Retail Industry
The event has a focus on leadership, innovation, and connection
USDA’s Brooke Rollins says the financial details will be unveiled next week. Some groups estimate payments could total in the neighborhood of $12 billion. “There’s people that can really use them. Everyone can use them…but we’re not getting real solutions,” says one Iowa farmer.
For the past 10 years, Wayne Honeycutt has led the organization he founded, The Soil Health Institute, to elevate the concept of science bringing improved environmental stewardship and yield potential via a focus on the soil. At the beginning of 2026, he’ll retire and hand over the reigns of the organization. Here he shares reflections on a career focused on sustainability.
Going into the final weeks of the year, many growers across the country are shouldering significant financial strain from land rent payments, rising input costs, and efforts to stay in business and viable until commodity prices improve.
Because every growing season is unique, agronomists are encouraging corn growers to make a management plan for the “driver diseases” they’re most likely to encounter in fields next year.
The ability to adapt, innovate and create lasting value for growers is vital, which is why ag retail managers, agronomists and sales professionals will gather for the ARA Management Academy, Jan. 20-22.
Get an edge on the competition through these incentive programs.
The fungal disease has spread to fields in at least seven states since 2018, including three new ones just this year. Once established, the pathogen is nearly impossible to eradicate, Extension plant pathologists report.
“Our members need clear, consistent rules to plan and invest in conservation and infrastructure, and this proposal is a step in the right direction for both environmental stewardship and agricultural productivity,” said Daren Coppock, ARA’s President and CEO.
Hunter Carpenter from ARA’s public policy team joins The Scoop Podcast to share an update.
Matt Makens from Makens Weather shares a recap of the weather trends most effecting agriculture in 2025 and gives a preview for his outlook going into 2026.
Number of bushels per acre is high on their list of priorities, but it’s not necessarily their No. 1 concern going into 2026.
Space weather is monitored for its effects on activities on Earth, including GPS reliability
Because ag retail is deeply affected by USMCA implementation, ARA submitted a letter supporting a renewal of USMCA for a full 16-year term
Farmers wanting to hang onto the soil moisture in their fields are struggling to address compaction and ruts where there has been little to no recent rainfall. Anhydrous ammonia applications are also difficult to get sealed in fields where moisture is minimal.
Growers say they remain cautiously optimistic and believe the U.S. is “headed in the right direction.” But they want the gridlock with China to end and for actual steps to be taken to get their crops sold and shipped.
ARA Applauds the Department of the Interior on Potash and Phosphate Critical Minerals List Inclusion
“These designations are a major step forward for American agriculture and supply chain resilience,” said ARA President & CEO Daren Coppock.
The U.S.'s competitors have hopped on the agriculture technology treadmill, and right now they are running faster, says precision ag consultant Steve Cubbage.
The announcement Beijing is buying soybeans marks a crucial step toward achieving some market stability for U.S. growers in the near term and hope for the future. USDA’s Vaden says the purchase ‘represents a floor and not a ceiling,’ while ag economists offer a mix of optimism and caution.
Retail partner Nutrien Ag Solutions is trading on trust to bring more opportunities for growers
Corn yield champs say annual soil testing is the best way to make sure fields are up to the goal of delivering profitable high yields every season.
After three straight years of having a May-planted crop that outperformed corn planted only a few weeks earlier, some Illinois farmers are ready to throw in the towel on planting corn before the calendar turns to May.
Some analysts believe a deal with Beijing will happen this week because of a potential gap in availability of the oilseed that’s likely to occur between the time the U.S. bean harvest ends and the Brazil harvest begins.
Beijing’s refusal to buy American and its pivot to Brazil could be less about economics and more to do with politics. “It’s a calculated decision about control and national leverage, not about getting the cheapest beans,” says one ag economist.
The three companies will unify as Sumitomo Biorational Company starting in April 2026
The senior senator from Iowa says the president ‘has to’ get an agreement made that will enable trade between China and the U.S. to resume.
With low commodity prices and higher input costs, identifying hybrids that are a good fit for your soil types and environmental conditions is more important than ever – and can give you a leg up on yield performance from the get-go next spring.
With contributing factors ranging from insect pressure to disease and environmental stressors this season, agronomists say farmers face hard decisions on when to combine their crop in affected fields.
The new technology is being evaluated in Farm Journal Test Plots this fall and catching a lot of farmer interest in the process. Check out our brief video showing the system at work in a central Illinois cornfield.
Planting more cover crops this fall is one way corn and soybean growers are addressing their 2026 nutrient needs and looking to trim expenses in the process.