the world.”

Even the new logo carries a hidden meaning: the stylized “l” represents the shape of a single chromosome—the building block of the company’s genetics-first mission.

The company’s visual identity also honors its roots, using a color palette of green, maroon, and blue to pay homage to the Pioneer, Brevant, Hogemeyer and Corteva legacies.

A New Pipeline for the Field

Vylor isn’t just rebranding existing products, according to future Vylor CEO Chuck Magro. He says it is positioning itself to lead the next generation of “gamechanger” technologies. According to the announcement, farmers can expect a pipeline focused on:

Proprietary Hybrid Wheat: A long-sought breakthrough in wheat productivity.
Gene Editing Leadership: Faster development of traits to combat evolving pests and weather patterns.
Multi-Disease Resistance Corn: Reducing the reliance on over-the-top pesticide applications.
Next-Generation Biofuels: Expanding the profit potential of row crops beyond the food supply chain.

“Vylor traces its roots back a century, to a single idea: that innovation could transform agriculture,” Magro notes. “From food security to energy security... Vylor will be uniquely positioned to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges.”

Global Footprint

Vylor enters the market from a position of dominance, boasting the largest seed production network in the world, Corteva reports. The brands under its umbrella already hold No. 1 and No. 2 market share positions in nearly every global region they serve, backed by a history of world-record yields in corn and soybeans.

While the corporate structure is changing, Corteva says Vylor’s “north star” remains the same: leveraging scientific expertise to help farmers feed and fuel a growing population. As the separation nears its 2026 finish line, Vylor signals an aggressive intent to “vye” for new opportunities in row crops and beyond.

Watch this video to learn more about Vylor.

EPA Opens Public Comment Period On Draft Fungicide Strategy

Mon, 04 May 2026 16:20:14 GMT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering the U.S. public an opportunity to help shape the future of agricultural safety, unveiling a draft Fungicide Strategy designed to balance the needs of American farmers with the protection of the nation’s most vulnerable wildlife.

The proposal marks a significant step in the agency’s effort to meet its dual mandates under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). By creating a more efficient and transparent framework for pesticide registration, the EPA says it aims to “safeguard more than 1,000 federally endangered and threatened species” while ensuring growers maintain the tools necessary to protect the nation’s food supply.

A New Framework for Modern Farming

The draft strategy focuses on conventional agricultural fungicides across the lower 48 states — an area covering approximately 41 million treated acres annually. Rather than a one-size-fits-all mandate, the proposal introduces a three-step framework:

Identify Impacts: Assessing potential population-level effects on listed species.
Mitigation Planning: Pinpointing specific measures to reduce those risks.
Targeted Application: Determining exactly where these protections are most needed based on where endangered and threatened species live and how fungicides move through the environment.

The agency emphasizes that while this strategy guides future regulatory actions, it does not impose immediate requirements. Instead, the strategy serves as a roadmap for upcoming registration reviews, with the EPA promising public input on every specific action before it is finalized.

Balancing Innovation and Conservation

Saying that it recognizes farmers are the backbone of the U.S. economy, the EPA’s draft includes several updates to provide greater flexibility. Notably, the plan expands options for reducing spray drift buffer distances and introduces new mitigation tools, such as the use of “guar gum” as a spray adjuvant.

"[American farmers] need a diverse toolbox of innovative agricultural technologies to manage crop disease, prevent resistance, and produce the affordable, nutritious food that feeds our country,” the EPA says, in a press release. “The draft Fungicide Strategy is designed to ensure those innovative tools remain available and that they are used in ways that protect the environment and endangered species.

How to Get Involved

In a push for transparency, the EPA has opened a 60-day public comment period to gather feedback from scientists, conservationists, Tribal partners and the agricultural community.

Public Comment: Stakeholders can review the strategy and submit formal feedback via (Docket: EPA-HQ-OPP-2026-2973) through June 29, 2026.
Informational Webinar: The agency will host a public webinar on May 20, 2026, at 2 p.m. ET to walk through the proposal and answer questions. Register here .

The EPA expects to review all public input and finalize the Fungicide Strategy by November 2026.

Corteva Unveils Executive Team Lineup For Its Two-Way Company Split

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:58:35 GMT

Corteva Inc. has reached a pivotal milestone in its corporate restructuring, announcing the executive leadership teams that will guide its transition into two independent, publicly traded entities.

The separation, which will result in the formation of New Corteva and SpinCo, is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2026.

New Corteva: A Focus on Crop Protection

Luther “Luke” Kissam has been appointed as the future chief executive officer of New Corteva, the entity that will retain the company’s crop protection portfolio. Kissam is scheduled to join the firm on June 1 as CEO.

Corteva’s Greg Page says the company board of directors selected Kissam following a global search, citing his ability to drive growth through innovation. Page notes that Kissam’s history of leading public companies and delivering market-focused solutions will benefit farmers and shareholders alike, according to a company press release.

Kissam brings a background in both agriculture and specialty chemicals to the new role. He previously served as the chairman and CEO of Albemarle Corporation and held legal and executive positions at Monsanto and Merisant Company.

Joining Kissam at New Corteva in key leadership roles will be:

Jeff Rudolph, chief financial officer
Brook Cunningham, chief commercial officer
Ralph Ford, chief integrated operations officer
Reza Rasoulpour, chief technology officer
Jim Alcombright, chief digital and information officer

SpinCo: Advancing Seed and Genetics

The second entity, provisionally named SpinCo, will operate as a standalone seed and genetics company. This business will focus on elite germplasm and cutting-edge biotechnologies, including gene editing and molecular breeding for row crops.

Current Corteva CEO Chuck Magro will transition to the role of SpinCo CEO at the time of formal separation. Magro says SpinCo’s success will be built on technological investments that allow farmers to increase yields in row crops and potentially new markets.

Along with Magro, the leadership team for SpinCo will include:

David Johnson, chief financial officer
Judd O’Connor, chief commercial and operations officer
Sam Eathington, chief technology officer
Audrey Grimm, chief people officer
Brian Lutz, chief digital and information officer
Jennifer Johnson, chief legal officer

Trump Confirms He's Delaying China Visit By "Five or Six Weeks" Amid Iran Conflict

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:28:54 GMT

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is postponing his long-anticipated trip to China by “five or six weeks,” citing the ongoing war with Iran as the reason for the delay. The summit, originally scheduled for late March, has been pushed back as the administration focuses on addressing escalating tensions in the Middle East.

JUST IN: WASHINGTON (AP) - Trump says he is delaying his trip to China until later next month as he focuses on the war in Iran.
— AgDay TV (@AgDayTV) March 17, 2026

“We’re resetting the meeting, and it looks like it’ll take place in about five weeks,” Trump told reporters, adding that China “were fine with it.”

The president had requested the delay during a Monday meeting in the Oval Office with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, emphasizing the conflict requires his attention in Washington.

Trump on his visit to China:

Because of the war, I want to be here. I feel I have to be here.

And so we’ve requested that we delay it a month or so. pic.twitter.com/LYtj1V00aP
— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 16, 2026

When asked if he still planned to travel to Beijing later this month, Trump said: “I don’t know. We’re working on it right now. We’re speaking to China. I’d love to, but because of the war, I want to be here, I have to be here, I feel. We’ve requested we delay it a month or so ... I’m looking forward to being with them. We have a very good relationship ... there’s no tricks to it either. It’s not like ‘Oh gee, I’m waiting.’ It’s very simple: We have a war going on. I think it’s important I be here.”

Soybeans Saw Limit-Down Day For First Time in 17 Years

While soybeans were in the green on Tuesday, the news was enough to spark a sell-off in soybeans — closing down 70¢ on Monday. According to Ag Trader Talk’s Garrett Toay, soybeans closing in a limit-down move hadn’t happened in 17 years — since January 2009.

Leading up to Trump’s remarks on Monday, there was hope the planned meeting would secure China’s commitment to buy more soybeans.

The postponement comes as Trump intensifies efforts to assemble an international coalition to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for global oil flows that has been threatened by Iranian activity. The administration is urging allies to provide naval support to ensure the safe transit of tankers, highlighting the importance of energy market stability.

However, Trump’s call for international cooperation has been met with resistance. Germany, Japan, Italy and Australia have declined to participate, while the United Kingdom and other nations are signaling caution about becoming involved in a broader conflict. Trump criticized this reluctance as a test of allied commitment after decades of U.S. security guarantees.

China, a major consumer of Middle Eastern oil, has been a particular focus of Trump’s outreach. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, the president said Beijing should help restart tanker traffic through the Strait following disruptions caused by Iran. While U.S.-China relations remain tense after a year of tariff threats, Chinese officials have maintained only cautious communication about the postponed visit. Spokesperson Lin Jian stated Monday that China and the U.S. “are maintaining communication regarding President Trump’s visit to China,” without addressing the Strait of Hormuz issue.

For farmers and agribusinesses, the delay carries tangible implications. Not only did the news impact soybean prices this week, but rising fuel and fertilizer costs, along with disruptions to global trade, could impact the export of U.S. crops — creating deeper uncertainty.

China Signals Potential Boost in U.S. Ag Purchases

Amid the postponement of the Trump-Xi summit, China is reportedly signaling openness to buying more American farm products, even as broader geopolitical tensions remain high. Sources say officials tied to Presidents Trump and Xi held what they described as “remarkably stable” talks over the weekend in Paris, with agriculture emerging as a key topic.

China is reportedly considering increasing purchases of U.S. goods such as beef, poultry and other crops, while remaining committed to major soybean imports in the years ahead. Cotton responded positively to that news, posting new contract highs.

However, uncertainty still clouds the outlook. Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, coupled with lingering trade disputes between Washington and Beijing, could complicate progress on large-scale deals.

Soybeans remain a focal point, with questions about the timing of renewed, large-scale buying. Markets are watching closely, and any headline developments in U.S.-China agricultural trade could trigger significant price volatility.

Soybeans as a “Trade Token”?

Brian Grete of Comstock Investments offered perspective on the China-U.S. soybean dynamic, noting short-term market moves may not reflect the long-term picture. Just last week, soybean prices were fueled by news Brazil was slowing shipments of soybeans to China and warned the situation may be overbought.

“Longer term, I don’t think that slowing down Brazilian shipments is bullish,” Grete says. “They have a record crop, about 180 million tons, give or take, and that supply will eventually reach the global market, with China as the biggest buyer. Ride the wave while you can and make some sales as prices rise, because when it crashes, it may crash hard.”

On China’s potential buying of U.S. soybeans, Grete emphasizes politics may outweigh economics.

“This was a request from China’s agriculture ministry to Brazil’s ag ministry to increase phytosanitary requirements,” he explains. “China is trying to slow down Brazilian bean shipments. People say it doesn’t make sense for China to buy U.S. beans economically. But honestly, soybeans mean more politically for President Trump than for China. China will use soybeans as a trade token.”

Next-Gen Herbicides Target Tough Weeds In Corn And Soybeans

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:51:42 GMT

Several companies have announced new weed-control tools for row-crop growers’ use in the upcoming season. Here is a brief summary of the technologies:

Helena Agri-Enterprises plans to give corn and soybean growers more weed-control options this season with the launch of Testament. The new herbicide provides early-season weed control and strong crop establishment in pre-plant and pre-emergence applications, according to Michael Cox, Helena products group brand manager.

The herbicide combines three active ingredients—saflufenacil, pyroxasulfone, and dimethenamid-p—to create a powerful defense against tough weeds. In trials conducted across diverse regions, including the Dakotas, the Texas Panhandle, and the Mid-South, Testament proved effective against Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, marestail, morningglory and annual grasses.

“Testament fills a gap by providing great weed control in areas where crop rotation sensitivity is a concern,” Cox says in company news release. “Its broad application rate allows you to customize it based on your specific soil type and how long you need the protection to last.”

Timing and Resistance Management

Cox notes one of the standout features of Testament is its versatility. It can be used during fall burndown, pre-plant, or pre-emergence windows. Because it offers generous plant-back restrictions, growers have more flexibility when dealing with unpredictable weather or changing planting schedules. Additionally, by using multiple modes of action, Testament helps farmers manage the growing challenge of herbicide resistance.

In addition to Testament, Helena announced the EPA registration of Sinister Nexus, a three-way soybean herbicide. While Sinister Nexus will have limited availability starting in 2026 (pending state approvals), Cox says it represents Helena’s ongoing commitment to expanding its portfolio of weed control solutions.

Growers interested in learning more about Testament or Sinister Nexus can visit www.helenaagri.com for availability in their state.

The Future Of 2,4-D From Nufarm

Nufarm announces its 2,4-D-based product Weed Master XHL is available for use in 2026. The product features Nufarm’s patented Dual Salt Technology and lower-volatility DGA dicamba.

Four key features of WeedMaster XHL:

controls 90+ annual and perennial broadleaf weeds
provides reduced volatility and is a low odor formulation
offers improved handling and tank-mix compatibility
delivers superior cold storage performance

BASF Introduces Engenia and Zidua Plus

BASF announces it has received notice from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of federal registration for Engeniaherbicide for over the top (OTT) applications on dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton.

The new registration gives U.S. soybean and cotton farmers an additional tool to battle 200-plus weed species, including Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, kochia, morningglory and ragweed.

Stewardship is a critical component of any pesticide registration, and BASF says it continues to work with the EPA and state agencies to create national and state-specific training materials. The company will offer a suite of training options to ensure farmers and applicators understand the new Engenia herbicide label requirements.

On the horizon — potentially coming to U.S. farmers in 2026 — is new Zidua Plus herbicide. BASF says, upon registration, the herbicide will bring application flexibility, comprehensive weed control and residual endurance to soybeans with two modes of action. The product will be available for application from pre-plant through post-emergence.

First Dual Mode-Of-Action Classification

While not a new herbicide, FMC’s rimisoxafen has been classified by the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) as a dual mode of action herbicide, designated under HRAC Groups 12 and 32.

This is the first dual mode-of-action classification in HRAC’s history. The unprecedented classification recognizes rimisoxafen’s unique ability to simultaneously inhibit both phytoene desaturase (PDS) and solanesyl diphosphate synthase (SDPS), two critical biochemical pathways in weeds. The dual mode of action makes it far more difficult for weeds to survive and adapt, providing a critical new tool in the fight against herbicide resistance.

“HRAC’s historic classification of rimisoxafen validates the breakthrough nature of this technology,” said Seva Rostovtsev, executive vice president and chief technology officer, in a press release. “Studies show this molecule delivers control of palmer amaranth and waterhemp, giving farmers an effective solution against weeds that have become resistant to multiple herbicide classes. This is the kind of innovation growers need to protect their crops and their livelihoods.”

Rimisoxafen’s dual mode of action creates a significantly higher barrier to resistance development compared to single mode of action herbicides. Rimisoxafen is designed primarily for use in broadacre crops such as corn, soybean, cereals, pulses and sunflower, and will provide effective control of troublesome and resistant broadleaf weeds.

Syngenta To Exit Global Paraquat Production

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:43:55 GMT

Syngenta has announced it will cease global production of the herbicide paraquat by the end of June. The decision marks a significant shift for the company, which first brought the active ingredient to market more than 60 years ago.

According to a company news release, the move is driven by an increasingly competitive global landscape. The rise of generic products has eroded Syngenta’s competitiveness in manufacturing the herbicide. Today, paraquat is registered for sale by more than 750 companies worldwide and accounts for less than 1% of Syngenta’s total global sales.

UK Facility Will Advance Plinazolin Technology

Following an asset review, Syngenta is phasing out production at its Huddersfield, UK, site—its only manufacturing facility for paraquat globally.

Despite the closure of the paraquat unit, Syngenta remains committed to the UK location, recently completing a £50 million (approximately $63 million) investment to manufacture its advanced Plinazolin technology at the site.

Plinazolin is a new insecticide active ingredient intended to support resistance management across a wide range of crops. The company reports the technology is now cleared for use at the federal level and will enter the U.S. market pending individual state authorizations.

“This decision is about focusing our resources where they deliver the greatest value for our business and our customers,” said Mike Hollands, head of Syngenta global production and supply.

Syngenta Focuses On New U.S. Priorities

Paraquat has long been a staple in the U.S. farming toolbox, particularly for growers utilizing conservation practices like no-till farming. Syngenta maintains that the herbicide is safe when used according to registered label instructions and intends to work with partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition through the production phase-out.

The company stated its exit plan for paraquat aligns with its broader strategy to prioritize innovation in seeds, biologicals, and AI-enabled digital and precision agriculture solutions.

