Top Producer

The Only Thing That Lasts: How Ted Turner’s 2 Million Acres Redefined Land Ownership

Thu, 07 May 2026 17:58:49 GMT

Ted Turner’s rise to the top of the Land Report 100 marked a transformative era of American land ownership. Once the largest private landowner in the U.S., Ted Turner had many titles, business accomplishments and accolades as well.

With his death on May 6, 2026, the discussion of his legacy began. And undoubtedly his impressive 2 million acres is the driving force with a “save everything” philosophy toward land stewardship.

“If you visit any of Ted Turner’s properties, there’s a bumper sticker available that reads, “Save Everything,” says Eric O’Keefe editor of The Land Report. “That was his approach, as far as being a landowner. He was a conservationist, first and foremost.”

Turner built a revolutionary business empire—taking father’s billboard company to building a global media powerhouse, pioneering 24-hour news with CNN and acquiring the MGM film library. His business success fueled his land purchases as he reinvested those profits into large tracts of land across the country, and notably in the western states.

“He was one of the original, in this generation, of corporate magnates who plowed their profits into land, O’Keefe says. He adds Turner was friends with the current No. 1 largest landowner John Malone, who he “gave the land bug to.” And it was Turner’s investments that inspired others including Bill Gates.

Turner’s acquisitions gained momentum in the 1990s, making his the first No. 1 largest landowner when The Land Report started its first ranked list in 2007. In the 2025 Land Report list, Turner was the fourth largest with 2 million acres located in Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Georgia and more.

“He looked around corners in ways that few of us can really comprehend. He was buying the greatest ranches in the American West, and these phenomenal quail plantations decades before anyone else,” he says.

O’Keefe says a hallmark of Turner’s land buying was not only in its accumulation but how he enhanced it with conservation efforts.

“I love that Gone with the Wind quote, and of course, Ted acquired the MGM Library and, owned Gone with the Wind. And the quote is, ‘land, it’s the only thing that lasts.’ And at the end of the day, that was, to him, in my opinion the most powerful element of his legacy.”

Farmland Value Check: Midwest Class A Ground Sees Pullback, Water Security Redefines California’s Market

Mon, 04 May 2026 03:08:15 GMT

New data assembled by Realtors Land Institute (RLI), the National Association of Realtors Research Group and Acres, highlights fundamental trends driving the land market today. But this year’s Land Market Survey, which was augmented by research conducted by Acres, unveils two trends in farmland regarding quality and productivity ratings as well as other trends important in the business management of farmland.

First, Overall Land Trends

In addressing widespread concerns about a potential U.S. recession, Dr. Lawrence Yun Chief Economist and SVP of Research, National Association of Realtors emphasized that, despite recent oil price shocks and persistently low consumer sentiment, the U.S. economy is not on the brink of recession.

The survey details multiple industries and sectors in land use and values, and for 2025, In terms of price growth, the ranch category led with a 2.2% increase in dollars per acre, outperforming other land types. Industrial and recreational land also saw solid gains of 1.9% each, while other categories experienced moderate increases. Notably, Commercial Real Estate Data Analyst, Oleh Sorokin anticipates that while land sales will strengthen in 2026, the pace of price growth is expected to slow, with projected increases in the ranch category dropping to 0.9% per acre.

How Are Farmland Values Performing Differently?

The presenters highlight the energy price correlation as Farmland values and operational balance sheets are heavily tied to energy prices, as oil and gas drive both fuel costs and fertilizer prices.

“Tariffs are one that it’s kind of dwarfed now by the energy situation, but tariffs were a pretty big impact last year,” says Aaron Shew, chief technology officer at Acres.

With fuel input prices and fertilizer input prices highly driven by energy prices, those effects are being monitored closely both in terms of price hikes but also duration of elevated prices.

He continues, “Some of the energy challenges that we’re undergoing with the war in Iran and the blockade, Straits of Hormuz, I think that has the potential, maybe less in the broader real estate market, but for farmland specifically, that could have a pretty large impact, depending on how it resolves, how quickly that happens.”

What Are The High Interest Trends?

Shew’s research reveals two eye-catching farmland value takeaways.

1. Midwest Market “Pullback": Class A farmland in the Midwest is seeing a “mature” pullback of about 10% from the 2021–2022 peaks, while Class B ground remains slightly more resilient.

(Acres.com)

First Shew notes, 2021 and 2022 saw 1.5x to 2x the average number of land transactions. The highest value per acres sales during that time earned a lot of attention. What he refers to as “hype.”

“Particularly in Iowa and Illinois, where farmers were buying farms for $25,000 or $30,000 per acre. you have these outlier transactions. It’s very, very few, but they catch a lot of attention and that kind of pushes some land values up.”

He says that raised expectations that Class A—or the highest rated productivity ground—had reached a new plateau in values and wouldn’t go down.

But Shew notes, as of 2025, there’s been a 10% pullback from those ’21 and ’22 peaks. And that’s on the highest rated ground in terms of productivity.

Class B ground values have been more resilient.

2. In California, Water is Half Your Land’s Value

Looking at the data, Shew says in California, water security drives the value, particularly for permanent crops. Tier 1 districts with multiple water sources maintain high values, while “white space” (areas without district water) is seeing significant distress and land fallowing.

“A lot of people are already talking about water regulations, how water security plays a role, and, permanent crops have been under duress for close to three years now,” Shew says. “So that’s not new, but we’ve quantified the impacts regionally, and across ag districts, and by permanent crop type.”

The crops showing this trend in spades: almonds and pistachios.

“For Tier 1 districts, for almonds, you’re looking at $30,000 plus an acre. And then you go to Tier 2 districts, and you’ll see it around a little over $20,000 an acre. Outside of districts, it’s called white space and you’re actually at $13,000 per acre, which is almond ground being sold as bare ground—rip and replace.”

(Acres.com)

He says Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) will mean that 500,000 to 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland will have to be fallowed or pulled out by 2040.

“So that’s about 10% of the farmland in California’s Central Valley, most of it in San Joaquin,” so we’re seeing some initial phases of that as we’ve seen tens of thousands of permanent crops come out in the past few years,” Shew says.

He adds, “Water regulatory bodies have put more pressure on farming in California. It’s just going to create a harsher environment for how water gets distributed and allocated.”

Resilience via Government Assistance

Programs such as the Farmers Bridge Assistance are preventing forced land sales by supporting farm operations, which keeps land values stable despite two years of challenging economics. He says we are reaching the tipping point in year three.

“Farm operations can be poor for a year or two and you’re not really going to see it show up in land values,” he says. “But we’re on a third year of this, and we’ve got other challenges that are fairly unprecedent at the same time, so there’s a lot to watch.”

“If you have to declare bankruptcy on your farm, 80% of most farm balance sheets is land, so that’s the large asset that’s going to get sold by the bank,” Shew says. “Government policies to provide support, The Farmers Bridge Assistance is the most recent one that probably plays the largest role, and it just helps farmers get to the end of ‘26, where hopefully balance sheets are in a good place.”

He’s also watching how the provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill come to bear this fall and at year end.

“Reference prices for, rice, in particular, is one that comes to mind. Those will take place and hopefully create some stability, but you have got to get to the end of the year.”

Transaction Volume Stabilization

Nationwide transaction volumes have returned to pre-pandemic (2018–2020) levels, though California is seeing an uptick in volume due to “distress sales” from owners who can no longer float the costs.

“The low interest rates ‘21 to 23, roughly created a great time for folks to invest in land. They wanted to deploy capital, and land is the definition of a real asset,” he says. “You had that boom, and then, of course, as rates went up in ’23 and ’24 and values stabilized at much higher levels, it turned off that capital allocation.”

(Acres.com)

National farmland transaction volumes in 2024 and 2025—transaction count, acreage turnover, and overall volume of dollars—is approximately the same as 2018 and 2020.

“Q4 of ‘21 and Q1 of ‘22, we saw three times the typical amount that would turn over,” he says. “So in Q4 of 2021, we saw 10 billion in farmland in one quarter—high volume and high values.”

While 2021 was the big, from a year-over-year standpoint, that began to fall back, by 20%, then 30%. He says the flattening from 2024 to 2025 is a bright spot to show overall stability.

“We’re not going to continue to see less transactions or lower sales volumes. We’re seeing that stabilize at a more consistent level alongside where interest rates are,” he says. “And presumably, if we see interest rates decrease, we will see that pick back up, and start what may be another cycle.”

