Farm Business - General
The rapid runup in land values caused farmland values to hit historic levels over the past two years. The dynamics are starting to shift, as input prices, interest rates and commodity prices are eating into outlooks.
The economic environment today is similar to the 1970s and into the mid-80s. Although we are not expecting a 1980s-style farm collapse, there are lessons and opportunities to gain from a milder version of the 1980s.
Michael Swanson says we’ve likely seen the peak for food inflation last summer. What drove the 14% food inflation since the COVID pandemic has been four factors: transportation, labor, shipping and packaging.
Lenders In the hearing seemed to agree on a boost to lending limits in USDA guaranteed loans as lawmakers ready for the next farm bill.
The reason for the shift is rooted in financial improvements, according to James Mintert, professor in the Department of Ag Economics at Purdue.
The “Wood Milk” ad— funded through MilkPEP —goal is to make people pause and question what they are consuming and the nutritional value of their choices.
In the biggest con in agriculture history, Anthony De Angelis stole over $1 billion, shook Wall Street to its core, humiliated big banking, embarrassed USDA, and ushered in the rise of Warren Buffet.
Here we go again. Some farmers and at least one farm-state lawmaker want to move back to payments based on planted and not base acres.
Art Johnson’s farm has been in the family for nearly a century. What was once a tobacco farm in Kernersville, NC, is now a thriving agritourism business that attracts up to 1,000 people each day during the spring.
Farmers are facing a headwind other than the weather heading into the spring planting sesaon. Credit is tightening as farmers finalize or renew operating notes or loans for capital purchases.
If weather conditions allow crop yields to return to trend-line levels in 2023, prices for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and many other crops are likely to fall.
The Fed hiked rates 25bps at last week’s FMOC meeting and indicated it will stay the course. So why are forward yields (1 year through 30 year still lower, suggesting Fed easing?)
On March 22, there will be the next Federal Interest Rate Decision; 75% probability of a quarter percentage point increase to a range of 4.75% to 5.00%
STB Chairman Martin Oberman hosted a press conference—the first of its kind that he said anyone could remember—to explain more behind the decision, which approves the first major merger in 25 years.
Total land in farms decreased 1.9 million acres to 893,400,000 acres in 2022 versus 2021. Here is other noteworthy farmland data, courtesy of USDA’s Farms and Land in Farms 2022 Summary.
Skeptic, heretic, eccentric, disruptor—Roy Pfaltzgraff pleads guilty to all. “People think I’m crazy. They’re right, I am crazy, but I’m also the owner of a farm that is working great.”
Easton Corbin is no stranger to agriculture. Growing up in Florida, raising and showing cattle was engrained from the start, as was FFA. The Florida farm kid, instead, attending college majoring in Agriculture Business
FBN has new leadership as Amol Deshpande will step down as CEO effective Feb. 28.
The drop in natural gas and fertilizer prices is very noteworthy, while equity markets have begun the year higher.
Looking ahead we see an environment of margin pressure amidst a slowing economy, rising interest rates, high labor and energy costs (namely diesel fuel), and trade uncertainty with China and possibly Mexico.
What is the state of the U.S. economy? How will these macro factors impact the agricultural economy? John Deere’s Kanlaya Barr provides a guide to a few risks you should monitor in the next year.
It’s a big idea with far-reaching implications for ag retail—the environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework.
Your guide to unlocking the mystery of microorganisms.
Reps. Dusty Johnson and Jim Costa on Tuesday introduced the Safer Highways and Increased Performance for Interstate Trucking (SHIP IT) Act to expand the trucking workforce and offer flexibility in times of need.
For example, Rep. Ralph Norman in the past unsuccessfully pushed crop insurance amendments that would have cut premium incentives/subsidies by 15% for producers with specified adjusted gross incomes.
The next Farm Country Update will provide insights into how ag retail will change.
The House on Friday averted a government shutdown by voting 225 to 201 in favor of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023—the omnibus spending bill. Here’s what’s in it for ag.
From the docks of Southern California and Europe to the parcel hubs in the Midwest and the store shelves in New York, signs are growing that the global supply chain crisis is over.
CoBank has released its outlook for 2023.
By combining the platforms, users will get a streamlined accounting process for optimizing their equipment fleet and gain a better understanding of their equipment productivity, costs and replacement needs.