Regarding plinazolin, it will enter the 2026 growing season for U.S. farmers as a seed treatment, soil-applied formulation or foliar spray. Syngenta said it plans to market five products built on the technology:

Opello for corn rootworm control
Equento as a seed treatment for wireworm and other below-ground pests in cereals and pulse crops
Vertento for cotton, peanuts and onions
Incipio for a range of vegetable crops
Zivalgo for potatoes and tree fruit

All five products belong to IRAC Group 30, a classification associated with novel chemistries for insect management. Syngenta stated that the formulations are designed to match the specific requirements of different crops and pests, and to integrate with existing application practices.

USDA Ag Outlook: Farm Economy 'Making Progress' in 2026, But Headwinds Persist

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:03:53 GMT

For the first time in several years, the heavy cloud of skyrocketing production costs is beginning to lift, according to USDA chief economist Justin Benavidez. Speaking at USDA’s 102^nd annual Agricultural Outlook Forum on Thursday , Benavidez unveiled a 2026 forecast that suggests “progress is being made,” even as the row-crop sector navigates a significant transition in acreage and a shifting policy landscape.

After his outlook, Farm Journal had the chance to speak one-on-one with the new USDA chief economist. When asked his biggest takeaway from the outlook on the ag economy, he was positive about progress.

“I think the big story for this year is that progress is being made,” Benavidez says. “Obviously, we are not out of the woods in terms of cost of production, in terms of finding higher prices through new sources of demand, but we are making progress.”

USDA Ag Outlook Forum

(Lori Hayes)

Costs: Finally Turning a Modest Corner?

After multiple years of relentless increases, USDA now forecasts production expenses to moderate. Benavidez points to a key inflection point: inflation-adjusted costs.

“We’ll see cost of production moderate for the first time in several years,” he says. “When adjusted for inflation, total cost of production will decline marginally.”

That doesn’t mean every farmer will see lower costs in 2026.

“Certain producers are obviously going to see that nominal cost still go up marginally, in the neighborhood of 1% on average,” he adds.

Behind the recent volatility, Benavidez says, lies a longer-term structural issue.

“We are still working very hard to get out of what is really a 15-year discrepancy in that cost of production and price received for crops,” he says. “We’ve had some black swan events that have masked a long-term gap in cost of production and price received.”

Closing that gap will require more than cost control. Benavidez says it will require more sources of demand.

The Biggest Wild Cards

If there is one factor that could significantly alter the 2026 outlook, Benavidez says it is biofuels policy.

“I’m going to be watching closely to see what happens with the RFS debate as well as [the] 45Z rule,” he says.

The 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit provides tax incentives to refiners, increasing derived demand for feedstocks such as corn, soybeans and potentially canola. USDA is working on flexible feedstock provisions that could further influence farm-level incentives.

“It provides a tax credit to refiners of those biofuels, and then that increases a derived demand for some of the biofuel input products, like corn, beans and canola,” he explains.

At the same time, negotiations around the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and E15 could reshape demand expectations.

“That could really impact both the demand for corn and for beans, depending on where the RFS and that debate over E15 winds up going,” Benavidez says.

However, he notes the timing of these policies is critical, which is why he considers them the biggest wild cards he’s watching.

“If those changes and updates happen prior to planting, we could see a significant change in what the acreage forecast looks like, as well as what the price forecast looks like.”

The ripple effects could extend beyond Washington.

“We know that in some places where you might swap into planting soybeans, you’re more favorable toward cotton,” he says. “We might see that if one of the policies on the biofuels side goes into place that favors soybeans a little bit more, we might see a reduction in cotton acres — or the opposite could be the case for corn.”

The Numbers You Need to Know

USDA Ag Outlook Forum Acreage Projections

(Lori Hayes )

According to Pro Farmer, the highlights from USDA’s Grains and Oilseeds outlook released on Thursday include:

Corn yield is projected at 183 bu. per acre, producing a 15.8 billion bushel corn crop, down about 7% from 2025. USDA says the yield projection “assumes normal planting progress and summer growing season weather.”
Total corn supplies are forecast at 17.9 billion bushels, down from the record of 18.6 billion in 2025/26.
Total U.S. corn use for 2026-27 is forecast to decline about 2% on lower domestic use and exports.
Food, seed and industrial is flat at 7.0 billion bushels.
Corn used for ethanol is forecast at 5.6 billion bushels, based on expectations of essentially unchanged motor gasoline consumption and exports.
Feed and residual use is down about 3% to 6.0 billion bushels on lower supplies.
Exports are down 200 million bushels to 3.1 billion. “U.S. global trade share is expected to decline slightly on larger competitor exports from South America and modest global demand growth,” USDA says.
Ending stocks are projected at 1.8 billion bushels, down 290 million from a year ago and resulting in stocks relative to use at 11.4%, down from 2025-26 but higher than the most recent 5-year average of about 10.8%.
The season-average corn price received by producers is forecast up 10¢ to $4.20 per bushel.

USDA’s projected corn acreage for 2026 released during the 2026 Ag Outlook Forum.

(Lori Hayes )

Soybeans and Stronger Profit Potential?

USDA says the projected rise in soybean acres reflects “stronger profitability compared to other crops, along with expected crop rotations across the Corn Belt and the Delta.”

Assuming normal weather conditions, yields are expected to average 53.0 bu. per acre, leading to a 188-million-bushel increase to production to 4.45 billion bushels.
U.S. soybean crush is projected to rise by 85 million bushels, reaching 2.655 billion, supported by rising soybean meal and oil demand.
Given normal weather, oilseed meal supplies are expected to be ample in 2026-27, keeping soybean meal prices relatively flat with the prior marketing year at $300 per short ton.
U.S. soybean exports for 2026-27 are projected at 1.7 billion bushels, a recovery from the 2025-26 forecast of 1.58 billion bushels (or 42.9 million tons).
Exports for the 2025-26 marketing year are forecast to decline to the lowest level in 13 years. Accounting for a record-low share of just 23% of global soybean trade, USDA says tariff measures curtailed shipments to China, the largest export destination for the U.S., which imported an average 28.7 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans during the 2021-22 through 2023-24 marketing years. Argentina’s temporary elimination of export taxes last September also led to a counter-seasonal surge in exports in November, further impacting U.S. market share globally, USDA adds.
Soybean ending stocks for 2026-27 are projected at 355 million bushels, nearly flat with the 2025-26 forecast.
The season-average farm price is projected at $10.30 per bushel, marginally higher than the prior marketing year.

USDA’s projected soybean acreage for 2026 released during the 2026 Ag Outlook Forum.

(Lori Hayes)

Benavidez says USDA’s price forecast is for marginal improvements, but he notes headwinds are still in the forecast.

Acreage Shifts: Fewer Corn Acres, More Soybeans

One of the more closely watched projections from USDA is a 5 million acre decline in corn plantings and an increase in soybean acreage to 85 million. The corn reduction is roughly 1 million acres larger than some private trade forecasts.

“There’s always discrepancy in forecasts, right?” Benavidez says, noting the projections are early-season estimates.

He says it’s important to note USDA’s World Agricultural Outlook Board evaluates multiple variables when looking at acreage forecasts this early.

“They’re looking into factors, obviously the soy-to-corn price ratio, which is trending toward more bean acres relative to previous years,” he explains. “We’re getting close back to that 10-year average of the ratio between soy and corn price, which trends toward a little bit more bean acreage this year when compared to corn.”

USDA’s projected acreage for 2026 released during the 2026 Ag Outlook Forum.

(Lori Hayes)

Global and domestic stocks also play into the equation. Ultimately, he says it boils down to where producers think they will make the highest net return.

Total principal crop acres are forecast to decline about 1.5 million acres. However, shifts among crops could offset some of that.

“Our principal crops will see about a 1.5 million acre decline in terms of total acres planted,” Benavidez says. “But the mix of other acres is going to moderate some of that acreage decline a little bit.”

He pointed to cotton as one example, but he notes regional impacts are harder to pin down at this stage.

“It will vary across the country,” he says. “But regional specifics — I think this is very early to be talking about regional specifics.”

Cotton: Sustained Headwinds

Among the major crops, cotton faces some of the most persistent structural challenges.

“You know, we do look at the cotton complex as something that is facing sustained headwinds,” Benavidez says.

He acknowledges recent gains in net cash farm income for cotton producers, attributing part of that improvement to policy support. But globally, competition remains intense.

“There’s a lot of increased production in Brazil that is competing with our exports from the United States,” he says. “They have, in some cases, a lower cost of production than our producers here in the United States.”

Long-term consumption trends also weigh on the sector, as he notes the long-term trend toward more synthetic fiber and flat demand for cotton fibers is a headwind the cotton industry is going to face long term.

“The cotton complex is one that I certainly do think that I’ll pay a lot of attention to this year,” he says.

Trade: A Global Balance Sheet Approach

USDA’s outlook also includes China’s commitment to purchase 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually through 2028. But Benavidez emphasizes USDA does not model trade strategy; it models global supply and demand.

“As an economist, we don’t really focus on what the strategy is in terms of making those decisions,” he says.

Instead, the World Agricultural Outlook Board looks at total global demand and total global supply.

“If China or any other partner has demand for a certain amount of bean imports, that’s going to offset any readjustment in trade with other partners throughout the globe,” he explains. “We balance that with global supply and build a market picture based on those two factors.”

Attendees say some sessions during the 2026 Ag Outlook Forum were standing room only.

(Farm Journal )

Fewer Headwinds — But Not Clear Skies

The overarching theme of Benavidez’s 2026 outlook is cautious optimism.

“We are not out of the woods, but we are making progress,” he says.

With moderating costs, modest price gains and potential demand expansion through biofuels, the farm economy may finally be seeing some easing pressure. Yet structural imbalances, global competition and policy uncertainty remain central forces shaping the year ahead.

Know The Rules For Dicamba Use In Your State

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 19:51:23 GMT

The EPA has finalized the dicamba label for the next two growing seasons, bringing much-needed clarity to U.S. farmers. But while over-the-top (OTT) use is officially back, it arrives with the most restrictive federal requirements farmers have seen to date for products like Engenia , Tavium , and Bayer’s new XtendiMax replacement, Stryax .

In some cases, states are adopting stronger regulations for dicamba use, especially with regard to temperature and calendar cutoffs:

Temperature Cutoff: The federal label mandates a 95°F forecast high as a hard cutoff. If the National Weather Service forecasts a high above 95°F, you cannot legally spray OTT dicamba that day.
No Federal Calendar Cutoff: Unlike previous labels, the EPA has not set a nationwide calendar deadline.

State-Specific Restrictions In Place

Illinois and Minnesota are two states, so far, that are going with stricter regulations for temperature and application timing cutoffs for dicamba.

Illinois is using an 85°F forecast high as the cutoff for dicamba applications in soybeans.

“If you load your sprayer and it is 78 degrees at 10 a.m. in the morning, but the forecasted high by the National Weather Service is supposed to be 85 or 86, that is a do-not-spray day,” says Kevin Johnson, director of government relations and strategy for the Illinois Soybean Association.

Deadline for application: Plan for a June 20 cutoff for OTT applications, Johnson says.

Minnesota:

Temperature: Minnesota is using an 85°F forecast high cutoff for dicamba applications in soybeans.

Deadline for applications: June 12 cutoff south of I-94; June 30 cutoff north of I-94, according to Dicamba Restrictions Announced for 2026 Growing Season .

Shifting Your Weed Control Strategy

Because of the tighter application timing windows in Illinois, Johnson anticipates there could be a shift in how farmers there use the chemistry. He expects many Illinois farmers to move dicamba to a pre-emergence timing rather than post-emergence, saving OTT dicamba only for “super high weed” pressure situations.

With many seed trait packages now stacking dicamba and glufosinate (Liberty) tolerance, Johnson says to expect “a lot more guys using Liberty on the back end.”

In addition, the EPA is tying dicamba use to mandatory conservation practices. Farmers can find more details on the Bulletins Live! Two Website

“We’re still waiting on a lot of details on what those conservation practices are,” Johnson says. “Bulletins Live! Two is a good website, but it’s, I’ll say clunky… it’s not real easy to just find one thing and find what you need,” he cautions.

Record Keeping: Don’t Risk A $700 Fine

The most immediate hurdle for many farmers interested in using the technology this spring will be the paperwork. In Illinois, the Department of Agriculture uses a 22-question record-keeping sheet specifically for dicamba.

“If I can stress anything in this call, do your record keeping,” Johnson emphasizes. “If you ever get called in on a complaint, the first thing they ask you for is your record keeping. If you do not have all 22 questions filled out, you are going to get a $700 fine. There’s no questions asked.”

To stay ahead of that risk, Johnson advises Illinois farmers to complete records on a timely basis, not “later when things slow down.” He urges them to fill out as much of the form as possible before the season begins, including static information about equipment, farm identifiers, and general practices, then finish the day-specific entries in the cab during or immediately after the job. Some of the information—like wind speed, wind direction, and exact application timing—can only be captured accurately in real time.

For custom applications, the legal burden for record keeping falls on the applicator, Johnson adds, but growers should still ask for copies for their own files and talk openly with retailers about documentation expectations.

All of this points toward one overarching need, Johnson says: have a clear herbicide game plan for 2026, especially if you plan to use dicamba, and build in contingencies. He addresses more of the dicamba requirements specific to Illinois farmers in a recent Field Advisor podcast, available here .

EPA Reinstates Dicamba for 2026 Registration in Cotton and Soybeans

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:23:35 GMT

EPA is reinstating dicamba use for farmers in 2026, but it comes with a litany of tight controls and restrictions. It will be the first time since the 2024 season that farmers have had the option to use dicamba over-the-top (OTT) for weed control. It’s now offering approval for the next two seasons in 34 states and then will do additional reviews.

“This decision responds directly to the strong advocacy of America’s cotton and soybean farmers, particularly growers across the Cotton Belt, who have been clear and consistent about the critical challenges they face without access to this tool for controlling resistant weeds in their growing crops,” said EPA in a release. “This action reflects this administration’s commitment to ensuring farmers have the tools they need to succeed while protecting the environment with the strongest safeguards ever imposed on OTT dicamba use.”

EPA says it conducted a thorough pesticide evaluation, using data and hundreds of publicly available independent, peer-reviewed studies and real-world field results to do a human health and ecological risk assessment.

“To be clear, these studies involved pesticide applicators with decades of intensive exposure, not typical consumers,” EPA said.

The agency used that information to help build in what it calls extra precautions into the registration with a focus on reducing worker contact with the product. When applied according to the new label instructions, EPA’s analysis found no unreasonable risk to human health or the environment from OTT dicamba use. It also recognized the issues with drift and calls them legitimate concerns.

“The ecological risks associated with dicamba drift and volatility are real,” EPA said. “If not carefully mitigated, off-target movement of dicamba can damage sensitive plants and impact neighboring farms and natural ecosystems. These concerns are exactly why the strongest safeguards ever are essential.”

EPA says it designed new label restrictions to directly address them, including cutting the amount of dicamba that can be used annually in half, doubling required safety agents, requiring conservation practices to protect endangered species and restricting applications during high temperatures when exposure and volatility risks increase.

New Dicamba Restrictions for 2026 Registration

EPA says they will continue to track how the chemistry performs in the real world and make adjustments if needed. That said, it’s now requiring a host of new mitigation measures, focused on reducing drift, minimizing volatility and protecting ecosystems.

Maximum application rate cut in half. A maximum of two applications of 0.5 lbs. of dicamba per acre may be made annually, for a maximum of 1.0 lb. of all dicamba products annually. (The 2020 registration permitted up to four applications of 0.5 lb./acre, only two could be over-the-top, for a total of 2 lb. of dicamba annually.) This directly reduces the total amount of dicamba in the environment and limits potential exposure to sensitive species.
Doubled volatility reduction agents. 40 oz./acre of approved Volatility Reduction Agent (VRA) must be added to every application.** This significantly reduces the likelihood that dicamba will volatilize (turn into vapor) after application and drift off-target hours or days later — one of the primary pathways for environmental damage.
Mandatory conservation practices. Growers must achieve three runoff/erosion mitigation points from EPA’s certified conservation practices menu on each treated field to protect endangered and threatened species. In some geographically-specific pesticide use limitation areas (PULAs) where especially vulnerable species require additional safeguards, six points are required. These practices — such as vegetative buffers, contour farming and cover crops — physically prevent dicamba from moving off-field in runoff or eroded soil, protecting waterways and habitats.
Temperature-based application limits. On the day of or the day after applications occurring with a forecasted temperature between 85 and 95°F, a user may only treat up to 50% of their untreated dicamba-tolerant (DT) cotton and soybean acres in a county. Remaining DT cotton and soybean acres may not be treated until at least two days after the initial application. This reduces risk during elevated volatility and drift conditions. No applications may occur if the temperature is forecasted to be at or above 95°F on the day of or the day after a planned application, eliminating applications during the highest-risk conditions.