You can download the full Market Values Report here.

Farm Business In 2026: Relationship First, Digital Convenience Second

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:48:22 GMT

Based on the 2026 State of the Farm data, farmers aren’t looking to replace their advisers with algorithms; instead, they want digital tools that remove the friction from the business side of their operation. The State of the Farm Report is prepared by Bushel with the goal of illuminating trends in three things:

Farmer tech use
Payment trends
Supply chain

The most recent survey had 1358 respondents, and here are some of the key takeaways for farmers and agribusiness.

Killing The Trope of The Technology Adverse Farmer

The survey has been conducted since 2018, first by FarmLogs, which was acquired by Bushel. As Julia Eberhart explains, the overall takeaway of the survey from every year has been farmers are not resistant to technology adoption.

“Year after year, we’ve tracked the same data point—farmers’ willingness to adopt tech. And overwhelmingly the data shows farmers are willing to adopt. But we still have this stereotype that agribusiness says farmers won’t use it. And we see across all age groups, we see a willingness to try new technologies,” she says.

Eberhart points to key tenets to pull out from the results in how farmers prefer to do business.

“It’s valuable to both agribusiness and farmers,” she says.

Artificial Intelligence Has Arrived

While in early days of adoption, the survey proves farmer use of AI has broken through with 14% of respondents say they use AI tools on the farm today.

“20% of who said yes, had more than 5,000 acres,” Eberhart says explaining that perhaps larger scale operations are adopting the technology at an earlier pace. Adoption of AI is highest for respondents under 60 years old.

Using AI is an indicator for tech-savvy farmers as 70% of AI users from the study are also “willing to experiment with new technologies,” compared to 42% of the other respondents.

And 11% of respondents say they are unsure, which Eberhart could be a reflection of farmers acknowledging how AI is embedded in much of the software they use but they don’t directly engage with the AI.

What Does This Mean for Ag Service Providers?

Per the State of the Farm, technology enhances but does not replace relationships, interactions, and payments/transactions.

“It’s about how to make doing business easy,” Eberhart says.

She says to win the farmer’s business in 2026, ag retailers must empower their agronomists with tools to build loyalty, offer a mobile or web platform so farmers can easily review prices and quotes on their own time, and provide flexible, integrated financing options alongside traditional check payments.

The Differentiator Lies in the Relationship

In 2025, when Bushel asked “If the price is equal, what is the primary reason you purchase inputs from one retailer over another?”, 52.3% pointed to the “Relationship with staff & overall customer service.” In 2026, that number jumped up 8% to nearly 60%.

If you’re assuming younger farmers only want to interact through screens, the data shows the opposite–85% of farmers under 40 cite the relationship with the staff and overall customer service as their primary reason for choosing a retailer—the highest of any demographic.

Another demographic-driven trend is farms over 2,000 acres show a higher preference for text messaging and digital business. However, farms less than 500 acres show a preference to handle business in person.

In-Person Trust Bridged with Digital Convenience

“Farmers are more willing to share data than they themselves recognize,” Eberhart says. “Year after year, data sharing is rooted in who provides value, what relationship they are having, and who is providing easier ways to be sharing it.”

Farmers are most likely to share data when applying for a loan, with their bankers and accountants, as well as crop insurance providers.

“Those three are by far they are getting the most data sharing for good reason,” Eberhart says.

When it comes to input purchasing and service orders with ag retail, there is a nuanced shift. Farmers still highly value talking to their agronomist, but they want the actual transaction process to be much easier.

Digital Quoting

The end goal of “frictionless business” includes the final checkout. The Bushel research points out while the preference for how a farmer submits their order has remained relatively stable year-over-year, their expectations for what happens before the order has changed.

“Farmers are increasingly adopting digital tools to manage their broader operation, and they are bringing those consumer-level expectations to their retailer,” Eberhart says.

As such, farmers are seeking:

Customized quotes
Product availability transparency
Price comparison tools

And much of that product information available when convenient to them on a portal or a digital storefront.

Support Traditional Payments While Expanding Financing

Eberhart says the State of the Farm has shown how 80% of agribusiness and farmer transaction is done by paper check.

“Over the years, we’ve seen steady growth of digital tools, and reliance on checks being reduced by 1% to 2% every year,” she says.

She says this emphasizes to meet farmers where they are at while simultaneously making it easier for staff to have simplified processes.

Two other financial trends have been in retail supplied financing and farmer credit card use—illustrating how farmers are seeking flexible payment options and new financing or credit programs.

In 2022, over 20% of farmers said they used a credit card to pay for their crop inputs, which fell to 8% in 2024, and then most recently in 2026 2.6% of farmers said they used credit cards.

At the same time, ag retailer financing products have doubled their use since 2022—going from 4.5% to 9%. And 17.3% of farmers said in 2026 they were using operating lines of credits for input purchases.

Key to Business in 2026

Per the Bushel report, the winning formula for ag service providers in 2026 and beyond is clear: Use digital tools to handle the paperwork so your team has more time to handle the handshake.

Farmers Don’t Use AI for Answers — They Use It to Think Better

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:10:22 GMT

What you should know:

To use artificial intelligence in your business for a competitive advantage — not just a gimmick:

Ask better questions than most people
Combine AI with real-world experience
Execute on the answers

For Rachael Sharp, dry weather hasn’t made planting go any easier in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. And when a planter went down, the first thing she did was pull up Chat GPT.

“I pulled up the part number, and I saw that I’d actually entered in there last year. So it told me the date I changed it, and that was helpful, because I was trying to figure out why is this wearing out so quickly?” she says. “We’re in desperate need of rain, and we’re pulling in some pretty hard non-irrigated land right now. I logged that we changed the bearing again, and so next time, knock on wood, it hopefully doesn’t go out again, but if it does I can look and see I changed it twice in the last year.”

That’s just one of many examples of how Sharp is using ChatGPT to manage equipment, her time, and the farm business. She and her father, Don, are featured in an OpenAI commercial, which premiered during the Super Bowl.

And she’s in good company with other farmers in how to use the artificial intelligence platforms.

Marc Arnusch, the 2025 Top Producer of the Year, says ChatGPT is the most used app on his phone.

Jeremy Jack, leader of Silent Shade Planting Company the 2023 Top Producer of the Year, uses AI as his daily management teammate from agronomy and business decisions.

Here are the four ways these farmers use AI every day on the farm.

(Photo: Yvonne Min)

1. Make better decisions faster

Colorado farmer Arnusch uses ChatGPT and Grok to narrow down his consideration set when making decisions.

“It helps on the strategic side of things, and when making a decision, I’ll let it give the top four or five things to choose from, which helps when there’s a million choices,” he says. “It really is like my funnel. I’ll set up my phone on my dashboard and just dictate to it. Then when I’m back at the farm office, my wife Jill is relieved because I’ve already processed out loud with the AI tool.”

While most farms collect data, Jack uses AI to make decisions, particularly agronomic.

“I uploaded multiple years of soil data across our farms,” he says. “And we’ve found ways to manage fertilizer better, for example with sulfur.”

The data interpretation has shifted his thinking by connecting the yield zones with as-applied fertility and return on investment.

Jack is also using the technology to double check every spray application — from rates, to tank mix, to nozzle selection, to pressure optimization.

Sharp has also found AI helpful in managing chemical applications. She can remember chemical boxes marked up with her father’s calculations by hand.

“I tell the prompt what I’m spraying, where I’m spraying, how many acres, tank size, and then I let it tell me what to order,” she says. “Over time, it’s learned which products are liquid and which are dry flowables. And it’s helped me keep track of the inventory we have so we don’t end up with pallets of odds and ends.”

(Photo: OpenAI)

2. Be more efficient

When it comes to where to start with AI, Sharp has one piece of advice.

“Think of the task that you don’t like to do at the end of the day. For me, I didn’t want to do paperwork at the end of the day,” she says. “So I threw it over to ChatGPT, and I said, hey, this is what I planted today, this is the date, and I left it at that. I started really, really simple.”

Now, she’ll record things directly in the field or in the truck. She says it has helped with FSA 578 forms. And in day-to-day operations, she’s found benefits for time management and accuracy in all record keeping.