Legacy Diacamba Restrictions Retained on the 2026 Registration

Restricted Use Pesticide designation. Only certified applicators may use this product, ensuring applications are made by trained professionals who understand the risks.
Annual mandatory training. Certified applicators must complete annual training specific to OTT dicamba use, keeping users informed of label requirements, best practices and environmental protection guidelines.
Personal protective equipment (PPE). Several products require loaders, mixers, handlers and applicators to wear label-approved PPE, directly reducing worker exposure.
24-hour Restricted Entry Interval (REI). No one may re-enter a treated field within 24 hours of application, protecting workers and the public from exposure.
Mandatory Drift Reduction Agent (DRA). An approved DRA must be added to every tank mix, creating larger, heavier droplets that are less likely to drift off-target.
240-ft. downwind spray drift buffer. A substantial physical buffer must be maintained during applications to protect adjacent areas. This distance may be decreased only if additional label-approved mitigations (hooded sprayers, downwind windbreaks, etc.) are used, ensuring protection is maintained. (The distance of downwind spray drift buffers may be decreased if other label-approved mitigations are used.)
Strict application timing restrictions. Applications may not be made during a temperature inversion (when atmospheric conditions trap pesticides near the ground and increase drift risk), within 48 hours ahead of forecasted rainfall (which can wash dicamba off-target), if soil is saturated with water, or within one hour after sunrise or after two hours before sunset (when inversions are most likely). These timing restrictions target the specific weather conditions that have historically led to drift problems.
Proximity restrictions. Applications are prohibited if dicamba-sensitive crops or plants are in downwind areas, preventing direct harm to vulnerable species and neighboring crops. (A list of dicamba-sensitive plants and crops is provided on the label.)
Wind speed requirements. Applications must take place when wind speed is between 3-10 mph—strong enough to prevent inversions but not so strong as to cause excessive drift.
Droplet size requirements. Applications must use coarse or coarser spray droplets, which are heavier and less prone to drift than fine droplets.
Low spray height. Spray release height must be no higher than 2 feet above the ground or crop canopy, minimizing the distance droplets can drift before reaching their target.
Aerial application prohibition. Aerial application is completely prohibited, eliminating a higher-risk application method.
Tank mixing prohibition. Tank mixing with ammonium sulfate-containing products is prohibited because these products can increase volatility.
Mandatory record keeping. Specific records must be kept of every application to ensure consistency with all label requirements and enable enforcement.

New Dicamba Rules Are Not Optional

In its release, EPA says these restrictions are not optional and adds that they are enforceable legal requirements.

“Applicators who fail to follow label directions are subject to significant penalties under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), including civil fines and, in cases of knowing violations, criminal prosecution,” it said in the release. “EPA will work with state enforcement to actively monitor compliance, and violations will be met with serious consequences.”

EPA says the temporary approval reflects its commitment to make sure farmers have the tools they need to succeed while protecting the environment.

“Cotton farmers across the southern United States have been particularly vocal about why they need OTT dicamba as herbicide-resistant weeds like Palmer amaranth have become nearly impossible to control with other available tools, threatening crop yields and farm viability,” said EPA. “These “super weeds” can grow 3 inches per day and destroy entire fields. Without effective weed management during the growing season, these producers face devastating economic losses.”

Industry Organizations Say Thank You

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) sent a letter to the EPA in fall 2025, urging EPA to adopt clear, workable label requirements for dicamba that help growers manage weeds effectively while supporting strong stewardship across the industry.

“ARA applauds EPA’s recent decision that preserves the safe use of OTT dicamba while maintaining workable, label required mitigation measures for commercial applicators,” said Daren Coppock, ARA president and CEO. “ARA members have a strong record of responsibly managing dicamba applications and advancing the implementation of precision ag technologies that help growers control resistant and hard to manage weeds. OTT dicamba remains an essential tool for protecting yields and supporting soil health and environmental sustainability in cotton and soybean production.”

The National Cotton Council (NCC) says cotton growers need timely access to effective tools to protect yields and deliver a high-quality crop.

“EPA’s decision provides growers much-needed clarity as they prepare for the upcoming growing season,” said Patrick Johnson, chairman of the National Cotton Council. “We support label requirements that are workable in the field and backed by a science-based registration process. NCC will continue engaging with the EPA to advocate for practical provisions that enable responsible use.”

NCC encourages applicators and producers to follow all label requirements when using dicamba as part of an integrated weed management program.

The American Soybean Association (ASA) is eager to review the label and continue engaging with EPA to ensure regulatory decisions support both environmental stewardship and the realities of modern agriculture.

“We appreciate EPA moving forward with a new dicamba label and recognize the importance of maintaining access to this tool for soybean farmers,” said Scott Metzger, ASA president and an Ohio soybean grower. “Farmers need clear, workable rules that accurately reflect how we farm. We look forward to reviewing the final label and hope it incorporates the feedback ASA and its state affiliates provided to ensure dicamba remains a practical option within a responsible, science-based weed management system.”

Bayer Announces New Dicamba Product

On Friday, Bayer said the EPA’s decision enabled the company to launch its new dicamba herbicide: Stryax.

“With a federal registration in hand, we’ll begin the process of seeking state approvals,” said Dr. Ty Witten, Bayer’s vice president of commercial stewardship,crop science. “In the coming weeks, we’ll launch applicator training opportunities, and stewardship education to help ensure that growers and applicators have the best experience possible with Stryax herbicide.”

Stryax will be a restricted use pesticide and require the use of a qualified volatility agent and drift reduction agent. The company says the new product was formulated to be an additional herbicide option for in-crop use with XtendFlex soybeans, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and cotton with XtendFlex technology.

Will Land Values Remain Resilient in 2026 in The Face of a Farm Crisis?

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:59:10 GMT

While we may not see as many record eye-popping land sales in 2026, experts say they still anticipate the land market to remain resilient. After years of steady growth, the agricultural land market is shifting and stabilizing. That’s according to analysis from Farmers National Company.

“When we look to 2026, we look for the market to remain stable. We don’t see anything on the horizon that would indicate large fluctuations in land values,” says Colton Lacina, senior vice president of real estate operations. “There are some macro influential factors we are watching — whether that’s grain prices, the 2026 crop and also interest rates.”

He says this isn’t a sign of collapse, but a recalibration that reflects current commodity prices, input costs and regional production conditions.

“We aren’t anticipating the market to fall out, but we are with prolonged compressed margins in the commodity sector. We are anticipating the growth to slow down,” Lacina points out.

Land Market Still Resilient

Still, the resilience of land values has been a welcome surprise to Lacina and his company.

“I think it comes down to, fundamentally, supply and demand. Our supply has continued to be, throughout the last 18 months, historically low, and demand has remained stable. So, that really props up the resiliency of the market,” he adds.

That’s good news with four-year lows in grain prices, and particularly for farmers who own their land outright. That value is what’s keeping many of them in business with negative profits.

Regional Differences Emerge

Although land values are still high historically, current signs indicate a more complex market — driven by local and regional factors rather than nationwide trends. Of the eight regions Farmers National Company serves, Lacina says some are faring better than others.

“The core Midwest, the I-states and eastern Nebraska have remained much more stable than say the Southern regions where different commodity types or crop types, being cotton or rice, are seeing a little more weakness there. We’ve also seen marginal land slide,” Lacina says.

Farmers Still Main Buyers, But More Conservative

Lacina says active farmers remain the largest group of buyers, yet many are more cautious — weighing profitability concerns against long-term ownership goals. They focus on high-quality land within their established areas.

“In areas that we saw good yields in 2025, we’re seeing that translate into higher land values in areas that were impacted on yield. Producers being our largest buying sector, they are being more conservative and really analyzing those purchases,” he explains.

One bright spot has been increased value for range and pasture land with high cattle prices. Additionally, Lacina says they only expect land rental rates to cool by about 1.5% in 2026.

HERMON Offers Farmers Fresh Hope In The War On Weeds

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 19:31:10 GMT

Herbicide-resistant weeds aren’t just a here-and-there nuisance in the Midwest anymore. From herbicide-resistant waterhemp to Palmer amaranth (pigweed), ragweed and ryegrass, more farmers are seeing them and finding they can shrug off nearly anything sprayed to control them. That’s the reality the new HERMON project is built around.

HERMON stands for Herbicide Resistance Monitoring Network. It’s a multi-state effort funded by a United Soybean Board grant and led by Eric Patterson, Michigan State University weed geneticist.

The idea is to connect farmers, university weed scientists, and diagnostic labs in a way that finds herbicide resistance in weeds sooner, figures out what’s contributing to it, and turns those insights into useful recommendations to help farmers address the problem in their fields before it gets totally out of hand.

Moving Beyond The Gold Standard

Patterson says that until now, the way resistance was confirmed has been slow and clunky. It usually starts when a farmer spots a patch of weed escapes and suspects something more than a sprayer skip.

“You’re looking at plants coming [into a lab] in the fall, getting screened all winter long, and growers not having the results until the spring,” Patterson says. “Growers [are] already putting out pres when they’re learning about what resistance they have in their field.”

Patterson calls that traditional “whole-plant greenhouse work” the gold standard for the industry, and he’s not looking to throw it out. But HERMON is providing faster testing methods and results in addition to that, so farmers aren’t always waiting months for answers.

One of the big tools weed scientists are leaning on is DNA testing. Any time a weed evolves resistance, there’s some sort of change in its DNA. If researchers know what mutation to look for, they can test for that directly.

“If we can do enough research and know what all of those mutations are, we could technically just screen for those mutations and use that as a proxy or as a marker that that plant is likely to be resistant,” Patterson explains.

The DNA testing already works well for certain types of resistance, he adds, like for Group 2 ALS (acetolactate synthase) inhibitors and a lot of glyphosate-resistant waterhemp and Palmer amaranth.

“We know that target site for pretty much every major weed, so we can just sequence up that gene and it either comes back ‘yes or no,’” Patterson says.

However, DNA tests aren’t a perfect solution.

“We can usually confirm that something would be resistant, but we cannot confirm that it would be susceptible,” he says.

There can always be a new mutation or a different mechanism, especially with more complicated metabolic resistance. Still, DNA-based tests can often get an answer back in three or four weeks.

HERMON researchers are also working on other practical lab tests. One promising approach is called a leaf-disk assay.

“You take a little bit of a leaf [called a disk] and soak it in a herbicide, and then you can kind of monitor the health of that leaf, and you can compare that to a leaf disk that was not put in the herbicide,” Patterson says. Researchers use a camera or scanner to measure how green the disks stay. For contact herbicides like glufosinate and many PPOs, this can give a good read on whether a specific weed population is resistant.

“This is kind of the intermediate between going fully into DNA, but still being able to do something in the lab that helps you monitor things quickly,” Patterson says.

Breaking Down The Walls

HERMON bridges 10 land-grant universities across states like Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The goal is a transparent exchange of data and weed populations.

“We’re trying to share those resources with each other and not hoard them or sit on them,” Patterson notes. “I think there’s been many, many walls between different groups that if we can reduce those barriers, we can have better monitoring.”

Joe Ikley, North Dakota State University Extension weed specialist, has already seen the value of collaboration. By working with industry partners like BASF on a rapid test for PPO-resistant kochia, his team identified many resistant populations in a fraction of the time it might have taken before now.

“If we’d had to do this the old-fashioned way to find the mutation two years ago, we might be talking only 10 populations we know of versus a couple hundred,” Ikley says.

Proactive Management for the Future

Looking ahead, Patterson sees HERMON as a starting point for something that could be used across the U.S. “I kind of see HERMON as a test balloon to see if there is interest in a fully nationalized project where resistance monitoring becomes kind of an established thing that every state and every land-grant university contributes to,” he notes.

Sarah Lancaster says the opportunity to have a platform where weed specialists can share information across a state or area about resistant weed populations and their location could be a game changer for farmers.

As she puts it, if a Kansas farmer in one county knows there’s confirmed resistance just a county or two away, “[they’re] going to be more vigilant and more proactive” with herbicide selection, trait choices, and overall weed management, says Lancaster, Extension weed scientist at Kansas State University.

While HERMON offers hope that resistance can be addressed better and faster in the future, no one involved in the project is expecting to develop a miracle product that resets weed control. As Ikley jokes, “Silver bullets are for werewolves, not for weeds.” Instead, the goal is to tighten the loop between what farmers see in the field and what scientists can confirm in the lab, so growers get earlier warnings and better information to protect the herbicides they still have available.

Patterson notes that in corn, there are still several chemistries for farmers to move between. But soybeans don’t have that luxury.

Growers end up “putting a lot more pressure on PPO inhibitors, as well as some of the new traits that are coming out,” Patterson says. The scary question he and other researchers ask is, “What happens when there are no viable herbicides left, and how do you manage that?”

With help from HERMON, researchers hope to not have to answer that question anytime soon.

For additional insights on HERMON, check out the War Against Weeds podcast, featuring Patterson and hosts Sarah Lancaster and Joe Ikley. The podcast was promoted by GROW (Getting Rid of Weeds), a scientist-led network coordinating research to help farmers across the U.S. fight herbicide resistance.

At a Breaking Point, More Cotton Farmers Could Be Forced to Walk Away

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 17:59:59 GMT

It’s a grim reality that isn’t improving in the South. Cotton and rice producers say their balance sheets are bleeding red. After multiple years of losses, debt continues to mount, and recently announced government payments are not expected to come close to covering the financial hole farmers face again this year.

For many, the question is no longer how to make a profit, it’s whether they can stay in farming at all.

Farmers, industry leaders and economists warn the U.S. could be approaching a breaking point for cotton and rice production, with 2026 shaping up to be another year that pushes more growers out of the business. And with more farmers potentially walking away, the fear is the U.S. could be on the verge of losing those industries altogether.

“An Average Crop Doesn’t Pay the Bills”

For Charles Williams, a farmer in Crawfordsville, Ark., he’s seen what multiple years of losses can do to an industry.

“In terms of how the year ended up, it’s pretty average to mediocre,” Williams says. “But an average crop really doesn’t pay the bills, unfortunately.”

Looking back at 2025, Williams says he feels fortunate his operation was able to plant at all. Heavy flooding across the mid-South last spring forced many acres to go unplanted, compounding losses in a region heavily dependent on rice and cotton.

The flooding came at a time when acreage was already under pressure.

“I’m on the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board, and I’ve seen some projections on acres,” Williams says. “In 2024, I think we had 1.4 million acres of rice here in the state. In 2025, USDA shows 1.25 million got planted. I’m kind of surprised by that number, but it’s probably some late-planted rice. We’re projecting under 900,000 acres. I think that’s the lowest acreage since 1983.”

Arkansas is the nation’s largest rice-producing state, growing roughly half of all U.S. rice. Cotton is the other cornerstone crop,but it comes with specialized, expensive equipment that leaves farmers with few alternatives.

Because these farmers have cotton equipment to pay for, equipment that can only do one thing, which is pick cotton, walking away isn’t an easy choice. Williams also is an owner of a gin.

“We’ll continue to plant some cotton, at least as much as we did last year,” he says. “Our production last year is half of what it historically is, so we’ll be 50% to 60%, maybe 65% of what we historically plant with cotton. Rice, I don’t know. There may not be a whole lot of rice grown, quite frankly.”

The Piece Not Many Are Saying Out Loud: “We’re on the Cusp of Offshoring Production”

Williams says many farmers are planting crops in 2026 knowing full well they won’t make money on them. That reality has him worried about the long-term future of U.S. production.

“I hate to think about the possibility of offshoring cotton production and rice production,” Williams says. “I think we’re on the cusp of that right now.”

That concern is echoed across the Cotton Belt.

When Gary Adams, president and CEO of the National Cotton Council, spoke to “U.S. Farm Report” last spring, he warned the industry had gone from just losing money to losing farms . Nearly a year later, he says little has changed.

“If you just look at the economics of where the market is, it’s been generally trading sideways over the last half of 2025,” Adams says. “For a lot of growers, the situation is kind of the same as it had been. You just put another year of losses on top of what had been a couple of years before that.”

Adams says conversations with farmers reveal a level of stress he hasn’t seen before. Average cotton losses in 2025 are estimated at more than $300 per acre.

“That’s the kind of numbers we’re seeing for the 2025 crop,” Adams says. “We compare that to 2024, even a little worse than what we saw in 2024, and 2023 had a loss as well, just not as large. That’s the magnitude we’re looking at when we stack up market returns versus cost of production.”

Government Aid Helps, But Doesn’t Close the Gap

Last week, USDA announced payment rates for the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program , with rice payments set at nearly $133 per acre and cotton payments just over $117 per acre.

Those payments drew criticism from soybean farmers who argue soybeans were hit harder by last year’s trade dispute with China.

Seth Meyer, who served as USDA chief economist for five years before taking a job with the University of Missouri to start 2026, was on the front lines of crafting the calculations for the Farmer Bridge Program payments. He says it’s key to understand the program is designed as economic aid, not trade mitigation.

“We started off this discussion about trade mitigation and simply tight margins and tough economic conditions to bridge us to ARC and PLC support,” says Seth Meyer, director of Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri and former USDA chief economist. “The safety net kicks in in October of this year. When folks look at some of the commodity payments, this is an economic impact. They were calculating these very similarly to ECAP, looking at shortfalls in cost of production, not trade impacts.”

Meyer says the administration was pursuing multiple strategies simultaneously while being strategic with how the program was rolled out.

“There’s been kind of two efforts,” he says. “One is putting a program out there so the Chinese can’t hold that trade impact over our head during negotiation. At the same time, we’re pursuing other trade opportunities. When we look at ongoing trade negotiations with China and the president’s supposed visit in the spring, there’s been some progress, even though the friction lasted longer than last time.”

But the Farmer Bridge payments are capped at $155,000 per individual, a limit Adams says will constrain many cotton operations.

“I do think it’s helping offset a portion of their shortfall,” Adams says. “It gives them a chance to stay in business, not a chance at a profit, a chance to stay in business, when you combine it with the higher reference prices in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that will take effect later this year.”

He says in the OBBB, cotton’s seed cotton reference price increased about 14%, but those funds won’t arrive until October.

“There’s still a lot of weight between now and then,” Adams says. “Things can happen with the market. This serves as a bridge, but does it fill the entire hole they’re facing? No, it doesn’t.”

What it does provide, Adams says, is some reassurance to lenders.

“It gives lenders some assurance to go with them for another year,” he says. “That’s the situation a lot of growers are in.”

More Farmers Walking Away? Those Decisions Are Being Made Right Now

Even with the assistance that USDA says should hit bank accounts by the end of February, Adams says some farmers won’t make it, either by choice or because their lender won’t finance them for the upcoming year.

“Some growers will look at the markets, look at cost of production, look at what equity they still have and make the decision that that’s enough,” Adams says. “They’ll decide to get out of farming and do something else. We know those decisions are being made right now.”

When asked whether the industry expects an uptick in farmers exiting, particularly in the mid-South, Adams doesn’t hesitate.

“I think there’s a really good chance that will happen,” he says. “Whether it’s by choice or dictated by their lender, they’re taking a hard look at what equity they still have and whether they want to continue taking on that level of risk.”

Ag Lender Says Farmers Are Seeing the Most Financial Stress Since the 1980s

Greg Cole is president and CEO of AgHeritage Farm Credit Services, which serves roughly 6,700 members across 24 counties in Arkansas. Cole started in ag lending in 1984, and he told U.S. Farm Report last year that Arkansas farmers were staring at a loss on every crop they grow . He says it’s not an exact repeat of the 1980s, but it’s eerily similar.

“I can tell you this, this is the most stress I’ve seen since the ‘80s when you come to farm profitability, i.e. farmers losing money,” Cole says. “One positive we have now compared to the ‘80s is land values. Our land values are still positive, which gives some lendable equity —unlike in the 80s, when I started my career, when U.S. farmland prices plummeted in some areas up to 60%.”

With a drastic drop in commodity prices, but input prices still record or near-record high, Cole says farmers in Arkansas, specifically, have been eroding balance sheets for four straight years.

“We started seeing losses in ’22 when 40% of our producers lost money,” Cole says. “In ’23, about 50% lost money. And then last year, in ’24, 70% lost money, with the average loss of about $150 an acre. And that’s after they received about a $50 per acre ECAP payments. Today, we’re looking at where we stand now. We could have a similar level of losses in ‘25 that we had in ‘24. Even though in ’24, we had very strong yields. But now we have weaker yields.”

As mounting debt shows up on the balance sheets, Cole says there are two types of farmers seeing the most severe financial strain.

“The ones who rent most of the land, especially if they pay on the higher end of rent. And here in the Mississippi Delta, most farmers who have a lot of acres rent most of their ground,” Cole says. “And then young, beginning farmers who didn’t have the opportunity to build up a lot of equity. Those are the ones that have occurred these multiple year losses where their balance sheet debt has swollen to a level that’s hard to service a debt when you add the interest rate cost on top of it.”

What Will It Take to Turn Cotton Prices Around?

With prices still below breakeven again this year, Adams says the industry is focused on the demand side of the equation.

“Commodity markets are always cyclical,” he says. “There will be some unanticipated shock, but when we look forward. We’re really focused on demand; global cotton demand has been relatively stagnant for the last decade.”

Global consumption currently sits between 115 million and 118 million bales, down from highs of 123 million to 124 million bales. That’s why the industry is leaning into campaigns like Plant Not Plastic , highlighting cotton’s environmental and health benefits.

“We’re really focusing on cotton as a natural fiber and a healthy alternative to synthetics,” Adams says. “Microplastic microfiber pollution is in the environment, in our bodies and in our food. We want brands, retailers and consumers to be aware of that.”

Adams also points to untapped domestic demand. Of the roughly 40 million bales of fiber consumed in the U.S. retail market each year, only about 4 million bales, roughly 10%, are U.S. cotton.

Legislation known as the Buying American Cotton Act , introduced by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, aims to change that by offering transferable tax credits for products made with U.S.-grown cotton.

“We hope in the next two to three weeks to have a companion bill introduced in the House,” Adams says. “This would provide tax incentives to brands and retailers that document the use of U.S. cotton. We believe that translates into additional demand and better prices for producers.”

Williams says domestic consumption is critical.

“I think we need to find ways to incentivize production as much as we can,” he says. “Beyond that, domestic consumption is something we need to be looking at. The Buying American Cotton Act is an America-first approach that could reshore finished goods. That’s what we need.”

“It’s Hang On and Hold On”

Until something changes, farmers say the pressure will continue into 2026. For Williams, the stakes are deeply personal.

“It’s hang on and hold on,” he says. “I’m going on 52 years old. I’ve got four kids, two in college and two in high school, and I need to see them through.”

For many cotton and rice farmers across the mid-South, the coming year could determine whether holding on is still possible.

End of an Era? Glufosinate's Tight Grip On Waterhemp Finally Breaks

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 20:01:01 GMT

For many farmers, glufosinate quietly became the last dependable post-emergence option to control tough broadleaf weeds like waterhemp in fields where glyphosate, ALS, PPO, and HPPD herbicides had already slipped in performance. Glufosinate’s “last herbicide standing” status is why what’s happening in Illinois now should grab your full attention.

University of Illinois weed scientist Patrick Tranel and his colleagues announced in December that they have confirmed several glufosinate-resistant waterhemp populations in Carroll County, in northern Illinois.

That confirmation is a big deal. Boiled down, what this means for Illinois farmers is stark: Every post-emergence herbicide available to control waterhemp in the state—seven different herbicide groups—is now compromised to some degree.

Tranel adds that some preemergence chemistries are also declining in efficacy. How that plays out in fields: he says pre herbicides that might once have provided four weeks of residual control now keep weeds in check for only three weeks.

“Let that set in for a moment,” he says. “That means we can’t just go out there and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to use this herbicide to control waterhemp.’ You might not have resistance in your field yet to that particular herbicide, but it’s out there in the state, and if you rely on that single post product, you are going to get resistance.”

Farmers in states outside Illinois aren’t off the hook, either. The problem of glufosinate-resistant waterhemp is suspected in at least six other states including Missouri, Indiana, Iowa , Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee.

“ Missouri farmers are facing declining control of waterhemp with two of our most common post products—glufosinate and 2,4-D—and that continues going into 2026,” says Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri Extension weed scientist.

Why Waterhemp is a Driver Weed

Waterhemp is considered a “driver weed” for many row crop growers across the Midwest and South due to its ability to severely impact yields.

Yield Losses: Uncontrolled populations can cause extensive yield losses—up to 74% in corn and 56% in soybeans—according to research by Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee Extension weed scientist.
Dominance: In the 2025 Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) broadleaf crops weed survey, waterhemp surpassed Palmer amaranth (pigweed) as the most problematic weed.
Biological Challenge: The reasons for waterhemp’s dominance include prolific seed production (up to 1 million seeds/plant), season-long germination, rapid growth, dioecious nature (male/female plants for high genetic diversity), and widespread resistance to multiple herbicide sites of action (SOA).

One Of The Challenges: Subtle Resistance and Regrowth

Tranel calls what Illinois researchers are seeing the early stages of resistance evolution. Critically, what they observe isn’t the obvious kind of resistance where the herbicide does nothing. This low-level resistance makes it difficult to detect in the field.

“It looks the same as what the symptomology looks like on a glufosinate-sensitive plant, except not as severe… you’re going to see that burning, but you’re not going to see the continued progression of that control,” Tranel says. “You’re going to start seeing regrowth.”

In Illinois field trials, resistant plants were sprayed small, with full rates, under near-perfect conditions (hot, humid, sunny, with ample soil moisture), and still, some waterhemp survived.

Tranel’s research suggests some resistant plants may be able to detoxify glufosinate faster at higher temperatures:

“We saw actually worse control of the resistant population under higher temperatures… we think that’s because the resistant population is able to metabolize or detoxify the glufosinate, and at higher temperature it’s able to do that faster,” he says.

Bradley agrees, reporting similar scenarios in Missouri. This low-level resistance can be easily confused with application issues, which makes confirmation difficult. Farmers often report poor glufosinate control due to weeds that were too big, poor spray coverage under a canopy, or less-than-ideal temperature and humidity.

“It can be difficult to distinguish between, ‘Do I really have a resistant population, or was my application not quite right?'" Tranel explains.

The Harsh Reality: No Chemical Safety Net Left

The urgent message for farmers is that they can no longer rely on any single product to deliver control of waterhemp and other tough weeds. Furthermore, the old rule of simply rotating sites of action is no longer sufficient.

“Fifteen years ago, almost all our resistance was due to target site change,” Tranel explains. “All the new mechanisms we’ve discovered in the last 15 years have been due to mechanisms other than a target site change.”

This shift in the plant’s biology means that merely switching group numbers will not keep growers ahead of waterhemp for long.

“You can’t manage chemical resistance with chemicals,” Tranel says. “We cannot exclusively rely on herbicides like we have been able to do in past decades.”

Strategies for the Long Haul: Don’t Cut Weed Control Rates

Farmers face going into the 2026 season with paper-thin margins. During a recent farmer panel discussion, Kevin Bradley asked several high-yield Missouri growers what keeps them up at night.

“Every single one of them said input prices,” he recalls. “Many of our growers are just doing what they believe they have to do to be able to stay on their land and farm. The problem is we are just seeing more performance failures with our post herbicide products that we rely on now,” he adds.

Bradley and Tranel are concerned about farmers choosing to trim herbicide programs. They both strongly recommend that farmers use full rates of herbicides, especially in fields with tough weed issues. Cutting herbicide rates will save few if any dollars.

“With glufosinate, we’re talking pennies between lower and full rates. It’s not going to be a whole lot of money to get better control of weeds and prevent them going to seed,” Bradley says.

Diversify and Aim for Zero Seed

Glufosinate must be treated like a valuable resource. The weed scientists encourage farmers to protect it by making every application as effective as possible and reducing the number of weeds it has to kill. Key practices they recommend include:

Use Multiple Products: Tranel advises against leaning on a single post-emergence herbicide. Instead, “use two or more, either tank mixed or in sequence,” and use an overlapping residual.
Integrate Non-Chemical Tools: Practices like using cover crops that produce significant biomass can suppress waterhemp and other weeds, reducing the number of weeds that ever see a spray pass. New technologies such as weed zappers, harvest weed-seed management products, and weed flamers are also gaining traction. As these options prove viable, they give producers additional tools to the current chemical options for weed control, notes Matthew Woolard, WSSA Science Policy Fellow and Texas Tech University graduate assistant.
Have a ‘Zero-Seed’ Goal: The ultimate long-term strategy is to deplete the soil seed bank. “At the end of the growing season, if you don’t have a weed going to seed, you’re not going to get evolution of resistance,” Tranel says. Achieving this goal will reduce pressure on your herbicide program.

Tranel says he sometimes ponders where the farming community would be today with regard to weeds if glyphosate had been stewarded better. It’s a lesson he hopes row crop growers take to heart.

“Glufosinate might be the best thing we have for the next 10 years. How can we make sure we can keep using it for the next 10 years?” Tranel says.

The answer is not more glufosinate use on its own. Better systems—using multiple SOA products, more crop diversity, more scouting, and allowing fewer escapes to go to seed—can help keep the chemistry in play.

Bottom line: The clock on glufosinate is already ticking down, and how fast it runs out is now largely in farmers’ hands.

Southern Farmers Face ‘Brutal’ Losses as Rice and Cotton Lead Commodity Collapse

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 18:08:38 GMT

Arkansas farmer Nathan Reed says the financial pressure facing farmers in the South this year is unlike anything he has seen in his career — and it is hitting rice and cotton producers especially hard.

After several years of elevated input costs combined with an extended stretch of weak commodity prices, Reed says many Southern operations are now reaching a breaking point. While farmers across the country are feeling margin pressure, he says producers in the Delta face a uniquely severe financial squeeze that leaves little room for error.

“We are in a very difficult situation in the South, in Arkansas,” Reed says. “I grow five crops: cotton, corn, soybeans and rice, with wheat and milo every once in a while. My corn and soybeans don’t pencil out, but the losses are nowhere near what the rice and cotton losses are. It is just brutal, the losses that we’re sustaining.”

Reed says the scale of the losses is hard to overstate, particularly for rice and cotton.

“Rice and cotton right now are by far the biggest losers in commodities,” he says. “It’s just staggering losses per acre.”

Southern Farms Face Unique Financial Exposure

Reed says the financial stress facing Southern farmers goes beyond commodity prices alone. Structural differences in how farms operate in the region create a very different risk profile than what many Midwest producers face.

“Being in the South, we farm improved land, and we’re mostly irrigated,” Reed explains. “Compared to the Midwest, I would say we [have] farm larger operations, but we’ve been forced toward that just to maintain the same standard of living.”

That expansion, he says, has not necessarily improved profitability — and in many cases, it has increased exposure.

“We’ve been forced to expand quite a bit, but we don’t have as workable of an insurance program,” Reed says. “Because we’re always going to make 80% of a crop through irrigation and land improvements, we can’t really rely on insurance. We’re always going to make the crop.”

That reality, Reed says, leaves Southern producers vulnerable when prices collapse.

“We can have some pretty severe losses without any real way to recoup those losses,” he says. “That’s the risk we live with.”

Rice and Cotton Losses Deepen

USDA was expected to roll out the exact Farmer Bridge Program payment rates this week, but the agency says that will now happen before the end of next week with payments expected to roll out early next year. Ahead of USDA’s official release, early estimates point to cotton and rice seeing the biggest payment rates , and that’s understandably so considering cotton and rice are experiencing the steepest losses this year.

As price pressure intensifies, Reed says earlier loss projections are quickly becoming outdated, particularly for rice.

According to University of Arkansas projections released earlier this fall, losses were estimated at roughly $85 per acre for soybeans, nearly $353 per acre for cotton and about $259 per acre for rice.

Reed says rice losses are now significantly worse.

“The rice price is over 50¢ less than when that projection was made,” he says. “Rice losses are closer to over $300 an acre now, and yes, that’s very close to reality.”

He says those figures already include equipment payments, land rent and operating expenses — and that makes the situation even more precarious for producers carrying heavier debt loads.