“We have seed samples that require a handwritten seed form that I turn in along with the sample, but I spoke into my phone and said, hey, Chat GPT, I need you to log that I sent this variety, this lot number, on this date, to the lab. And so, that’s probably one of 15 entries that I’ve made over the course of a month. And at the end when we finally turn in our last sample to the lab, I’ll ask it for a spreadsheet with all that listed,” she says.

(Photo: Sarah Green Photography)

3. Think more clearly about complex problems

Jeremy Jack often asks ChatGPT “What does this mean for my farm?” with current events.

“With the war in Iran, global fertilizer supply chain concerns, and even things like USDA reports, it’s given helpful perspective in how to think about what’s happening off the farm but impacts the farm.”

And he’s found success in using the platform to specifically think about the business strategy for his farm with vendors, including lenders, landowners and more.

4. Manage more professionally

Jack has been active with an advisory board for their farm, but AI has become like a boardroom in his pocket.

“I bounce ideas—pressure test if you will—before it costs me real money,” he says. “This includes input purchases, land agreements, and equipment purchases.”

He’s also come to use it in his external communications about the farm including his regular social media posts on LinkedIn.

When it comes to team management, Arnusch has input culture index results for vendors and employees, then the AI compares their individual characteristics with the job they are being asked to do.

“This has been a breakthrough,” he says. “It’s shown me that at no fault of their own, why some people fail at what they are being asked to do. It wasn’t because they weren’t working hard or doing the job. It was stretching them beyond what they can do.”

He gives the example of a farm foreman position on the farm, and how he used this process to match the candidate with the role.

(Sarah Green Photography)

Beyond the Blame Game: Navigate the Mental Toll of Modern Ag

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:56:34 GMT

When market pressures mount, it is easy to succumb to the “blame game.” Yet, the most resilient operations are those that anchor themselves in a mission larger than the current balance sheet. For leaders like James Burgum and Lamar Steiger, coping with stress isn’t just about managing the books, it’s about managing the mindset.

The Many Hats of the Modern Producer

James Burgum, CEO of The Arthur Companies, believes the first step in managing stress is acknowledging the sheer weight of the roles farmers play.

“One of the things I did when I stepped into my role is an exercise where I said to our team, ‘Help me understand all the hats on the farm – farmworker, agronomist, grain merchandiser, mechanic, truck driver, snow removal lead, banker, economist,’” Burgum said during a discussion at Top Producer Summit. “You start to go down the list, and its dozens and dozens of roles that an individual farmer plays.”

By recognizing the complexity of these roles, Burgum argues that producers can move toward servant leadership—prioritizing the team’s needs.

“There are things that are much more important and much bigger than the challenges we’re wrestling with on the job every day,” Burgum says. “It’s hard to juggle all the balls, but at the end of the day, we want everyone on our team to make sure they get home at night and be there for their families.”

Choosing Abundance Over Scarcity

Lamar Steiger, owner of The 808 Ranch, learned about stress through the lens of his father, a man who seemed to face every possible setback: health crises, financial downturns and missed market peaks.

The farm struggled during times of high interest rates in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s and his father was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, Guillain-Barre, that left him paralyzed for six months.

Still, his dad always had an attitude of abundance, not scarcity, Steiger says.

“With my brothers holding other obligations, I was left to milk the cows,” Steiger says. “We were so far behind, and all my dad would say is, ‘It could be worse.’”

Breaking the Silence

Eventually, his family lost the dairy. After hitting rock bottom and battling depression , Steiger realized that the “tough it out” mentality was a liability, not an asset.

“When the stresses pile up, you’ve got to find help,” Steiger says. “I wasn’t ‘man enough’ to step up and say, ‘Hey, something’s wrong here.’ I should have said, ‘Time out—this is not working.’”

Steiger’s advice for those feeling the weight of the current market is simple: Find your “who.” Whether it is a spouse, a neighbor or a professional, talking through the stress is the only way to separate your self-worth from the volatility of the markets.

“In agriculture, we’re so reliant on outside forces,” Steiger says. “You’ve got to have an attitude that it’s going to work out. As my Dad would say, ‘Well, we never missed a meal.’ That was his bottom line for ‘It’s okay.’”

From Constraints to Catalysts: How Ag Leaders Turn Hardships into Strategy

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:19:05 GMT

In an industry defined by “one-year-at-a-time” cycles, the greatest threat to a growing operation isn’t just a market downturn—it’s the inertia that comes with size. Farm Journal CEO Prescott Shibles argues that long-term survival requires a rare blend of faith and agility. To maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, leaders must lean into “conviction” as the core of a strategy that survives the lows.

Here is how four industry leaders are turning today’s constraints into tomorrow’s differentiators.

1. Build when times are hard.

When Brent Smith, president and CEO of NewLeaf Symbiotics, joined the company in 2023, the grain market was entering a significant down cycle. While some saw a risky time to lead a startup, he saw an opportunity.

“I learned in my first startup that the best time to build a business is in hard times,” Smith said said during a discussion at Top Producer Summit. “Because if you can’t withstand tough times, you’re not going to survive long term.”

For Smith, survival meant doubling down on the company’s core: science. Despite the pressure to cut costs, NewLeaf continues to spend half of its operating expenses on science.

“It would be very easy to peel that back,” he admits. “But we focused on projects that make the most impact the quickest, while keeping an eye on the long-term innovation in our pipeline.”

2. Control what you can control.

Farmers face the ultimate constraint every year: the weather. Scott Beck, president of Beck’s Hybrids, recalls the planting crisis of 2019 when constant rains kept tractors out of the fields well into May.

“I was concerned for our customers not being able to plant, but also for us not being able to plant our seed for the next year,” Beck says. “There was nothing that we could do to control the weather, but we could control how we interacted with our customers.”

Rather than retreating, the Beck’s team focused on transparency and empathy, using video series to connect with farmers and even forming small groups for prayer and support. Ultimately, they wanted farmers to know they cared and were there to support them however they could.

Despite the financial reality of what could happen if farmers didn’t plant and returned seed, Beck’s decided their course of action would not include employee layoffs. Instead, they prepared to sell land to protect their people.

“Fortunately, the weather broke and everybody was able to get planted,” he says. “Then the second miracle happened. We had the second warmest September on record, and that’s what brought the crop through to enable 2019 to not turn out as bad as it started.”

3. Turn disadvantages into advantages.

In 2014, Lamar Steiger, owner of The 808 Ranch, was tasked with a monumental challenge: helping Walmart reinvent its beef supply chain. At the time, the retail giant was at a disadvantage, forced to accept whatever the major meatpackers provided.

Steiger’s strategy was to turn that lack of control into a new kind of independence.

“I convinced the Walmart team to go around the traditional supply chain,” Steiger says. Today, Walmart sources 28% of its beef from its own “farm-to-table” supply chain.

There’s no question that decision was really good for Walmart. But Steiger says it was also really good for him personally.

“It reminded me that no matter how big you are, there are always challenges,” he says.

4. Create “white space” for the future.

When the day-to-day tasks of an operation become overwhelming, long-term strategy is often the first thing to go. James Burgum, CEO of The Arthur Companies, believes leaders must intentionally carve out “white space” for their teams.

“It’s important to find ways where people can actually spend their time working on the business, not just in the business,” he says.

By protecting time for team members to execute ideas that are three to five years out, Burgum manages the tension between short-term urgency and long-term viability.

“It’s hard to step away from the daily fires you’ll face in your operation, but it’s important,” he adds. “How we manage that tension of short term and long term is creating that white space and making sure that we consciously work on the business.

The Long Game

Ultimately, resilience in agriculture is about knowing when to push and when to pivot.

“You have to know when to put the gas down, and you need to know when to tap the brake,” Smith says. “And regardless of what you are doing, you need to stay focused on what you’re doing.”

Whether it is investing in science during a downturn or choosing customer empathy over the bottom line, these leaders say constraints don’t have to be roadblocks; they can be the very catalysts that drive an operation forward.

Grain Dust Explosions Declined in 2025, but Fatalities and Injuries Saw a Sharp Increase

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 02:40:17 GMT

According to Purdue University’s nationwide report, there’s a concerning trend where the total number of grain dust explosions decreased in 2025, but the severity of those incidents—measured by injuries and fatalities—increased significantly.

There were seven grain dust explosions reported in the U.S. in 2025, a slight decrease from the nine reported in 2024.

However, despite fewer incidents, the human toll was higher. The 2025 explosions resulted in four fatalities and 10 injuries, compared to zero fatalities and two injuries in 2024.

Facility Types: The incidents occurred across a variety of operations, including:

Two grain elevators
One farm-operated grain elevator
One seed processing facility
One feed mill
One flour mill
One biofuel plant

The explosions were concentrated in the Midwest and South, with Texas and Ohio reporting two incidents each, and Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska each reporting one.

Grain dust was the most common fuel source noted from incidents in 2025 having caused five explosions. The primary ignition sources identified also included smoldering grain, equipment maintenance work, and overheated bearings.

As such Purdue’s Kingsly Ambrose emphasizes the critical need for:

Minimizing dust accumulation to prevent secondary explosions
Performing preventive maintenance on equipment (especially bearings) before peak handling
Properly aerating stored grain to prevent smoldering, which can act as an ignition source

The Purdue group has been collecting data related to grain dust explosions in the U.S. since 2012, and the initiative is supported by the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA).

The Shrinking Slice: Farmers Receive Less Than 6 Cents of Every Food Dollar

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 20:30:42 GMT

For the past two years, USDA has estimated farmers and ranchers received less than 6 cents of every food dollar. In 2023, that was 5.9 cents, and using the latest data from 2024, it’s 5.8 cents.

“Our oldest data point right now is 2007 [USDA updated the data series] and that’s 14.7 cents per dollar, and now we’re down all the way to 11.8 cents per dollar,” says Faith Parum, economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation. “So we’ve really seen that decline year after year. It reflects how much of the value of things in the grocery store or when you go out to eat is going to other parts of the supply chain and not necessarily to farmers and ranchers.”

Livestock vs. Crops: A Widening Gap

The aggregate decline masks a widening gap between sectors. While the overall farmer share is down, livestock and crop producers are seeing divergent trends:

Crop Farmers: Share dropped from 2.9 cents to 2.5 cents (a 2.5% year-over-year decrease).
Livestock Producers: Share increased from 3 cents to 3.3 cents.

“Overall, the farmer share is down. But we have those two markets really at odds,” Parum says. “We’ve seen that tale of two farm economies where our livestock producers maybe have seen a little bit of better days than they had had in the past, while our row crop farmers and our specialty crop farmers are really facing strong headwinds in the market.”

Effect at the Farm Gate

As highlighted by USDA, farm finances are quickly strained when farmers/ranchers are capturing a small percentage of the food dollar and even modest swings in commodity prices and/or input prices take place.

Parum adds, “when we talk about the health of our farms and the health of future generations on the farm, and being economically viable and sustainable and being able to keep their operations open, the trends we’re seeing right now are really hard for those farmers. Our ranchers are seeing a little bit of better days right now with high beef prices, but that’s not going to last forever, and with production expenses continuing to increase, we’re really going to see that that question come up of, what is sustainable if, if these dollars we’re spending in the grocery store aren’t making it back to our farmers.”

Where Does the Money Get Distributed?

The key takeaway: farmers produce the raw commodities that make food production, however, the price is clearly more determined by what happens after the products first leave the farm.

The USDA Food Dollar Series tracks how each dollar is spent by consumers and then divides it across the industries contributing to the value in the supply chain, such as farming, food processing, transportation, packaging, wholesaling, retail and food service. As noted by the USDA, with each step in the process, the additional services, labor, transportation and infrastructure add value and increase costs to the final food product.

USDA’s Economic Research Service Food Dollar Series shows in 2024, farmers received 11.8 cents of every dollar spent on domestically produced food, the remaining 88.2 cents of the food dollar went toward the ‘marketing bill’, which includes costs associated with food processing, transportation, packaging, wholesaling, retailing and food service. Over time, this shift illustrates how an increasing share of food spending is driven by services and supply chain activities rather than farm production itself.

Groceries Leave the Most on The Table For Farmers

Farmers’ share of consumer food spending varies widely depending on the type of food purchased. For example, the farm share of the food-at-home dollar was 18.5 cents in 2024, up slightly from 18.4 cents in 2023. But even in this category it means only than one-fifth of what consumers spend on groceries goes back to farmers.

As you may expect, products with minimal processing, require less of the value to be retained in that part of the food system, and therefore return a larger share of the food dollar to producers.

“The highest commodity that gets the most of that food dollar is fresh eggs,” Parum notes. “That’s just because there’s limited labor to process that food.”

Examples include:

Fresh Eggs: 69.1 cents (+6% from 2023)
Beef: 52.2 cents (+4.8%)
Fresh Milk: 50.8 cents (+5.6%)
Pork: 23.7 cents (+7.2%)
Poultry (+3.1%)
Fish (+2.8%)
Tree nuts and peanuts (-1.7%)
Fresh fruits and vegetables (unchanged)
Bakery Products: 4.8 cents (-9.4%)
Soft Drinks/Bottled Water: 1.3 cents (-7.1%)

A $10.4 Trillion Engine: Agriculture Drives One-Fifth of the U.S. Economy

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:46:58 GMT

Did you know that close to one in every three jobs nationwide is tied to food and agriculture? The latest Feeding the Economy Report says food and agriculture support about 49 million jobs, which is about 30% of total U.S. employment. Although less than 2% are on the farm, when you add food manufacturing, wholesale and retail, that adds another 24 million jobs, or about 15% of the workforce.

Each year, the Feeding the Economy Report measures the downstream, off-the-farm economic impact of U.S. agriculture. Danny Munch, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the report tracks three layers of impact.

“When you combine those layers, ag supports about $10.4 trillion in economic output, or about one-fifth of the entire U.S. economy,” Munch said on the Newsline podcast .

2025: $900-Billion Growth in U.S. Agricultural Industry

The U.S. agricultural industry grew by nearly $900 billion over the past year, according to this study led each year by the Corn Refiners Association and sponsored by three dozen agriculture and food organizations, including the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).

The first layer is direct activity, which includes the base level of food and ag production that is traditionally measured. It also measures supply industries like transportation, finance, equipment manufacturing and inputs in the second layer. The third includes the ripple effects of those two stages on how wages are earned and spent throughout the rest of the system.

“So, all the benefits we were talking about – jobs, wages, tax revenue – they’re tied to where that production happens,” Munch says. “If production shifts overseas due to cost pressures, regulatory burdens or competitive challenges, that economic activity moves with it. So, it’s not just about the food supply, it’s about all these other jobs, tax revenue and economic commerce that supports industries across every corner of every state.”

The report includes a state-by-state breakdown of agriculture’s economic impact, showing total jobs, wages, output, taxes and exports. Key findings include:

Food and agriculture generated more than $3 trillion in wages for U.S. workers, with wages rising 4% year-over-year and 13% over the past decade.
Food manufacturing remains the largest manufacturing sector in the U.S., employing almost 2.3 million workers.
U.S. food and agriculture exports were more than $177 billion, though exports declined by $5.4 billion year-over-year, underscoring the need for maintaining strong trade agreements and expanding market access for American products.
The food and agriculture sector produced $1.35 trillion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments, a 7% increase year-over-year.

“The report confirms the incredible, positive impacts of agriculture on our country,” says NPPC CEO Bryan Humphreys. “America’s 60,000-plus pork producers are proud to help drive this force that provides our food and other agriculture products—and the opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves by carrying on a tradition of taking care of their families, neighbors, animals and land, and at heart, a way of living that often has been passed down for generations.”

U.S. pork producers annually generate more than $37 billion in personal income, contribute more than $62 billion in GDP, and support more than 573,000 jobs in the U.S. economy, NPPC adds.

Finding More Pennies Per Bushel: The Digital Transformation of Grain Origination

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:57:14 GMT

The software powering the back office is empowering grain businesses to originate grain more efficiently and for farmers to find better margin.

With any job, part of it is science and part of it is art. Grain origination is no different. But with today’s tight to negative margins, professionals in the space are finding a threefold series of benefits:

Incremental efficiencies and improved accuracy
Confirmation of institutional knowledge
Unveiling of otherwise undiscovered opportunities

The Move from Spreadsheets to Systems

Ali Piper, part of the FS Grain team with 18 elevators across northern Illinois, says 10 years ago, the 10 grain originators on her team were entering purchases on a SharePoint form, entering hedges in a separate platform and having a customer service rep manually enter the contract into their ERP. Added up, it was a manual and tedious process with many revisions as contracts were priced, rolled, split, and more.

“Then, at the end of the day, they’d have to manually mark them that they’d been entered for the end-of-the-day balance process,” she says.