“They take every number into account, equipment payments, land, rent, all of that,” Reed says. “If you’ve got a heavy debt load on equipment, rent and land at 20% to 25% market share, that’s absolutely the kind of loss you’re looking at.”

Watch the full “Unscripted” episode here:

‘You Can’t Just Walk Away From Cotton’

Despite those losses, Reed says cotton isn’t a crop farmers can simply abandon. Years of investment and infrastructure lock producers into the crop, even during downturns.

“The problem with cotton is you kind of have everything else we farm, and then you have cotton,” Reed says. “It takes a lot of specialized equipment. I’ve got three cotton pickers. I don’t have enough combine capacity to harvest all my land if I walked away from cotton.”

Beyond the equipment, Reed says entire regional systems depend on cotton production.

“You’ve got gins, warehouses, seed crushing facilities — this whole infrastructure that’s built just for cotton,” he says. “If you’re not careful, you can lose that in two to three years.”

Reed says most cotton farmers understand what’s at stake.

“I think most cotton farmers recognize that and are willing to try to stay in the cotton business as long as we can,” he says. “I’ve severely curtailed my acres, not because I wanted to, but out of economic necessity. I had to cut back to a level I can afford to lose.”

Global Competition and a ‘Non-Level Playing Field’

Reed says the financial strain is compounded by what he sees as unfair global competition. While U.S. farmers operate under strict regulations and higher costs, competitors abroad do not face the same constraints.

“I used to feel like the American farmer could compete against anybody in the world,” Reed says. “Now, I feel like we can produce the highest-quality crops under the best environmental and worker safety standards, but we are having difficulty competing on price.”

He points to cotton as a clear example.

“When you have South America making money on cotton in the low 60¢ range and the American cotton farmer hemorrhaging money, something’s not right,” Reed says. “How do you rebalance that? I don’t know.”

Higher labor costs and equipment expenses only widen the gap, he adds.

“I pay more for my labor per hour than most of our competition pays per day,” Reed says. “They’re buying the same tractors we are, but for 20% less because they don’t have to deal with emissions systems and the problems that go with them.”

Financing Pressure Builds Heading Into 2026

As producers look ahead to 2026, Reed says decision-making has shifted from profitability to survival.

“Right now, what we’re really looking at is what we can lose the least on,” he says. “That’s what my decision-making is.”

Even with expected USDA bridge payments, Reed says financing pressure is mounting and many producers may not make it through another year.

“Oh absolutely, there will be farmers who can’t get financed,” Reed says. “It’s been quiet because people were waiting to see what would happen. But my banker is getting calls every day from people trying to refinance or who’ve been cut off.”

He says once temporary relief measures are accounted for, the true impact will surface.

“I think that’s when the pain really comes,” Reed says.

The Stakes for Rural America

Reed says the consequences of sustained losses extend far beyond individual farms, especially in rural Southern communities where agriculture is the primary economic driver.

“In our little community, it’s just ag,” he says. “We don’t have factories. The whole middle class works for ag-related businesses.”

If farming isn’t viable, Reed says the ripple effects are devastating.

“If agriculture is not sustainable, I can’t stay,” he says. “And it drains out the tax base, the schools, everything. If ag is not viable, we might as well shut the door on every small town across the South.”

Reed says American farmers have upheld their end of the bargain.

“The American farmer has done their job,” he says. “We’ve provided the cheapest food per capita anywhere else in the world.”

But without change, he warns, the system will continue to erode.

“Twenty years ago, you could farm 2,000 acres, raise a family and be solidly middle class,” Reed says. “Now you’ve got to farm five times that just to maintain the same lifestyle. That tells you how bad this has gotten.”

FarmDoc Releases Farmer Bridge Assistance Payment Estimates

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 21:04:38 GMT

USDA is scheduled to release the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program payment rates next week. In anticipation of the official numbers, University of Illinois’s farmdoc Daily rolled out its estimates with payments ranging from $21 per acre for barley to a high of $134 per acre for rice.

The FBA program will provide $12 billion in support to offset losses associated with unfair trade practices. The majority of those dollars, $11 billion, will be used for payments to eligible row crop producers while the remaining $1 billion will go toward specialty crops. Payments will be made to farmers by the end of February 2026.

The formula for figuring payments will be similar to ECAP, says CPA Paul Neiffer. He calculated payments using the mid-year average price. For example, the soybean price last year was $10.20, and this year it’s $10.50. Soybeans might see a reduced rate, but all the other crops, especially wheat and rice, are seeing a 10% to 15% increase, he adds.

“Then I took that difference in the price. So I took the old ECAP number, multiplied it by 110% because we have an extra 10% and then multiplied it by that difference in price,” Neiffer says. “If the price went down, that payment went up a little bit, and if the price went up like it did for soybeans, that price went down.”

Corn farmers will receive the largest share of payments at more than $4.5 billion as farmdoc estimates bridge payments for corn at $46 an acre. However, that still won’t make up for four-year lows in prices and near-record-high input prices, says Matt Frostic, vice president of the National Corn Growers Association.

“We’re looking at $170 [per acre] negative margins in corn this year, which is pretty dramatic. When you couple that with some of the peripheral states where they’ve had disaster the last couple of years due to drought, the grower is in pretty tough shape right now to endure some of this.”

For soybeans, farmdoc shows losses of $83 per acre and an estimated bridge payment of $25 per acre. All told, soybean farmers will receive over $2 billion of the $11 billion allocated to row crop farmers in the program.

Caleb Ragland , president, American Soybean Association, says these payments can’t make up for losing their top export customer, China, due to tariffs and the trade war. He says China accounted for 25% of all soybeans grown in the U.S. in 2024, so these payments leave a gap.

“It would help some, but I think the losses and the pain is much deeper than that, quite frankly,” he says. “We’re in a pretty tough spot on many of our operations.”

(FarmDoc)

Highest Payment Per Acre Goes to Rice Farmers
farmdoc estimates the highest bridge payment for rice farmers at $134 per acre based on losses of $446 per acre. That exceeds estimated losses for rice calculated by the University of Arkansas at $259 an acre. Arkansas farmer Nathan Reed said on a recent episode of “Unscripted” the reason for the discrepancy is because that projection was made in October and rice prices have dropped since then.

“The rice price is over 50¢ less than when that projection was made. The rice price is closer to $300 an acre, and yes, that’s very close, especially when they take every number into account, equipment payments, things such as that, land rent, etc.,” Reed says.

While the assistance is welcome, it can’t stop the systematic bleeding from three or four years of accumulated losses on the farm, he adds.

“As things kind of settle and these bridge payments come in, I think that’s when the pain is going to come. For some people that’s when the banks will look at it and say, well, we can get most of our money back, we might need to just cut them off,” Reed explains.

Big losses continue in the South with cotton at a negative $383 per acre, with a bridge payment of $115. Payments for other crops include peanuts at an estimated $64 per acre, wheat at $39, sorghum at $48 per acre and oats at $92.

Christmas Comes Early: Trump Administration Announces $12 Billion in Bridge Payments for Farmers

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:35:23 GMT

Help is on the way for farmers impacted by the Trump administration’s trade policies. The White House released some details of its long-anticipated trade aid package, totaling $12 billion .

Up to $11 billion will go toward a newly designed “Farmer Bridge Assistance” program targeted toward row crop farmers hit hardest by trade disruptions. Those payments will be sent by the end of February, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. The remaining $1 billion will be set aside and is designated for other crops affected by the ongoing disputes.

President Donald Trump announced the package Monday, joined by Rollins, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several growers. Trump said during the roundtable that tariffs will be used to fund the payments, while a release from USDA says the bulk of the funding will run through a new Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program, administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and funded under the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).

Rollins framed the package as near-term help while trade and farm-safety-net updates ramp up. She made comments during the roundtable on Monday, surrounded by farmers.

“President Trump will not let our farmers be left behind, so he directed our team to build a bridge program to see quick relief while the president’s dozens of new trade deals and new market access take effect,” Rollins says. “The plan we are announcing today ensures American farmers can continue to plan for the next crop year … it will allow farmers to leverage strengthened price protection risk management tools and the reliability of fair trade deals so they do not have to depend on large ad hoc assistance packages from the government.”

FARMER VERY GRATEFUL TO @POTUS: "YOU BROUGHT CHRISTMAS TO FARMERS"

Cordt Holub, Corn and Soybean Farmer from Iowa: What you're doing here in D.C. is working... I'll be able to potentially pass on a farm to my children because of you. pic.twitter.com/E3vq6jsTMM
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) December 8, 2025

When Are Farmer Assistance Payments Expected?

Based on information released from USDA on Monday, the timing of the payments are as follows:

Dec. 19, 2025 (5 p.m. ET): Deadline for producers to make sure 2025 acreage reporting is accurate.
End of December 2025: USDA expects to release commodity-specific payment rates.
By Feb. 28, 2026: USDA says eligible FBA payments should be released.
Oct. 1, 2026: USDA points to farm bill-related improvements in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), including higher statutory reference prices for major commodities, reaching eligible farmers starting on this date.

What Farmers Need to Know

Here’s how the new tariff-funded aid package breaks down and what producers can expect it to mean for their operations.

$12 billion total in one-time assistance tied to 2025 conditions, framed as a short-term bridge while new trade access and longer-term safety net changes take effect.
Up to $11 billion is slated for the FBA Program focused on row crops, using a “simple, proportional” national formula intended to cover a portion of modeled 2025 crop-year losses.
$1 billion is reserved for commodities not covered by FBA, including items such as specialty crops and sugar, but USDA says details and timelines are still being developed.
No crop insurance link required to receive FBA payments, though USDA is urging producers to use OBBBA risk management tools going forward.

Which Crops Are Covered Under the New FBA?

USDA says FBA applies to producers of a broad list of row crops and oilseeds, including:

Barley
Corn
Cotton
Peanuts
Oats
Rice
Sorghum
Soybeans
Wheat
Plus crops such as canola, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame and sunflower, among others.

Is $12 Billion Enough?

The administration had been expected to roll out as much as $15 billion in aid back in October, but Rollins said the 43-day federal government shutdown pushed back the timeline.

During his first term, Trump directed about $23 billion in aid to farmers. Reuters reports producers this year were already on track to receive nearly $40 billion in ad-hoc disaster and economic assistance.

The new trade aid package is widely welcomed, but many U.S. farmers say the damage from the trade war, and China’s boycott of U.S. soybeans through harvest, has already taken its toll. Billions of dollars in lost soybean sales pushed China toward South American suppliers, creating long-term financial and market consequences.

While USDA finally unveiled its long-needed trade aid package, delayed by the 43-day government shutdown, many question whether it’s sufficient. Ed Elfman, senior vice president of agriculture and rural banking policy at the American Bankers Association, says the support will help but won’t fix structural issues.

“Any aid will help,” Elfman says. “It’ll help make cash flow work a little better. It’ll make the margins look a little better. Profitability will go up, but at the end of the day, it’s just a Band-Aid. It’s not a long-term solution.”

For some farmers already in financial distress, the relief comes too late.

“A financial bridge is vital for keeping many of our farmers in business going into 2026,” says Caleb Ragland, president, American Soybean Association. “There are some deep losses that have been incurred, and it’s been piling up over a two- or three-year period.”

Northwest Corn Belt Saw Wide Basis

In the northwest Corn Belt, the trade truce and renewed Chinese soybean purchases were too late to prevent wide basis levels and a storage crunch during harvest.

“A lot of producers were forced to sell that crop early, maybe earlier than what they wanted to,” says Kevin Deinert, president, South Dakota Soybean Association. “Given that we had some very depressed prices at that beginning October time frame before any trade deals were announced, some farmers are still reeling from that.”

Elfman says the financial strain is uneven across the country.

“One thing we’re learning from bankers, it’s creeping into the upper Midwest. The ‘I states’ are starting to feel it more and more, but really the mid-South to the South has been feeling it for three or four years now,” Elfman notes.

And while the aid helps slow the losses, he warns it doesn’t erase them.

“We are seeing with our surveys when we talk to bankers right now that they believe 50% of their producers will not be profitable next year,” Elfman says.

Ragland adds that soybean producers appreciate the lifeline but ultimately want reliable markets.

“We do not want to be dependent on the next aid program or financial bridge to stay in business,” he notes. “We need opportunities within the market.”

Meanwhile, trade negotiations with China continue. China’s Vice Premier held a video call Friday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Reports say both sides engaged in an in-depth and constructive exchange on implementing the consensus reached in an October meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi.

Under that agreement, the U.S. committed to trimming tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing cracking down on illicit fentanyl trafficking, resuming U.S. soybean purchases and maintaining rare earth exports.

Senators React, Thank Trump For Having Farmers’ Backs

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., praised the White House’s newly announced farm assistance package, calling it a bridge to help producers until the benefits of recent trade deals and the “One Big Beautiful Bill” show up in farm country.

In a statement, Boozman said farm families share Trump’s goal of expanding market access and that delivering the assistance will bridge the gap until farmers see gains from the new trade agreements and added certainty from the legislation. He added the announcement provides “much needed relief to rural America” and said the Senate Agriculture Committee is prepared to pursue additional steps to support farm families.

Boozman attended the White House roundtable for the announcement alongside Trump, Rollins, Bessent and farmers from across the country.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, was also in attendance on Monday. She praised the USDA farm assistance package announced by Trump during a White House agriculture roundtable on Monday.

“Today’s farm assistance package is welcome news as we work to get the farm economy back on track,” Fischer said. She credited Trump and Rollins for stepping up to support producers and said she looks forward to working with the administration to expand trade opportunities and strengthen markets for Nebraska agricultural products.

New Insect Control Tool Now Available for Use In Corn, Cotton & Cereals

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:04:08 GMT

A new insect control tool from Syngenta, Plinazolin, is now registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use in a variety of broad-acre and specialty crops including corn, cotton, cereals, vegetables and tree fruit.

Plinazolin is the trademark name for the active ingredient isocycloseram, a member of the  Insecticide Resistance Action Committee’s Group 30 .

This group of insecticides is known as GABA receptor antagonists. Plinazolin is formulated to control insect pests by contact and ingestion to quickly stop feeding.

The company spent 12 years researching and developing the product, as well as testing it in more than 3,000 U.S. trials, according to Elijah Meck, Syngenta technical product lead.

For the 2026 season, growers can purchase the product – which Syngenta reports will power five separate insecticide products – as a seed treatment, soil-applied insecticide or foliar-applied insecticide. The product is available for use subject to state approvals.

The five individual products and some of the key pests each one controls, include:

Opello : This soil-applied insecticide provides revolutionary control of corn rootworm, consistently helping corn yield up to 27 bu/A more than untreated¹, while its highly tank-mix compatible formulation allows growers to leave equipment clogs and slowdowns in the past.
Equento : This insecticide seed treatment offers a flexible and compatible option to terminate wireworms and suppress other below-ground pests, ultimately improving plant stand and helping a grower’s bottom line.
Vertento : One of the toughest insect pest fighters in its class, this foliar-applied insecticide for cotton, peanuts and onions delivers a fast-acting, knockout punch to insect pests including plant bugs, thrips and mites.
Incipio : With impressive residual strength to take the guesswork out of insect control, this foliar-applied insecticide for brassica, leafy, fruiting vegetable and cucurbit crops delivers a heavy-duty takedown of tough insect pests.
Zivalgo : This foliar-applied insecticide can lead the way for potato and tree fruit insect pest management with unmatched, broad-spectrum control of Colorado potato beetles, codling moth, citrus thrips, spider mites and more.

Syngenta notes in a statement that each formulation has been specifically designed to maximize performance based on crop needs, pest pressure and application method.

More information on the products is available at Syngenta-US.com/social .

Reference:
¹n = 8 trials with location of IA(3), WI, IL, KS, SD, MN, average injury of 1.51 and Internal and University Cooperator Field Trials 2022-2024.

2026 Acreage Expectations: Economists See Fall in Corn Acres, Rebound for Soybeans

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 17:43:39 GMT

U.S. farmers are expected to trim corn acres next year after plantings in 2025 hit a nearly 90-year high, while soybean acres are seen posting a rise, according to Farm Journal’s latest Ag Economists Monthly Monitor .

Views vary, however, on the size of those expected shifts.

The November survey found 40% of economists expect corn acres to top 95 million in 2026, while another 40% see plantings coming in between 93 million and 95 million acres. Twenty percent look for acres to fall to between 91 million and 93 million, a sharp drop from the 98.7 million planted in 2025.