Kaylee Heap, lead of IT for Growmark’s retail grain units, said while the process had already begun in other segments of the retail business—agronomy, energy, etc—grain had a unique set of demands for the technology to bring value to the business. She’s leading her team to to standardize software partners with a unified “Grain Stack” of software solutions across all Growmark Grain groups.

“We vetted a curated list of software vendors, some we were already using, and then ultimately ended up with a product suite to implement across our grain companies,” she says. “It spans commodity management, hedging, offer management, accounting, CRM, the customer app, and more.”

Heap says when working with the individual grain companies on the project it became obvious everyone acknowledged there was room for improvement.

“Our job is to solve some really complex problems in a systematic way that historically, we’ve been relying on spreadsheets for. Working in spreadsheets is limiting because the only person who knew how to use the spreadsheet was the person who made it. And now, we have a more seamless experience to the grain buyer, who is now able to enhance their relationship when interacting with their customers or prospects because of the information available to them,” Heap says.

The Power of Live Data

Contango is an example of one of those partners taking complex, manual processes and improving the business procedures and improving the work of staff. On top of that, it’s discovering otherwise opaque opportunities for the business, which Piper say is the shining star for how the intentional use of technology has elevated their business.

The manual process compounded by the multiple markets they sell grain into is a complex puzzle which in this case was improved with tech.

“We’ve got a couple of terminals, we load trains, we load containers, we sell into the Illinois River market, multiple ethanol markets, and a couple of soybean processors,” Piper says. “Contango scrapes all of those bids, gives us a heat map and a bid calculation of what’s the best bid based on where a farmer is sitting—and it’s all live.”

Piper’s team did an A-B test to compare the old way to doing business with using Contango, a software aiming to fast-track how a team gets insights about cash markets, customers, and prospects. The tech-enabled team secured a two-cent-per-bushel lower buy basis than the control group.

“The grain industry is an industry of so much volume and very slim margins. With all of the nuances, potential time delays, all of those half cents add up,” Piper says.

She says software, like Contango, has helped the team build call lists for the day, know when to send text messages, and discover new customers. Contango uses Farm Journal data to help build out its farmer records along with other data layers.

“There’s no looking back now,” Piper says. The processes have been streamlined, and the outcomes have been improved. There’s no need for a clipboard of 50 bid sheets you thumb through all day long.”

Cultivating a Modern Workforce: How Ag Operations Can Become ‘Employers of Choice’

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:35:07 GMT

WESTMINSTER, Colo. — In today’s highly competitive ag labor market, attracting and retaining talent has never been more challenging. At the recent Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Annual Conference, Teresa McQueen, corporate counsel for Western Growers Association, shared best practices for reducing turnover, elevating company culture and becoming an employer of choice.

McQueen defines an “employer of choice” as an organization that can say, “People choose to work here, choose to stay here and would recommend us because our day-to-day experiences match our promises.”

To understand the full value of being an employer of choice, it’s important to look at how the ag workplace has evolved. For one, McQueen says increased competition for a limited pool of reliable workers has created less tolerance for uncertainty.

“Historically, farms and ranches have operated on a more informal system, and that worked great when workers stayed around for years ... and those operational, procedural things — your company culture — were passed down informally, because ‘It’s just the way that we do things here,’ which was great when people stayed around for years and before things got really complicated,” she says. “It just doesn’t work in a modern workforce. In a modern workforce, uncertainty in employees creates turnover.”

The system of informality, in which employers rely on their employees to communicate expectations and policies, results in both uncertainty and informal decisions becoming expectations, McQueen says. “And that’s how your operations kind of get away from you.”

Another major morale killer rooted in the old way is the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset, McQueen says.

“It’s frustrating and demoralizing for employees, and it would be frustrating for all of you,” she says. “I’m sure if you came up with a great idea, an innovative way to do something, and you were told repeatedly, ‘Wow, this is a really great idea, but we’ve always done it this way,’” that mindset sends a message to employees that there’s no room for collaboration or inspiration.

Clarity, Consistency and Trust: The Path to Employer of Choice

Clarity in your purpose, consistency in your practices, trust and stability are a competitive advantage and the principal goals in becoming an employer of choice, McQueen says.

“When you have trust with your employees, they feel the work environment is stable,” she says.

Being an employer of choice is not only about being a place where people want to work but also a place employees refer others to work as well, says McQueen, who adds that reputations — good and bad — spread quickly among crews and communities. A bad reputation can fuel turnover and erode employer trust rapidly.

McQueen sees many benefits to being an employer of trust from low turnover to “fewer no-shows at critical moments in your operations.” Higher quality and consistency and “things being done right the first time, not the third time” also result in a stronger pipeline.

“Your operations already run on consistency from equipment maintenance, feeding routines, harvest timing, safety procedures — consistency with people management is exactly the same thing,” McQueen says.

At the recent Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Annual Conference, Teresa McQueen, corporate counsel for Western Growers Association, shared best practices for reducing turnover, elevating company culture and becoming an employer of choice.

(Photo: Jennifer Strailey)

Successful Supervision

Supervisor consistency is critical. Every supervisor across locations and crews needs to coach, and not push, with consistency, says McQueen. All employees must be treated the same and with respect whether they are domestic or H-2A workers.

“Make sure that you’re training your supervisors because they’re the key for a lot of us,” says McQueen, adding that people don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers.

“Supervisors are also key when it comes to risk,” says McQueen, so be sure to have a system and train supervisors to listen for the “red-flag issues.”

McQueen also advises employers to limit who can terminate or send workers home and to ensure supervisors understand they are not responsible for making big decisions like whether harassment or discrimination has occurred. Their role is to assure the employee that they will take the matter to the appropriate decision-maker immediately, says McQueen, who emphasizes that critical situations must be addressed in a timely manner.

“Because if a supervisor thinks that those particular types of decisions, which are huge risk factors for an employer, if they feel that’s within their power, you are going to have inconsistency because they’re using their personal judgment, which isn’t always what you want,” she says. “You want those decisions made from an organizational standpoint. How will we as an organization want to manage this risk?”

The bottom line is consistency every time, says McQueen.

“You want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what they’re supposed to do, and they’re doing it the same way each and every time,” she says. “Consistency leads to making fewer mistakes and creating a safe work environment.”

Define Your Employee Value Proposition: The Promise You Can Keep

1. We start on time, and you know your schedule.
2. We explain pay clearly and fix issues fast.
3. We promote crew leaders from within and train you to get there.
4. Our housing/transport rules are clear, consistent and respectful.

Documentation is another critical component of consistency.

“Recordkeeping is huge,” she says. “It legally protects you. It also builds trust operationally with your employees. It’s one of the ways that you build trust, because you’re documenting things. You know what’s being done consistently, and you can show what’s being done consistently.”

Consistency with pay practice — another big risk zone — is also key. Whether it’s piece rate, minimum wage or overtime, this is one of the places you want to make sure you’re doing it correctly and you’re in compliance with state and federal laws, she says.

Ensure simple, consistent timekeeping is being used by every person who’s responsible, she says, and create a one-page pay policy sheet in English and whatever the second-most predominant language is among the crew.

Employers of choice offer:

Consistent pay practices.
Compliant hiring practices.
A safe working environment.
Rapid response to issues involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation.

Why They Stay Interviews

Retention is decided in the first seven days on the job, says McQueen. While many employers conduct exit interviews with employees when they decide to leave, far fewer conduct “stay interviews” with engaged employees in the company. These interviews can provide insights into what’s working and where improvements can be made that can aid with retention of new employees.

She recommends conducting 10-minute, five-question stay interviews once per season.

Stay interview questions:

What’s working well?
What’s making your job harder than it needs to be?
What would cause you to leave?
How is your supervisor doing?
What’s one change you would make this week?

What’s Ahead for the Team

Ask yourself this, says McQueen: If an employee left this week, what would they say about your organization? What would they say about you as an employer? What are they telling other people?

“Are you developing [employees] so they can see a path [forward] at a place they want to stay, which is going to aid you in retention, referrals and returns?” McQueen asks.

On the path to becoming an employer of choice, McQueen’s advice is to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the thought that everything needs to be tackled at once, and instead, pick one thing to improve each season.

“Take small steps to create practices that are easily repeatable, and they become the thing that you do; they become your culture,” she says.

McQueen’s 90-Day Employer of Choice Plan

Weeks 1-2 — Quick compliance and process audit (pay, timekeeping, hiring, safety)
Weeks 3-4 — Train supervisors on consistency, retaliation awareness, documentation
Weeks 5-6 — Launch first seven-days onboarding checklist and buddy system (who new employees can go to for help)
Weeks 7-8 — Publish an employee value proposition and a “How Pay Works Here” one-pager with translations
Weeks 9-10 — Start a scorecard and run stay interviews for your highest-risk crews

Iowa Farmland Values Rise 1.3% As Market Shows “A Little Bit Of Optimism”

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:51:49 GMT

In its spring survey of farm managers, real estate agents, and bankers, the Iowa Realtors Land Institute reports a slight trend upward in farmland values.

Market Appears to Be Firm

“Across the nine crop reporting districts, from September 1 to March 1, statewide values were up 1.3% so finally we’re seeing a little bit of optimism in land market,” says survey coordinator Matt Vegter of Hertz Farm Management “It’s a pretty flat market year over year, but at least a little bit more optimism here in the last six months.”

Vegter adds he was surprised all districts were up, and he notes eastern Iowa was higher than central or western Iowa.

Buyers Seek Quality

Over the past year, this group’s research has shown Iowa farmland with a 0.1% net gain.

The highest values for high quality crop land acres are:

Northwest: $15,297
East central: $14,824
Northeast: $14,446

The most recent study from the Chicago Federal Reserve pegged a 5% increase in “good” Iowa farmland from October 1, 2025 to January 1, 2026.

Slight Uptick in Values Despite Market Headwinds

Respondents say the top three factors influencing the land market are commodity prices, supply of land, and interest rates—in that order. Despite tough profitability in commodity production, the survey points to limited inventory continuing to support land values.

More than 70% of respondents say the volume of land for sale is similar to 10% less than one year ago. Whereas only 12% say more land is available today than 12 months ago.

The survey coordinators point to the announced government payments providing additional support.

“Motivated buyers are still active and well-priced farms are still moving. We’re seeing that from both producers looking to expand and investors who continue to view farmland as a reliable long-term asset,” Rebecca Frantz of Hertz Farm Management says. “Inventory has been tighter, and we don’t expect that to change dramatically in the near term. When sellers do bring quality land to the market, there are still buyers ready to act. That balance is what’s keeping the market on solid footing.”

Not surprisingly, since September Iowa pasture values increased 2.6% over the past six months thanks to steady cattle prices. Also of note, timber and recreational land values rose 2.2%.

What’s In Store for Iowa Farmland Values?

As for a farmland values outlook, 70% of survey participants responded they expect land values to increase 0–10% over the next five years, and 5% expect lower values in five years.
And regarding who is buying land, the survey reports 67% of buyers are farmers or farmers with 1031 funds.

FBN Report: Tariffs Drive "Fragile Stabilization" in 2026 Crop Protection Market

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:52:48 GMT

The crop protection market—from a pricing standpoint—has shifted from a time of extreme volatility of recent years to what’s characterized by fragile stabilization. That’s one takeaway from FBN 2026 USA Ag Chem Price Transparency Report, which also notes how tariffs have driven the floor of prices higher.

The Impact of Tariffs on 2026 Inputs

Farmers should prepare for a 4% to 6% increase in overall chemical budgets. While the wild price swings of the post-pandemic era have settled, secondary costs like labor, fuel, transportation and tariffs are pushing retail prices upward.

“As the tariffs were implemented throughout 2025, the effects were felt in different ways in different times,” says John Appel, VP of Category Management at FBN. “A big reason for that was that product inventory had to be driven down in the channel before it was felt very broadly. And I think we did see that going into 2026 now, prices are definitely up versus the same time period in 2025, and that’s largely because tariffs have become structurally part of the cost for the farmer at this point.”

Trade duties and anti-dumping penalties—particularly on imports from China and India—are the primary drivers of price spikes for 2026. Key active ingredients (AIs) most affected include 2,4-D, S-Metolachlor, Clethodim, Dicamba, and Glufosinate.

Details on The Data Sources

FBN sources its data for this report on ag chemical invoices submitted by farmers, and this year’s report included 1,372 prices from 122 insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and adjuvants purchased June 1, 2025, and January 18, 2026 across 31 states. Participants are often incentivized with Amazon gift cards. Fifteen crop protection products had price variances of at least 25% from the lowest price to the highest price.

“Really the value is in the data. It depends on the year and the amount of participation we get, but we try to get a big enough pool where we can make a robust analysis,” Appel says. “The spread being a little bit tighter in 2026 was due to the tariff volatility. In 2025, you had at some points in the year pre-tariff prices that were being invoiced, at some points in the year post-tariff prices that were being invoiced, and so you see a very large spread in that case. And we don’t have that to the same extent this year as that.”

This is about 1,000 invoices lower than the 2024 data that was based on 2,400 invoices from 33 states. The company has done its price report for almost 10 years.

“FBN was founded based on a Moneyball approach. Crop protection prices information was really asymmetric, and so price transparency was launched in 2017 as a way to even the playing field, so to speak. We capture that data, and we anonymize it, and aggregate it, and analyze it at a top-line level. And so that allows us to share back with our farmer members what’s happening on a product-by-product basis in the market and really arm them with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions,” Appel says.

Price Variability

The report advises moving away from “just-in-time” purchasing. Instead, it suggests buying in the fall to hedge against mid-season tariff changes and logistical bottlenecks in global shipping, which are projected to be a bigger risk in 2026 than manufacturing capacity.

“As the procurement window gets tight with overseas suppliers, with global markets, this is the time that that’s really felt, and we know that prices move about 10 points on average from pre-season to in-season, so that’s quite a bit. Now, will it be 10 points on every product all the time? Probably not, but in general, buying in the fall, buying early, even now, pre-season, where you can, makes a lot of sense,” Appel says.

On a national scale:

Clethodim 2E showed the highest variability with a 144% difference between the lowest and highest prices ($28.85 vs. $70.49).
Generic glufosinate followed with a 130% spread.

The FBN report shows persistent price variability, and farmers in neighboring states can pay a 50% price difference on the same products.

Generics vs. Branded: Where to Save

From the report, there is a push toward generic alternatives. For example, the report claims farmers could save 30% by switching to generic 2,4-D options or 11% on glyphosate compared to branded Roundup PowerMAX 3.

This data may not fully capture the complex “net-net” pricing traditional retailers offer through bundled seed-and-chemical rebate programs, which can significantly lower the effective cost for farmers who stay within a single manufacturer’s ecosystem.

Related Article: FBN Spins Out Its Crop Protection Business, Focuses on Marketplace and Technology

Reciprocity and Balance: The New Blueprint for U.S. Agricultural Trade Agreements

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 21:01:55 GMT

Ambassador Julie Callahan is the chief ag negotiator at the U.S. Trade Representative, and she reports positive momentum toward rebuilding trade agreements equating to a positive U.S. ag trade balance.

“We came into a situation in January 2025 where the US ag trade deficit was ballooning in a really unsustainable manner,” she says.

At the beginning of 2025, USDA forecasted a $50 billion deficit for U.S. agricultral trade.

“Compare that to an agricultural trade surplus in 2020 when President Trump left office, of a $6 billion surplus. So we were $56 billion in the hole, you might say, at the beginning of the administration, but through the efforts of the president ensuring trading partners understand they need to treat U.S. farmers and ranchers right, we are seeing real shifts in our trade balance and chipping away at the deficit toward a surplus.”

Trade Wins Highlighted by Government Officials

Callahan points to eight signed trade agreements with: Malaysia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, Bangladesh, Taiwan and Indonesia. She says these are binding agreements, where the foreign governments are:

lowering tariffs for U.S. ag products
removing unfair trade practices
and lifting regulatory barriers

“These are serious binding trade agreements that will deliver real value for U.S. farmers and ranchers,” Callahan says. And when asked if Congressional action to codify agreements is necessary, Callahan says that action would be supported but should not be necessary.

“These foreign governments have made binding commitments in terms of adjusting tariff schedules, they are also making regulatory changes. USTR will be enforcing these agreements. They are enforceable.”

Examples of enforceable commitments include:

Indonesia removes its import licensing requirements
Malaysia accepts facilities on their registration list as long as FSIS has them on their list

The Future of the U.S./China Trade Relationship

At the 2026 Top Producer Summit, Lyu Jiang, minister for economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., characterized the U.S. and Chinese relationship being a phase of stabilization.