Last year’s figure was the highest since 1936, with plantings driven by a more profitable outlook for corn, signs of robust demand and crop rotations. Corn acres jumped 8.1 million acres in 2025, taking area away from other crops. Soybean acres fell around 6 million acres, with farmers in part spooked by rising trade tensions with China early last year. Those concerns proved well-founded.

Crop rotation and input costs are likely to be a major driver in a pullback in corn acres relative to soybeans in 2026. Soybeans typically require less expense toward certain inputs like fertilizer, making them a more economically viable option as chemical prices remain well above a year ago.

The survey found 53% of economists expect farmers to plant 82 million to 84 million acres of soybeans in 2026, up from 81.1 million acres in 2025. A significant minority expects a bigger increase, with 40% pegging plantings at 84 million to 86 million acres and 7% looking for a figure above 86 million.

Most economists expect total wheat acres to decline amid a weak profitability outlook. The survey found 43% see wheat acres between 44 million and 45 million versus 45.3 million in 2025, while 36% see total acres at less than 44 million. The remaining 21% look for wheat plantings to total between 45 million and 46 million acres.

Earlier this month, advisory firm S&P Global Energy estimated 2026 corn acres at 95 million and soybean acres at 84.5 million. Wheat acres were projected at 44 million. The estimates were based on a survey of farmers and agribusinesses.

Cotton acres fell 1.9 million in 2025, with a chunk of that ceded to corn. Economists largely see little change in cotton acres next year, with 60% looking for plantings between 9 million to 10 million acres versus 9.3 million last year. Around 13% expect cotton acres to total between 10 million and 11 million acres, while 27% see a fall to below 9 million acres.

Lackluster demand and the absence of firm commitments to purchase U.S. cotton has weighed heavily on prices this year, reducing the incentive for growers in the south who have alternative crops to choose from.

The last time cotton acres dipped below the 9 million mark was 2015, a year where the average farm price per pound was down to 61.3 cents for the year. Currently USDA estimates the average farm-price for this season at 64 cents per pound.

From Harvest to Hardship: Farmers Struggle With Cash-Flow Crunch

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 22:14:34 GMT

Across America’s heartland, most corn and soybean crops are harvested, combines have been put away, and farmers will gather with their families to enjoy the holidays ahead. But as farmers gather around dinner tables and give thanks for what they have, many are concerned about what they don’t have this fall – adequate cash flow.

That lack is the No. 1 issue facing farmers now, according to southeast Illinois farmer Sherman Newlin, who’s based in Crawford County.

“I think these low prices are starting to take a toll on guys trying to meet their cash-flow needs,” he says.

For many farmers, Newlin believes the issue isn’t just about surviving until next spring — it’s about paying land rents, covering input bills coming due, and staying afloat right now.

“Unless you’re in a good area that had really good yields, cash flow is probably going to be tight,” Newlin says.

Northeast Iowa Brent Judisch doesn’t sugarcoat the numbers he penciled out last Wednesday. “Our cash corn today is at $4.10 — that’s not going to cut it with an average yield. Our cash beans today are $10.60. With a good bean crop, that probably cash flows, but it doesn’t make any money,” he says.

Farmers Took Grain To Town At Harvest
Selling grain is about the only option many row-crop growers have had this fall to meet expenses, even if the market timing isn’t ideal, Newlin says.

“Prices for corn and soybeans have come up some. At harvest, things were quite a bit lower than where they are right now,” Newlin says. “But it’s kind of hard to take advantage of a rally if you sold across the scale and didn’t come back in and reown [the crop] on paper.”

Judisch says there are some “better bids out there” for farmers who can wait to market corn in late winter, February and March.

“But for the short term, [buyers] are not having to bid up that much to get it because guys are just having to turn some stuff into cash to pay the December rents,” he says.

(Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor)

The November Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor survey reflects farmers’ current cash-flow pressure as well as their mindset in how they are approaching marketing decisions now. The survey, administered by Farm Journal, shows:

53% of ag economists say farmers are marketing defensively, prioritizing liquidity and risk reduction.
41% of ag economists say farmers are reactive, delaying decisions due to uncertainty.

Where Is The Financial Stress Most Severe?
Jackson Takach, chief economist for Farmer Mac, tells Farm Journal his reports indicate farmers’ top concern is liquidity (working capital) and their second-highest concern is farm income.

“We know cash flows are top of mind,” he says. “As prices have come down, people are talking about it more and digging into working capital, and that’s causing a little bit of distress, particularly in the grain side of the ag economy.”

Takach says the economic stress is highest in parts of the country where soybeans are farmers’ No. 1 crop.

“You look at the Delta, that’s where we’re seeing a lot of stress popping up in bankruptcies as well as late payments, because of some of that additional stress coming through with lower commodity prices specific to soybeans.”

That sentiment is similar to what was shared in the November Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor survey, though the Monitor paints a broader picture. When asked in which region farmers face the most severe financial pressure, economists reported that “cotton and rice country is suffering from especially poor profitability and weak sentiment.”

Without action, long-term farmer viability is at risk, according to John Newton, American Farm Bureau Federation economist. “Additional financial support is critical to offset trade losses and provide a bridge until farm bill enhancements from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act go into effect,” he says in a release. “This will stabilize the farm economy, sustain rural economies and maintain affordable food prices.”

Will China Come Through On Soybean Purchases?
The fate of soybean exports is on nearly everyone’s radar, especially as China’s purchases for 2025 still hang in the balance.

Reuters’ Karl Plume reports that China is starting to make good on its promises, noting that “two cargo vessels were headed for grain port terminals near New Orleans on Monday to load with the first U.S. soybean shipments to China since May, according to a shipping schedule seen by Reuters.”

But Judisch warns the window for 2025 U.S. soybean sales to China is closing fast.

“We’re going to have to see some immediate results from this agreement [with China], because if this drags into January and February and Brazil comes online, I’m not very optimistic that we’re going to make the goals that were set between the U.S. and China.”

Farmers Press On And Start Planning For Next Season
With 2026 around the corner, cautious optimism about the new year mingles with the current hard reality of farmers’ cash-flow drought.

Judisch notes that successful negotiations by the Trump administration to drop tariffs on some items, such as fertilizer, aren’t helping financially strapped farmers. He says that was a scenario of a little help that arrived too late.

“Stopping the tariffs on fertilizer this late in the game does no good for the 2026 crop because you’ve either got it on fields already or your buildings are already full of high-priced fertilizer,” Judisch contends.

“It’s kind of a bugaboo for us,” he adds. “Our costs are staying high even with the tariffs being dropped on fertilizer, but our income is just not going to be there until probably next summer.”

Cash rents for 2026 is one important aspect of the financial equation for the year ahead that 100% of ag economists surveyed this month recommend farmers dig into now. Notes one ag economist: “Cash rent could use more attention as a majority of land is rented… it would be nice if landlords knew that they may need to lower cash rent.”

(Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor)

Newlin says he and other farmers he knows in his area are sorting through crop rotations for next season – whether to plant more corn and
fewer soybeans or less corn and more soybeans.

“We’ll probably be heavier corn next year just because of our rotation, but a lot of guys are going to be heavier in corn in our area,” Newlin says.

Judisch is sticking with his 60-40 ratio of corn to beans next season. Like Newlin, he believes other farmers could lean toward more corn in the year ahead, given the financial opportunity many believe corn offers.

“We’ve seen some very good export sales on corn, so there are some good things happening,” Judisch says. “We need to keep them going in the future. That’s the biggest thing.”

Your next read: USDA Signals Possible Trade Aid Soon, Economists Warn It Could Keep Input Prices High

New Seed Treatments Available For Soybeans, Cotton & Cereals

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:01:05 GMT

Farmers looking to address plant-parasitic nematodes and diseases in soybeans and cotton now have access to a new seed treatment from Syngenta. The product, branded as Victrato, has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Syngenta reports Victrato features a new active ingredient, Tymirium, and will be “available in 2025 in preparation for the 2026 planting season, subject to state approvals.”

In soybeans, Victrato addresses Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) and a broad spectrum of nematodes, including soybean cyst nematode, root knot, reniform, lance and lesion.

“I’ve worked with this compound under field evaluation over the last 10 years, and I am thrilled for soybean growers to experience this never-before-seen level of protection,” says Dale Ireland, Syngenta Seedcare technical lead, in a prepared statement.

“Victrato preserves more yield than any other molecule available, and it protects against all life stages of nematodes: eggs, juveniles and adults. This stops in-season feeding and limits future populations, giving growers the most robust solution available,” Ireland says.

Victrato is also the first federally labeled seed treatment management tool for Red Crown Rot, according to Syngenta. In addition, the product “will fortify soybean plants through early-season suppression of important foliar diseases such as Septoria brown spot, frogeye leaf spot and target spot.”

Targeted Issues In Cotton
For cotton, Victrato addresses cotton root rot and nematodes, including root knot, reniform, lance and sting.

Syngenta reports root knot and reniform nematodes led U.S. cotton yield losses in 2023-2024, while Cotton Root Rot can cost Western growers up to $100 million annually in lost yield, fiber quality and harvest efficiency.

New Premix For Cereals
For the 2026 season, Syngenta will be offering CruiserMaxx Vibrance Elite, a fungicide and insecticide seed treatment premix. The product has been registered by EPA for use in the upcoming growing season.

The premix, positioned by the company as an upgraded formulation of CruiserMaxx Vibrance Cereals, provides protection from a broad spectrum of early-season seedborne and soilborne diseases and insect pests. In addition, the product will help cereal crops emerge “evenly with strong stand establishment and root mass and help maximize plant populations.”

CruiserMaxx Vibrance Elite includes two modes of action on Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and Pythium, including mefeboxam- and ethaboxam-resistant isolates.

“The mixture of trusted ingredients helps cereal crops emerge evenly with strong stand establishment and root mass, helping to maximize plant populations,” says Bryn Hightower, product lead for Syngenta Seedcare, in a prepared statement. “Compared with other seed treatments available on the market, we’ve observed an average of 18% greater plant stand and a 3.3 bushels per acre yield increase in Pythium-inoculated winter wheat,” Hightower adds.

Your next read: Nutrien Says Quality and Resilience Are Its Fertilizer Focus, Will Review Options for Its Phosphate Business

Tight Margins, Tough Decisions: Farmers Face 1980s-Like Pressures as Harvest Rolls On

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:55:14 GMT

Peanut harvest is in full swing across the southeastern corner of Alabama. But as combines hum and dust fills the air, Jonathan Sanders says the mood in the field is far from upbeat.

“Commodity prices are always a challenge, but weather’s the biggest concern right now,” Sanders says. “We’ve been dry for a month, and it’s making harvest losses go up — it’s harder to get the peanuts out of the ground.”

Sanders has been farming for just over a decade.

“My first crop year was 2014 when I got out of college,” he says.

He’s the sixth or seventh generation on this farm — though he’s lost track of exactly which. With peanuts, cotton, corn, cattle, timber and small grains, diversity remains the operation’s lifeline. But this year, he says, margins are razor thin.

“Cotton seems to be producing negative returns,” Sanders says. “Peanuts are going to be right there at the mark, depending on yields.”

Costs Keep Climbing, Prices Stay Stuck

For Sanders, the biggest challenge this season isn’t just market volatility — it’s the relentless rise in input costs. And this isn’t a phenomenon that started in 2025. While many reports want to turn the situation into a political blame game, thin-to-negative margins have been a reality for southern farmers since 2021.

“Electricity and fuel are always high, but the cost of repairs has gone through the roof,” he says. “Parts that used to be $20 or $30 are now $70 or $80. Everything’s gone up, but crop prices haven’t.”

Government assistance programs may offer short-term relief, but Sanders insists they’re not the goal.

“It always helps, but that’s not the goal of any farmer,” he says. “The goal is to make a profit without government interference, but oftentimes government interference is what causes the commodity prices to be low.”

Despite all the pressures, quitting isn’t an option.

“It comes with a lot of pride, but a lot of determination to not fail also,” Sanders says. “You don’t want to be that generation that loses the farm.”

Economists Warn Cotton Losses Exceed $200 Per Acre

At Auburn University, agricultural economist Mykel Taylor says the numbers confirm what farmers already feel — cotton growers are deep in the red.

“Our Extension economists here at Auburn have put together some estimates of net returns above total costs, excluding land costs, and cotton is negative $236 an acre,” Taylor says. “And that means that if you’re paying rent, that’s even more.”

Taylor says farmers are draining their reserves to survive.

“I think so,” she says when asked whether some will be forced out. “That’s a really difficult conversation that the lenders are gonna have to have with their clients because they don’t wanna lose those clients for next year. But when you have year on year on year negative returns... if they had money in the bank, they’re using it. They are using up those reserves to make it to the next year, and at some point, they’re not going to be able to keep doing it.”

Even giving up rented ground isn’t always an option, as it’s a difficult decision that could change the landscape of an operation.

“It’s not a good situation,” Taylor says. “When you look at the $1 million cotton pickers that they’re buying and you look at the tax implications of selling that farm machinery, they don’t have a lot of options to not just keep farming. They’re kind of digging themselves into a hole, and it’s one that I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of easily or quickly.”

Farm Journal’s Monthly Monitor: ‘History Doesn’t Repeat, But It Rhymes’

According to Farm Journal’s October Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor , 69% of economists say the financial stress on farmers today is “slightly similar” to the 1980s farm crisis.

Ben Brown, senior ag economist, says the parallels are striking.

“There’s a famous saying that says that history sometimes doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” Brown says. “And I think that’s what this signals to me — that we do see some similarities. The biggest similarity here is the low profitability, declining net capital that a lot of farms have. The working capital reserves have been drawn down here multiple years in a row, and that liquidity issue is really starting to impact some of the broader financial indicators.”

He adds that while farm bankruptcies aren’t near 1980s levels yet, they’re trending higher.

The outlook for 2026 is also bleak. Nearly 90% of economists surveyed say the ag economy is worse than a year ago, and 76% expect it could stay the same or even worsen through 2026.

“Just this continued downturn and extended pressure on farm finances absent some type of market rally,” Brown says. “Maybe that’s a yield shortfall due to drought somewhere in the world. But absent that, we’re kind of just in this slow grind lower trying to find an equilibrium point.”

Brown says some producers may look at alternatives like converting cropland to pasture or participating in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) — though that has its own tensions.

“I know there’s a lot of hard feelings around CRP in some cases, because it feels like the government’s competing with you for land, and I get it,” he says. “But that’s one of those programs that could take land out of production in the short run.”

‘We Can’t Keep Bleeding Equity’

Brown says the best way forward is to rethink what can be controlled — even if that means changing long-standing practices.

“So, what are the things that we can control? Well, being disciplined in our cost,” he says. “Is there something that can help us reduce our cash rent burden? Maybe crop share. I have not heard a lot of producers ask about crop share agreements yet this year, but that would be one indicator that people are starting to say, ‘Hey, I’m trying to figure out a way to share that risk with my landowner.’”

He adds that new lease structures and risk-sharing arrangements could be key survival tools.

“It’s going to take a change of behavior,” Brown says. “We can’t just keep doing the same thing we’re doing, or we’re just going to keep bleeding equity. The takeaway is we need to start re-evaluating and figuring out — if this continues for a while — what are the things I can control now before I run out of options?”

A Heavy Decision for Generational Farms

For many, 2026 is shaping up to be a turning point — not just for operations, but for legacies.

“I think it’s going to be a very personal decision that they’re going to have to make,” Taylor says. “Do they give up on land that they’ve had in their family for generations? Do they look for other options? It’s giving up on a lifestyle. It’s giving up on a business that is intergenerational. And there are heavy consequences to that.”

In farming, so much is out of your control: the commodity markets, weather, input prices. But farmers are shouldering an even bigger weight this year - and that’s the fact they don’t want to be the generation that loses the farm and breaks their family’s legacy.

Taylor says the emotional weight of those choices goes beyond numbers on a balance sheet.

“Some people are able to run their farms strictly as a business — it’s just a business decision,” Taylor says. “But for most farmers, it’s not. It’s also a personal lifestyle, a family operation. And I think that’s what’s gonna make these decisions even harder than just the dollars and cents in the spreadsheet.”

Consolidation Concerns Grip Agriculture

It’s the unfortunate reality of agriculture today: as some farms are forced to exit farming, it accelerates consolidation in agriculture. In fat, nearly all economists surveyed in the Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor foresee continued or accelerated consolidation in agriculture into 2026 .

Bill Lapp, founder and president of Advanced Economic Solutions, points to a steady trend of consolidation in agriculture.

“We used to have a lot more farmers. Today the same acreage is being farmed by fewer producers who are farming a larger scale of acres,” he says.

In the face of margin pressure, Lapp says consolidation accelerates when it comes to farmers who are:

ready to retire
voluntarily stopping farming
being forced out of farming after multiple years of financial stress

While there is an average rate of farmer retirements every year, Michael Langemeier, ag economist at Purdue University, says hard economic conditions spur many to consider it earlier than normal.

“You do see an uptick in farm retirements when you have low margins like this. We saw that back in the 2014 to 2019 period,” Langemeier says. “We had some really good years in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and quite frankly, if you’re at retirement age, it’s just not as fun to farm when you have extremely low margins. We’ll have an uptick of retirements during 2025/2026.”

Farming is a competitive business, but it’s that competition and farmers desire to add more acres - no matter the cost- that can create the most economic pain.

“The mistake we are making is the over enthusiasm of outbidding the other farmer down the road for cash rents,” says Arlan Suderman with StoneX Group. “That will eventually result in pain. In the moment, they aren’t paying attention the economic reality.”

The result is cash rents remain high, all while major commodity prices have fallen 50% in just a few years.

“The painful reality is we may not fix the land rent issue until farmers say ‘no.’ That’s an emotionally difficult thing for them to do, especially if the farmer down the road is willing to do it. It’s a painful part of the cycle, and it’s probably required,” Suderman says.

You can read more about the consolidation concerns here .

Cotton Bolls Are Opening, Harvest Aids On Deck

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 18:38:54 GMT

Temperatures in the 80s and 90s are welcomed this week across West Texas and the Texas Panhandle, as growers seek the “open fall” that helps finish the cotton crop. Hot temperatures and a few storms are forecast in central Texas. Oklahoma and Kansas are also enjoying favorable growing conditions.

The forecast for the Mid-South is similar, with the Memphis and Little Rock areas projected to see clearing skies after several days of rain. A few showers are expected to yield to sunny skies in the Jackson, Miss., and Delta regions further south.

Of course, forecasts can change, but hopefully not enough to slow crop maturity. On Sept. 14, USDA reported bolls opening nationwide were at 50%. That increased to 60% this past Monday, Sept. 21. Key cotton state boll openings included:

70% in Alabama
79% in Arkansas
76% in Georgia
22% in Kansas
89% in Louisiana
75% in Mississippi
71% in Missouri
57% in Oklahoma
77% in Tennessee
53% in Texas

Tennessee cotton started slowly due to the wet spring. “We had good potential after the rain, but the faucet cut off in the summer,” says Tyson Raper, University of Tennessee Extension cotton specialist in Jackson, noting the state’s cotton acres are down. “The early cotton looks good, but the later stuff is rough due to drought. About 80% of the early bolls are open. The later cotton bolls are approaching 60%. We’re barely into harvest. Yields should approach 900 pounds per acre.”

Drip-irrigated field in Hockley County, Texas, should see defoliation in early October.

(Kerry Siders)

The recent rain is forcing a more aggressive approach to defoliation. “The concern now is for regrowth,” Raper says. “Much residual fertilizer wasn’t taken up by plants in the summer dry conditions. It’s now being absorbed after the rain. We may need higher rates of Folex. As we see more regrowth, we’ll likely need a second shot.”

In the South Plains, Kerry Siders, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension IPM agent, Cochran, Hockley and Lamb counties, says it will likely be Oct. 20 before cotton strippers hit the fields. “Harvest aids will go out in early October on irrigated fields,” he says. “If they’re applied on Oct. 3, it will take 10 to 14 days before fields are ready to strip. Some dryland fields that receive a shot of paraquat could see harvest start earlier.”

The forecast for the South Plains-Panhandle region calls for temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s for the next few weeks. “We don’t see much of a forecast for lower temperatures,” Siders says, adding application of a boll opener, such as Ethephon, should help get plants ready for harvest.

“Remember, the Ethephon label requires the product come in contact with the boll for it to open,” he stresses. “Just getting it sprayed on top of the plant isn’t enough. Coverage is the key. We recommend a quart of Ethephon mixed with 10 to 15 gallons of water per acre.”

He projects strong yields if the weather continues to cooperate. “We’re seeing good cotton,” he says. “It’s still near the range of 9 nodes above cracked bolls NACB. At that rate, plants need to open another 4 to 5 nodes on their own. Irrigated fields could yield in the 3.5-bale range,” he says. “Some dryland fields could hit 200 pounds per acre.”

In central Texas, Tyler Mays, AgriLife Extension IPM Agent, also recommends a solid defoliation program: “We’re in the middle of harvest, but some late-planted fields are getting ready for defoliation. With the cooler weather, Folex or Finish 6 are good replacements for Ethephon.”

Southern Texas Blacklands yields are above average, he says, with dryland yields ranging from “2 bales per acre to as high as 4 bales. Our average yield is 1 to 1.5 bales.”

Jostling with Jassid

As Georgia growers begin harvest, the “catastrophic” jassid leafhopper is on their radars, says Taylor Sills, Georgia Cotton Commission executive director in Perry. “Georgia is ground zero for the new insect threat. Some acres have been severely affected by it,” he says.

“Bidrin has been the pesticide of choice for jassid control, but Carbine is also being used. As an industry, we have a lot to learn about this insect.”

Meanwhile, he says only a small percentage of Georgia cotton has been harvested. Maturity varies, as some acres were planted after June 1. “In far northern Georgia, growers are hoping for a late fall and winter,” Sills says. “Overall, we could have an above-average crop, but there’s a long way to go.”

Ben McKnight, AgriLife Extension cotton specialist in College Station, says no jassid leafhopper damage has been reported in Texas. However, large retailers are being monitored by the Texas Department of Agriculture to determine if imported ornamental plants that were the source of jassid are contaminated with the insect.

McKnight says harvest in the Upper Gulf Coast “is progressing nicely. Yields are slightly above average.”

Environmental Groups Want Enlist Registrations Vacated

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 23:49:11 GMT

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) and partner groups have filed a motion for summary judgment in federal court to vacate the EPA ‘s registrations for Enlist One and Enlist Duo herbicides.

The lawsuit alleges the EPA violated the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by improperly approving the herbicides, relying on outdated data, and downplaying health and environmental risks.

Farmers use Enlist One and Enlist Duo herbicides, manufactured by Corteva Agriscience, to control tough broadleaf weeds like marestail and waterhemp in corn, cotton and soybean crops.

Enlist One contains 2,4-D choline salt, while Enlist Duo contains 2,4-D, choline salt and glyphosate.

Kristina Sinclair, staff attorney at CFS says in a press release that EPA approved the Enlist products “without performing the rigorous cost-benefit analysis the law demands.”

Another Round Of Legal Challenges

This is not the first legal challenge to the Enlist system. CFS and its partners previously challenged the EPA’s approval of Enlist Duo in 2014, leading to a 2020 Ninth Circuit ruling upholding the registration, keeping the technology available to farmers.

If the federal court would vacate the registrations for the Enlist technology, the products would be unavailable for sale or distribution in the U.S.

Corteva Agriscience has been granted intervener status to the legal challenge. Intervener status in this scenario means a person or group, that is not an original party in the lawsuit, is permitted by the court to become a party to the lawsuit, effectively joining the case to protect their interests.

“We fully stand behind our own as well as the EPA’s stringent review processes, which have affirmed, and reaffirmed, the safety and benefits of our products when used as directed,” a Corteva Agriscience spokesperson told Farm Journal via email.

EPA has until Oct. 20. 2025, to file a response to the litigation.

Corteva will have until early November to file its responses.

Your next read: Corn Ear Drop Before Black Layer Signals Yield Loss Is Ahead

Corn, Soybeans Thrive While Drought Hits Other Crops Harder

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 18:47:32 GMT

For a summer that many meteorologists predicted would be characterized by dryness over much of the Midwest, that scenario has not materialized for the most part in corn-soybean growing areas.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released August 21 reports only 5% of corn and 9% of soybean acres are experiencing some level of drought currently.

Just last week Pro Farmer released estimates from its annual Crop Tour for both crops, predicting 182.7 bu. per acre average for corn and a 53 bu. per acre projection for soybeans.

Furthermore, temperatures across much of the Midwest for the week ahead are expected to drop into a cooler-than-usual range for late August, according to the NOAA.

(NOAA)

But not all crops are in a garden spot this summer. Some are in double digit drought conditions. That includes 52% of barley, 22% of cotton, 49% of rice, 32% of sugarbeet and 31% of wheat acres.

Areas Where Dry Conditions Are Settling In
Meteorologist Jack Van Meter called out parts of the rice-growing region on Monday where dry conditions have increased in recent weeks.

“The big dis-improvement in the country, if you will, is down in the Mississippi River Valley,” he reported on AgDay TV. “We’re talking over by Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi. We can see moderate drought starting to spread throughout [that area].”

The No. 1 rice producting state, Arkansas, is enduring dry conditions. California, Missouri, Texas and Louisiana are other top rice producing states that are experiencing varying degrees of dryness or drought currently.

(U.S. Drought Monitor)

USDA data shows Arkansas ranks first among rice-producing states, accounting for more than 40 percent of the country’s rice production.

One of the concerns Van Meter says he is watching is what the lack of rainfall in those states will mean to water levels on the Mississippi River.

“If water levels drop, that will mean it’s harder for shipping to get through and start to transport goods out of the country and, actually, into the country for that matter, as well,” he adds.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports it has been performing maintenance dredging throughout August to keep navigation channels open on the upper Mississippi. Navigation on the lower Mississippi continues to be affected by persistently low water levels, despite recent rainfall.

Rain In The Forecast This Week
Van Meter says a good slug of moisture will come in from the Rocky Mountains this week and across Oklahoma. That rain pattern will then move lower into the Southeast.

This week's precip forecast by @NOAA's @NWSWPC.

Large parts of the West finally see needed monsoon precip. The S. Plains into the Lower Miss River Basin are expected to see inches of rain. FL too.

Little to no rain for the Midwest (except MO) and Mid-Atlantic. #drought @NWS pic.twitter.com/2gt1vrEsjF
— NIDIS Drought.gov (@NOAADrought) August 25, 2025

“We’re going to be watching the Southeast for some impressive rainfall over by northern Florida and also by Georgia and South Carolina,” he says. “We could be seeing some impressive moisture moving in from the Gulf – obviously, something we’ll be keeping a rather close eye on.”

As the end of August plays out, Van Meter says it appears a dry pattern will set up for the Great Lakes area in the Midwest, just as the country heads into Labor Day weekend and the final, unofficial weekend of summer.

Parts of the western U.S., where farmers are dealing with severe (D2) and extreme (D3) drought this summer, are expected to see rain by the end of the week.

“We are going to be seeing some abnormally wet conditions, or at least wetter than normal conditions to end the month, out there in Oklahoma. That is actually going to continue through much of the Rocky Mountains and head over to the West Coast,” he says.

Your next read: How Pro Farmer 2025 Crop Estimates Compare and Contrast With USDA Expectations

The One Big Beautiful Bill Will Boost 2025 PLC Payments: Here's a Per-Acre Breakdown

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 20:14:39 GMT

Both the Senate and House GOP worked around the clock to get President Donald Trump’s massive tax bill passed this week. The One Big Beautiful Bill, which was more than 800 pages long, barely passed in both the Senate and the House, but is receiving high praise from many agricultural groups who argue the bill is a win for agriculture.

On Thursday, House GOP leaders overcame objections from even Republican lawmakers on provisions for SNAP, Medicaid and rural hospitals. All but two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., voted for the bill, which passed 218 to 214.

.@SpeakerJohnson officially signs the One Big Beautiful Bill— sending it to @POTUS' desk to be signed into law.

Tax cuts, border security, energy dominance, and so much more are coming your way. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/elzAg7s4LP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 3, 2025

But for agriculture, tax provisions received high praise, including avoiding a year-end tax hike and eliminating the so-called death tax.

“America’s cattle farmers and ranchers are pleased by the final passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill. This legislation will protect family farmers and ranchers from the devastation of the Death Tax, it will avoid a massive year-end tax hike that could have put cattle operations out of business, it expands and protects many of the small business tax deductions that family producers rely on to save more of the hard-earned money, and it funds critical foreign animal disease prevention measures that protect cattle health,” says Ethan Lane, senior vice president of government affairs, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

The bill also provides $66 billion in new spending for farm programs. According to Agri-Pulse , that’s the largest infusion of new money into farm programs since 2002.

These are changes and enhancements many ag groups were pushing for in the next farm bill.

According to Farm CPA Paul Neiffer , a provision in the bill will pay the greater of ARC or PLC for the 2025 crop.

“Therefore, any anticipate increase in PLC payments would likely be the minimum amount paid to farmers for 2025 but remember none of these payments will begin until October 2026,” Neiffer explained in this in-depth analysis . “There will be a payment limit of $155,000 on ARC and PLC, but LLCs and S corporations will be treated the same as a general partnership.”

Based on Neiffer’s calculations, here’s how it will impact PLC. On average, it will add:

Corn: $22.52 per acre
Soybeans: $42.46 per acre
Wheat: $32.77 per acre
Sorghum: $9.90 per acre
Cotton: $93.05 per acre

Neiffer says while everyone’s PLC yield is different, he simply used an average yield to calculate these figures.

Potential extra PLC per acre payments. Click to enlarge.

(Paul Neiffer )

“You will note that based on June MYA prices, projected PLC payments are estimated at about $2.6 billion. Now, under the old law, all of the ARC acres elected would be removed from this table, however, remember that the new law pays the farmer of the higher of ARC or PLC so the first projected column shows what the minimum payment essentially would be,” Neiffer explains.

You can read Neiffer’s full and in-depth analysis here .

President and CEO of National Cotton Council (NCC) Gary Adams says this bill provides additional support desperately needed this year.

“The 2025 crop is going to be or shaping up to be the third year in a row that farmers will see both the market prices and the support levels below cost of production,” Adams says. “One of the reasons why this bill is so important is that for the reference price that applies to the PLC and ARC programs, those higher reference prices that are in this legislation apply to this year’s crop, and that is important because it will help if prices stay low, and stay where they are. This will put some additional support, in the grower’s pocket for the crop that they’re going to harvest this fall.”

American Farm Bureau applauded the work by Congress this week, saying, “More than half of farmers are losing money, so an increase in reference prices is desperately needed, and tax tools will help farmers and ranchers plan for the next season and the next generation.”

The bill now heads to Trump’s desk, which he plans to sign Friday at the White House.

Parched: More Than 25% of the U.S. Is Experiencing Drought Conditions

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:54:03 GMT

Ron Suppes has been praying about rain for the past 10 years, asking God to send more precipitation for his wheat fields. Those prayers got answered this season, says the western Kansas farmer, based near Dighton.

“I’m not going to not pray for rain, but we’ve had enough that it’s kept us out of the field when we should be finished with wheat harvest about now,” he said on Tuesday.

Despite wheat harvest delays, Suppes says he’s happy about how area corn, soybeans, grain sorghum and pastures are looking now, especially for early July.

“They all look good here, but not as good as Iowa,” he notes. “I was through Iowa two weeks ago, and they’re way ahead of us. Of course, it’s always green there,” he laughs.

Iowa crops are off to a strong start this growing season, according to this week’s USDA Crop Progress Report. USDA rated 85% of the corn crop and 77% of the state’s soybean crop as good to excellent.

Weather conditions in much of the state have been favorable to crop growth and development.

In Washington County, Iowa, Mitchell Hora gave a two-word description of his corn crop. “It’s beautiful,” he told AgriTalk host Chip Flory.

Hora and Suppes shared their personal crop report Tuesday on AgriTalk. Listen here:

The Factor Driving Crop Conditions Across The U.S.

Nationally, USDA-NASS estimated that 73% of the corn crop and 66% of soybeans were in good-to-excellent condition in its weekly progress report released on Monday.

USDA cites favorable weather conditions for the positive ratings. The drought some meteorologists predicted last winter for parts of the central Midwest has not yet materialized.

“Nobody would have thought three months ago that we were going to have this much rain occurring across key crop areas, especially in the southern half of the Plains and in the Delta and Tennessee River Basin,” says Drew Lerner of World Weather, Inc.