When prompted to react, Callahan agreed saying, “We very much want a stable, predictable, transactional relationship with our Chinese counterparts. We do want to normalize, bring reciprocity and balance back to our trade relationship and ensure that U.S. farmers, and ranchers can benefit from the Chinese market again.”

She says her office is balancing the agricultural stakeholders wanting access to the large-scale Chinese market with a strategy to also diversify trade partnerships as to not be too reliant on a single country.

“We are working through the agreement on reciprocal trade to diversify our markets so we don’t overly rely on China,” she says. “We are looking to address that very serious situation where China may see agriculture as a pain point for the United States.”

With the upcoming meeting of President Trump and President Xi in April, Callahan says her team and the larger U.S. trade team is working to prepare and set the stage for a positive outcome. Callahan points to specific issues to be worked through and market focuses spanning crops and livestock.

“Both sides want the meetings to be a success,” she says. “Certainly, in the meetings leading up to the president level discussion, we will be having open and frank conversations with China where we need to see areas of improvement. That’s not limited to soybeans to sorghum. Our beef producers don’t have access to China due to China’s unfortunate actions that are not renewing facility registrations.”

The Review of USMCA

With a goal of “reciprocity and balance across north America” the trade team is working on its review of the North American trade deal.

“We absolutely understand the importance of USMCA for U.S. farmers and ranchers,” Callahan says.

Describing this as a “comprehensive review” she says that spans:

Look at what is working
Maintain what is working
Improve on areas not be delivering the benefits U.S. farmers and ranchers expect

She brings up the overall trade balance with Canada and specifically, Canadian dairy.

“With Canada, we went from a $3 billion deficit in 2020 and now we have an $11 billion ag trade deficit. So there are certainly areas for improvement, and we’re taking all of our stakeholders’ comments into consideration,” Callahan says.

Why The ITC Review May Not Be a Silver Bullet to High Fertilizer Prices

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 21:04:31 GMT

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has l aunched its scheduled five-year “sunset review” of countervailing duties (CVD) on phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. While these duties were intended to protect domestic industry, the landscape has shifted: one of the nation’s two major phosphate producers is now calling for their removal.

The Cost of Protection

In place since April 2021, the CVDs have been a flashpoint for farmers and trade groups who argue the duties have artificially inflated input costs. Recent research backs those concerns:

Texas A&M (AFPC) : Found the CVD increased diammonium phosphate (DAP) prices by 28.6%, costing U.S. farmers an additional $6.9 billion between 2021 and 2025.
Oklahoma State University : Estimated a 34% price hike on DAP specifically linked to Moroccan duties.

During an October congressional hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urged the administration to act, saying, “There is something that the Trump administration can do right now to help ease the burden for farmers: lowering the countervailing duties on phosphate from Morocco.”

(Data Source: USDA)

Declining U.S. Production

The U.S. phosphate market is highly concentrated. Two producers—Mosaic and Nutrien—account for 90% of domestic volume (Mosaic’s share is roughly 75%).

In a statement, Nutrien said: “Based on evolving global phosphate supply and demand dynamics since 2021, we believe removing countervailing duties on phosphate imports would be a constructive step that supports U.S. farmer economics, balanced fertilizer application and agricultural productivity. Farmers and food security are at the center of everything we do, and we continuously engage with our customers and associations on issues that are important to U.S. agriculture.”

Mosaic has been contacted for a statement.

The Resource Reality

Opponents of the duties point to a stark reality: U.S. phosphorus rock extraction has plummeted by more than half since 1995, dropping from 45 million metric tons to just 20 million in 2023.

Globally, there are five key phosphate suppliers, in order of largest volumes of production: China, Saudia Arabia, Russia, Morrocco and the U.S.

The “Coin Flip” Outcome

Despite the pressure to remove duties, experts warn it may not be a silver bullet for high prices. Josh Linville, vice president of fertilizer at StoneX, describes the ITC’s upcoming decision as a “coin flip.”

Even if the duties vanish, Linville notes that global headwinds remain.

“Whether the CVD rate is in place or not, it doesn’t fix the fact that China is not participating [in exports],” Linville said on the Top Producer podcast.

He notes that high anhydrous and sulfur prices—the two biggest variable costs in phosphate production—will keep a floor under prices.

He continues: “If we drop NOLA DAP prices by $100 per ton or $150, it would be phenomenal, but if it’s only $100 to $150 per ton, you’d see U.S. phosphate production be curtailed. We’ve got a finite amount of phosphate rock in this country. They are not going to be produce the tons of an upgraded product and sell them at a loss when they know it’s a finite supply. And once the market gets back to where we can make money, they’ll supply it again.”

USDA Forecasts Significant Drop in U.S. Ag Trade Deficit as Exports Rise

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:24:45 GMT

USDA now projects the U.S. agricultural trade deficit will narrow to $29B in FY2026 , down from about $50B a year ago. Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg says the trade team isn’t done yet.

(Data: USDA)

“Our goal is to get back to surplus, but going from $50 billion (forecasted) to $29 billion in one year shows tremendous progress, 43% down over this time last year, and we’re continuing to make good progress on seeing that drop even further,” Lindberg says.

Exports rising

Three areas with notable increases in exports by year-end of 2025 include:

Dairy exports up 15%
Ethanol exports up 11%
Corn exports up 29%

Simply put, the U.S. ag trade balance is export value minus import value. Lindberg says the export side of the equation is where his team can make the most impact.

“We’ve seen great opportunities as our producers can take new advantage of some of these trade deals the president has put in place. So, the stat that I love to say right now is over half the world’s population and over half the world’s GDP have come to some kind of a trade agreement with the president in his first year in office. That’s a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of dollars that can be buying U.S. products.”

In recent decades, the U.S. maintained a positive trade balance up until 2020 when the surpluses were much smaller or became deficits.

How USDA says it will push exports

To build back trade, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ team is sticking to a three-point plan:

Get better trade agreements.
Build willing buyer and willing seller relationships.
Hold trading partners accountable.

“Our team and our friends over at the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office have done a tremendous job opening up market access with our dealmaker-in-chief, President Donald J. Trump. Our team at USDA plays an outsized role in getting our farmers and ranchers out there to sell their products. I refer to it as building buyer-seller relationships. And so we’re aggressively approaching that this year, with getting our farmers and ranchers and our agribusinesses on the ground in these countries where they have market access today that they didn’t have yesterday,” he says.

Trade missions: 2026 schedule and priorities

To continue to build trade relations and boost exports, Lindberg points to the traditional USDA agribusiness trade missions ( of which there are six scheduled in 2026 ), and the rapid response trade missions called TRUMP missions (Trade Reciprocity for U.S. Manufacturers and Producers).

“We really do have a robust, aggressive schedule this year to make sure we’re quickly getting into these markets that the president has unlocked,” he says. “We need market access. We need to be able to compete on a fair and level playing field to export our products around the world.”

Domestic angle: imports, tariffs, and “level playing field”

As for the domestic demand of ag products, and potentially reducing the value of agricultural imports, Lindberg says farmers should also have a level playing field stateside.

“Our farmers and ranchers now have a better playing field, both overseas, where we’re taking down trade barriers, but also here domestically, through the President’s aggressive use of tariffs and the way in which he has restructured the opportunities that exist domestically for our farmers. And we’re seeing that in the trade data, where on a dollar-for-dollar basis, we’re going to be importing a significant amount less this year than we did even last year. And what that does is it means more Americans, more of their dollars are going towards food that is produced, consumed, slaughtered, raised, processed, right here in the United States of America, and I think that’s a win as well.”

The next agribusiness trade mission is to the Philippines.

Trump’s Glyphosate Executive Order Frames Food Security As National Security

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:12:24 GMT

On Feb. 18, President Trump signed an executive order related to domestic elemental phosphorus and glyphosate production touching on three policy tenets common to the administration: national security, food production and affordability. One connection that wasn’t made: Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), as some MAHA-aligned advocates have been critical of the pervasive use of glyphosate in agricultural production.

The executive order outlines why and how USDA will ensure adequate supplies of elemental phosphates and glyphosate herbicides.

From the executive order: “As the most widely used crop protection tools in United States agriculture, glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy, allowing United States farmers and ranchers to maintain high yields and low production costs while ensuring that healthy, affordable food options remain within reach for all American families.”