The Crop Moisture Index provides a quick view of areas with a short-term need for moisture versus where there’s available moisture in the soil profile.

(NOAA)

The USDA Agricultural Weather Highlights issued July 2 acknowledges the favorable growing conditions.

“In the Corn Belt a lull in an overall wet pattern favors corn and soybean development, although a few showers are occurring west of the Mississippi River. The … mostly abundant moisture reserve is allowing earlier-planted corn and soybeans to enter reproduction without significant stress.”

What The Current Drought Monitor Shows

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported on June 24, 2025, that 25.83% of the U.S. and Puerto Rico were experiencing some degree of drought.

#DroughtMonitor 6/24: The Northwest and NV saw large degradations. Areas of the Rockies too.

The Plains to the East mostly improved or remained drought-free. But small areas did worsen in the Plains, Midwest, FL.#Drought2025 Footprint: 25.8% of UShttps://t.co/mljsjQDvLB @NOAA pic.twitter.com/UInYEWmvVM
— NIDIS Drought.gov (@NOAADrought) June 26, 2025

The percentage of crop acres experiencing some level of drought included 16% of corn acres, 12% of soybean acres and 3% of cotton acres.

Crops experiencing higher levels of drought conditions included 39% of the durum wheat acres, 29% of barley, 25% of spring wheat, and 20% of winter wheat acres.

Drought continues to build in the northern half of the High Plains, impacting rangeland and pastures, in particular, USDA reports.

For example, Montana led all states from the Rockies eastward with 47% of its rangeland and pastures rated in very poor to poor condition on June 29.

In the West, hot, mostly dry weather conditions have blanketed the regions for weeks

USDA says several Western wildfires remain active, and new fires could be ignited later on Tuesday by dry thunderstorms that are expected to occur from the Great Basin to the northern Rockies.

In the South, scattered showers are primarily confined to the lower Rio Grande Valley and areas east of the Mississippi Delta, according to USDA.

This season’s abundant rainfall has left pastures rated at least 80% good to excellent in several southern states, including Alabama, Kentucky, and North Carolina. However, frequent showers have also slowed many southern farmers’ fieldwork.

The Outlook For July Weather

John Hoomenuk of EmpireWeather.com anticipates farmers in the Central Plains will see drier, hotter conditions this month.

“Most of the long-range data we’re seeing, if you look at July as a whole, is showing some pretty substantial [temperature] numbers in the Central Plains. We’re talking somewhere between four and five degrees above normal in some areas of Kansas and Nebraska, two or three degrees above normal for the month on average, surrounding that in parts of southwestern Iowa and the Dakotas,” he says.

As for states further east, such as Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, Hoomenuk says farmers there will likely see temperatures “closer to normal” for July, based on data he’s reviewed.

“It doesn’t seem like we’ll get into that long-term heat there in those eastern regions of the U.S, so the concern level out there is pretty low right now heading into July,” he says.

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From Omaha to Georgia: Inside the Farm Machinery Reshoring Boom

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 19:38:03 GMT

After releasing our “Where Farm Equipment Is Made” 2025 update in February , we circled back with farm equipment manufacturers to get a read on how tariffs will affect where machines are made.

Many companies across a wide range of industries are considering or even moving forward with plans to reshore production from overseas back into the United States. We’ve learned this process involves long-term, strategic investments in new facilities and/or expanding factories already established here in the States.

Although each manufacturer shared differing visions for how, when and where it plans to build out additional manufacturing capabilities in the years ahead, a common theme did emerge: farm equipment builders are investing big dollars into reshoring, and many have been for quite some time now.

Let’s hear what the machinery companies are planning:

AGCO Corp.

(AGCO Corp.)

The Duluth, Ga.-based equipment manufacturer says its dedication to American farmers and its own strategic investment plans are “key drivers of our overall growth strategy,” according to an AGCO spokesperson.

The rest of the statement from AGCO, which builds the Fendt and Massey Ferguson equipment brands along with its own AGCO machines, regarding U.S. expansion plans can be found below:

Since 2020, we have invested just under $3 billion in the U.S. across new and expanded manufacturing facilities, product innovations and the largest ag tech deal in the history of the industry. Our commitment has extended across our various brands, locations and Research & Development (R&D) efforts, including the notable 2024 joint venture establishing Colorado-based PTx Trimble, the inauguration of Fendt Lodge – the North American headquarters of Fendt – in Minnesota, a new precision ag production facility in Illinois, modernization of systems and technologies in one of our Kansas plants, and U.S.-based R&D for new sprayer and planter technology.

These investments, AGCO says, will not only enhance production at its U.S. facilities for years to come, but also ensure AGCO remains at the forefront of ag innovation around the world.

Claas

(Matthew J. Grassi)

Claas is still a somewhat fresh face to the North American farm equipment market, but the company has deep roots in Europe. It was founded over 100 years ago in a small German farming town, and today the company has global headquarters in Harsewinkel, Germany.

But you may not be aware that Claas has also built a significant manufacturing operation in America’s heartland. The company opened its Lexion combine production campus, located just south of downtown Omaha, Neb., in 1997. This year marks 10,000 Lexion combines rolling off the main production line inside the 120,000 sq. ft. facility.

(Photos: John Deere, Matthew J. Grassi, AGCO, Kubota)

Claas has significant expansion plans in place for its Omaha campus, including doubling its overall production footprint for the main manufacturing building as well as adding a new training and apprenticeship building.

Here is the statement Matthias Ristow, president & managing director of business administration – Claas Omaha, shared regarding the company’s expansion plans:

Claas is investing significantly in its production hub in the United States, and not only recently. Over the last five years, we have added to our production facility to provide a better location for our rework and reconfiguration areas, as well as a dedicated work area for our quality control department for the pre-delivery inspections each machine must go through before being shipped. This is part of our comprehensive quality assurance program.

We also have built a new service academy where we train all the technicians from our U.S. dealer network (we have a similar location in Canada) so we can keep their skills up to date and make sure they have the proper certifications to work on our machines. Technology updates and changes are trained there as well.

Furthermore, our new service academy houses our apprenticeship program where we train the future assembly technicians in a three-year rigorous training program, managed by the German Chamber of Commerce. The program has several advantages. Technicians receive a regular paycheck (“earn while you learn”), receive an associate’s degree from a community college we partner with, receive a certificate from the German Chamber and have a job when they graduate from the program debt free.

Farm Journal recently had the opportunity to tour Claas’ Omaha operation, where we learned the manufacturer is also expanding its partnerships with domestic material and component manufacturers. For example, it recently began working with a finished parts supplier local to Nebraska to fabricate the grain spout for each Lexion combine.

CNH Industrial (Case IH and New Holland)

(CNH Industrial)

Although short on specifics, CNH Industrial (Racine, Wisc.) confirms it plans to “continue to expand our footprint through capital investments in our U.S. facilities, partnerships with local suppliers and programs that strengthen the communities where we live and work.”

CNH adds it currently employs more than 9,000 people across 17 U.S. states, with 14 manufacturing facilities and 22 R&D centers active throughout North America.

And approximately 70% of the components used in CNH Industrial’s U.S. plants are sourced from domestic suppliers while 95% its steel is purchased from U.S.-based mills. It says this approach to domestic material sourcing supports thousands of suppliers’ jobs and reinforces its investment in American-made quality.

John Deere

(John Deere)

The farm equipment manufacturer with global headquarters in Moline, Ill., was first to share its future investment plans with Farm Journal. Back in May, the company announced a 10-year, $20 billion outlay plan for its U.S. production base. This year alone, Deere says it will pour $100 million into its U.S. operations.

John Deere says this initiative includes:

A 120,000 sq. ft. expansion of the company’s remanufacturing facility in Missouri.
Construction of a new excavator factory in Kernersville, N.C.
Expansion of its Greeneville, Tenn., turf equipment factory.
New assembly lines for 9RX high-horsepower tractor production in Waterloo, Iowa.

John Deere plans to invest a total of $22.5 billion into its U.S. manufacturing network once the 10-year project is complete.

Kubota North America

(Kubota North America)

Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC) established its North America headquarters in Grapevine, TX., in 2017. The Japanese equipment manufacturer shared the following statement regarding U.S. expansion plans.

North America is critical for Kubota, and the U.S. is our largest market. We firmly believe in local production for local consumption and have made more than $1 billion in U.S. infrastructure investments in the last couple years to meet the growing needs of our dealers and customers. For example, we recently announced the opening of a new loader facility in Gainesville, Ga., (invested $190 million), a new Western Distribution Center in California (invested $72 million), and an R&D facility (invested $100 million) that’s also in Georgia. We have other network investment announcements in the works, and we plan to continue to invest over the next five to 10 years as we respond to market demands. Today, we are more than 7,000 American workers strong who market and sell, and fabricate, weld and assemble equipment with domestic and global parts.

Want to learn more about where your favorite farm machines are made? Check out “From the Factory to Your Fields: Where Farm Equipment Is Made”.

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Record Prevent Plant Acres Cause Devastation for Southern Farmers

Fri, 30 May 2025 19:11:25 GMT

Farm Journal first reported on the somber situation in the South in April . The financial pain of growing cotton this year created a bleak outlook. At that time, National Cotton Council’s Gary Adams said, “We’ve gone beyond just losing money now that we’re to the point of losing the farm.”

Since then, the situation has grown even worse for farmers in the mid-South. It’s turned into a nightmare, with relentless rains causing devastation and preventing farmers from planting crops this year.

Wettest Spring in 133 Years

“It’s been a challenge,” says Franklin Fogleman, who farms in Marion, Ark., just across the bridge from Memphis, Tenn. “Not only have we been facing economic challenges, but we seem to have faced rain since the 1st of April that is unprecedented.”

The wettest spring in 133 years is wreaking havoc on farm fields, after what farmers thought was a strong and early start to planting.

“We got off to a very good start. The last 10 days or so of March, we had a very good run. We were in a very good position with an early start to the crop. It was dry, crops were coming up and looked good,” he says. “We received a rain around the 1st of April that wound up totaling 13" over a couple of days. We lost a substantial amount of crop at that time to flooding.”

That water stuck around for two to three weeks. They got back in the field just before Easter, before getting rained out again for a month.

“Then we received approximately 5" of rain over four days, and we’re back to having about 1,000 acres of the farm underwater that was planted and had small crops that probably won’t survive,” Fogleman says.

Farming Legacies on the Line

Fogleman’s family has been farming here since 1849. And this year, not only is it the acres he won’t be able to plant, but also the growing number of acres that need to be replanted. He’s running out of time to do both.

“We probably have 1,500 acres of rice, and I’m down to about 200 acres of beans to plant for the first time. I will probably have another 700 — maybe 800 — acres of things to replant again,” he says. “But the thing that’s tricky about that math is the roughly 1,500 acres of rice that we haven’t gotten planted, we won’t plant a crop on.”

Fogleman says once the water finally recedes on those acres — which could take days — it’s too late to plant rice. They’ve looked into planting soybeans instead, but the economics don’t support it.

“The window has basically closed on us in the last couple of days,” he says.

But the thing that’s tricky about that math is the roughly 1,500 acres of rice that we haven’t gotten planted, we won’t plant a crop on.

Franklin Fogleman, Arkansas

Farmers Face Historic Prevent Plant Acreage Numbers

That’s the reality for farmers from southern Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

“The weather has just been terrible,” says Robert Agostinelli, who farms in Coahoma and Quitman Counties in Mississippi. ”We’ve attempted to plant four or five times, and every time we got rain within 24 hours. So, out of about 2,300 acres of cotton, we got about 550 acres planted. That’s all.”

Just 24% of his crop. That’s all this Mississippi farmer got planted this year, which marks a first.

“This has never happened before. I’ve been farming for 41 years, and this has never happened. It was just unheard of,” he says.

You can hear the devastation in farmers’ voices. What’s even more gut wrenching is Agostinelli took out 60% crop insurance coverage with ECO on top, but the ECO doesn’t cover prevent plant.

“Looking back on it, if we would have thought this was a possibility, we probably would have taken out different insurance or something,” he adds.

This has never happened before. I’ve been farming for 41 years, and this has never happened. It was just unheard of.

Robert Agostinelli, Mississippi

That’s the story for farmer after farmer. Crop insurance will help, but it’s not even coming close to making them whole.

“It helps, it’s better than not having it. But the truth is it’s like putting a band-aid somewhere that you need stitches. It’s not enough, it just enough to survive, if that,” Fogleman says.

“Farmers Are Hurting... They’re Hurting Bad”

Andy Graves, a crop consultant in Clarksdale, Miss., adds, “These guys are hurting. They’re hurting bad, and this isn’t what we needed.”

Graves owns Graves Agronomy Service. Even through this rain, he’s up early walking fields and doesn’t like what he sees: flooded out fields, suffocated crops that are barely hanging on and fields overgrown with weeds.

“I don’t know what’s fixing to happen with what’s going on up here right now because it’s as close to disaster as I’ve ever seen on the cotton side, anyway,” Graves says.

We needed a home run, and we’re not going to get it.

Andy Graves, Mississippi

Graves is in the middle of cotton country. It’s a big cotton area with seven gins within 30 miles. Even before the wet weather hit, cotton was facing a mountain of challenges, the main one being price.

“It’s not good. It is more of disbelief, honestly,” Graves says. “I get up every day, and I can’t believe this has happened. We’ve had two record crop years the past two years. And most everybody has not shown a profit, so it was bleak. It was a really rough winter trying to talk to some people about what we’re going to do this year. We needed a home run and we’re not going to get it.”

Today, about 65% of the cotton in Graves’ area is planted.

“A big majority of that just went in and got 6" of rain behind it,” Graves says. “I’m hoping for the best, but it’s cold and wet right now. I’ve never seen a spring like this.”

Cotton Isn’t the Only Crop Swamped By Heavy Rains and Low Prices

It’s not just cotton that farmers are battling. Soybeans are also struggling in the ground, and the corn is wind whipped or battered by hail and sand.

“We’ve had everything. It’s a mess,” Graves says.

Even if the rain stops, the other battle for farmers in the area is the weeds that are already too tall to effectively control.

“We’re going to throw everything we can at it and do the best we can to knock it back, but losing dicamba is going to hurt in the soybean crop. A lot of my cotton up here is Enlist cotton, so I still do have the Enlist technology. We can probably clean a lot of this up with combinations of Liberty, Roundup and Enlist, but it’s going to cost a fortune to do this.”

Farmers on the Brink of Going Under

Graves has been a crop consultant for nearly 30 years. He says without any disaster aid or help, he doesn’t know if some of these Mississippi farmers will survive.

“We have some really strong farmers up here, really strong,” Graves says. “They got that way because they farm very efficient, very smart and don’t make any dumb moves. We’ve had two record yields up here with cotton, soybeans and corn the last couple of years, but they’re financial losses. Now the prices are lower this year, and we’re faced with what we got now with weather. So, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Devastation Hits Infrastructure and Industries Farming Supports

The devastation isn’t just impacting farms. It’s the infrastructure and industries farming supports.

“It rolls downhill,” Graves says. “I mean, if they’re out of business, I’m out of the business. We’ve got gins, airports, chemical applicators — we have a community. It’s a tough deal to be looking at right now, and it’s not just here. I’ve talked to some people in Arkansas all the way up to Missouri in the past week. It’s all over the place.”

“This is Worse Than a Drought”

Farmers know how emotionally and mentally challenging it can be to cope with a drought. But with this relentless rain this spring, farmers can’t even get their crops in the ground, and that makes it worse than dealing with drought.

“In our area of the Delta, we have irrigation. So, when it’s dry, we can cure that problem,” Fogleman says. “It can be an expensive solution, but it is a solution that’s better than nothing. When your crops are underwater, when it is too wet to get into fields to fertilize or when it’s too wet get into the fields to spray, there’s really nothing that you can do.”

Agostinelli says for cotton, it was in the red any way he looked at it this year.

“This is the kicker. The price is so low that if we farmed it, we will lose even more money. That’s how bad it is,” he says. “It’s very stressful and if there’s no assistance coming, I can just see a lot of farmers going out this year.”

Fogleman adds, “Farmers are pretty resilient and they have a lot of fight, but I have to admit, as I talk to my friends, as I talk my neighbors, these are trying times and people are feeling the impacts of it.”

This is the kicker. The price is so low that if we farmed it, we will lose even more money. That’s how bad it is. It’s very stressful and if there’s no assistance coming, I can just see a lot of farmers going out this year.

Robert Agostinelli, Mississippi

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