Elemental phosphorus is used in many industrial and defense-related applications and notably is a key ingredient in the process to formulate glyphosate.

Bayer, through its subsidiary Monsanto, is the only domestic producer of glyphosate in the U.S. Bayer mines phosphorus in Soda Springs, Idaho, formulates glyphosate production in Muscatine, Iowa, and finishes the formulation and production in Luling, La. Due to legal liabilities over lawsuits related to allegations of glyphosate leading to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, last year Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said the company may stop producing the herbicide.

Bayer subsidiary Monsanto provided this statement: “President Trump’s executive order reinforces the critical need for U.S. farmers to have access to essential, domestically produced crop protection tools such as glyphosate. We will comply with this order to produce glyphosate and elemental phosphorus.”

Noting the supply chain vulnerability, the executive order mentions the Department of the Interior has designated elemental phosphorus as a scarce material. Every year, 6,000,000 kilograms of elemental phosphorus are imported into the U.S.

Per the president’s executive order, “Consistent with these findings, I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security. Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable.”

The order delegates Defense Production Act authorities to the secretary of agriculture to help ensure adequate supplies of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides, including issuing orders and adopting implementing regulations in coordination with defense officials, while avoiding actions that would jeopardize the viability of domestic producers.

Supporters of the MAHA movement have posted on social media reacting negatively to the White House supporting glyphosate production and use in the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who has been critical of glyphosate, has not commented on the executive order.

While the first MAHA report issued in May 2025 opened up the discussion to criticize pesticide use, including glyphosate, the follow-up action strategy related in September 2025 was more well received by the agricultural industry for how it cited scientific standards for pesticide regulation and use.

Lawsuit Claims Rail Fee Blocks Competition, Cuts Plains Farmers’ Grain Prices

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 20:42:04 GMT

In a lawsuit filed in late January in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, two agribusiness plaintiffs and 13 farmers allege antitrust violations by a Class I railroad, Union Pacific, and a short-line operator, Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad.

Plaintiffs include Weskan Grain and Colorado Pacific Railroad, along with D&L Farms, GP; E&D Farms, GP; D&C Farms, GP; L&E Farms, GP; North Four Farms, GP; Marienthal Grain, LLC; D&A Farms, GP; Hineman Land & Cattle, Inc.; Hineman Ranch, L.L.C.; Circle C Farms, Inc.; Steven Compton; Mark Sanders; and JLD Partnership.

The lawsuit alleges UP and K&O worked together to stifle competition after Colorado Pacific Railroad rehabilitated the Towner Line. Plaintiffs claim the alleged conduct gave the railroads unfair control over westbound grain shipments — affecting the prices farmers receive for grain in Lane, Scott, Wichita, and Greeley Counties in Kansas and Kiowa County, Colo.

Union Pacific provided this statement, noting its view that the matter falls under the Surface Transportation Board’s purview: “Union Pacific denies the allegations of the lawsuit and will present the facts to the court and Surface Transportation Board who handles these issues.”

Will Bramblett, CEO of Weskan Grain, said after Soloviev Group acquired Colorado Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific and K&O put in place what he described as a “paper barrier” that makes interchange across the Kansas-Colorado line uneconomic–reportedly over $500 per car.

“What we’re trying to do is just get a more competitive environment for our local producers — farmers in the area — to be able to ship grain to markets across the U.S. and export markets in a more competitive manner,” Bramblett said.

As an example, he said in eastern Colorado, Weskan has been able to use a 110-car shuttle served by both BNSF and Union Pacific to bring cost savings and basis improvements of 25 to 40 cents.

“We’d just like to see that same thing happen in western Kansas,” he said.

Watco, the parent company of K&O, provided this statement: “We do not comment on litigation matters, but as a matter of course we will defend our commitment to the values that define us through the proper legal channels.”

Farm Journal TV subscribers: Watch the full fireside chat with Stefan Soloviev, chairman of the Soloviev Group, from the 2026 Top Producer Summit.

Lawmakers Raise Concerns Over Ag Shipping Impacts in Proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Merger

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 03:53:52 GMT

Early in February, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., sent a letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs urging a “rigorous and comprehensive review” of the potential merger between Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). Johnson said 47 House members joined the letter. Here’s a link to the letter dated Feb. 4, 2026.

Johnson said the merger could directly affect agriculture’s ability to move grain to domestic and export markets.

“I want to make sure they take a really good look at this. I’m not saying I’m opposed. What I am saying is this is clearly going to have an impact on how agriculture gets crops to market, particularly to the coast,” he told AgriTalk host Chip Flory.

He said he’s hearing concerns from South Dakota constituents and agricultural stakeholders, noting that agriculture is among the nation’s largest rail shipping customers.

“It’s hard to overstate the impact of rail to agriculture, and the STB is supposed to make sure that this is good for customers and good for the public interest,” Johnson said.

The proposed UP-NS combination would be the largest rail merger ever to come before the STB. It would also be the first considered under the agency’s newer merger review rules and amid heightened scrutiny of market concentration.

“I am pretty distrustful of high degrees of market concentration,” Johnson said. “When you remove a major player from the market… we want to make sure there’s still robust competition.”

The companies’ initial STB application was recently rejected without prejudice, meaning UP and NS can revise and refile, because it was deemed incomplete. The companies have until Feb. 17 to file a letter stating their intent to reapply. Until then, the STB and industry stakeholders are awaiting an updated application.

What the Treasury’s Announcement on 45Z Tax Credits Means to Farmers

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:56:55 GMT

On Feb. 3, the Treasury Department confirmed farmers will have a seat at the table to benefit from 45Z tax credits with its release of a 170-page document stating its proposed rule.

“They made a bunch of clarifications for the biofuel producers today — who qualifies, what qualifies, how to calculate and how to register,” says Mitchell Hora, an Iowa farmer and founder of Continuum Ag. “It says farmers are going to a have a seat at the table, too, which is what we’ve been advocating for this whole time.”

There have been questions over the past nearly four years since 45Z was first proposed as a biofuel producer tax credit based on carbon intensity of feedstocks. It’s had iterations through the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, and now the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

As written in the proposed rule, biofuels feedstocks would be limited to be sourced from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“Clearly, the Treasury has been very concerned about foreign feedstock, especially foreign used coconut oil and palm oil,” Hora says.

For farmers, three big questions remain.

1. What’s the model used to calculate carbon intensity?

Before today’s announcement, there were two competing models, one from the Department of Energy (known as GREET) and one from USDA announced last January. Today, the Treasury confirmed it’ll be a model from USDA, though it’s a new version now called 45Z FD-CIC.

“It’s going to be something different altogether, which is a combo of the two,“ Hora says. “We don’t know all the details yet, but we know they are going to utilize the language from USDA regarding verification, traceability and audits.”

Hora expects the model to use ag practices in its calculations, including cover crops, reduced tillage, fertilizer efficiency, manure and yield.

As for when the final USDA-driven 45Z FD-CIC will be released, Hora says ‘hopefully soon.’

2. Which chain of custody methodology will be used?

Hora is advocating for book and claim, which he says is more straightforward and would allow a farmer to sell their crop based on the carbon intensity (CI) score of a field, avoiding identity preservation or blending. The alternative is mass balance.

“The big thing that we want to see happen in the USDA rules is that the farmer data should be accounted for via a book and claim,” he says.

3. How much is this worth to the farmer?

Hora says today’s announcement clarifies a lot of the rule for the biofuels producer, which is the recipient of the tax credit. How much of that value will be shared with the farmer is still unknown.

“We’ve shown that farmers could contribute an average CI reduction of 18 CI points, which could translate to pretty substantial value, upwards of close to a dollar a bushel,” he says. “That’s to the ethanol plant, though. The biofuel producer gets the money. A farmer would get a portion of that, and we don’t know how the pie is going to be split, but the total pie that the farmers could contribute to, under the current models, the math ends up being $1.08 per bushel.”

While today’s announcement doesn’t mean money will start moving, Hora says we’re closer than ever to having opportunities for farmers.

Moving Forward With What is Known

Hora says while those questions have yet to be answered, he knows record keeping is paramount to seize on the opportunity. As such, he’s encouraging farmers to get their field-level data in order, including as applied maps, receipts, shape files, aerial imagery, etc.

“At least we got clarity today that this thing is going to happen. [There’s] still a process ahead, but farmers have a seat at the table. It’s a huge day for American ag,” Hora says.

Industry groups reacted in support of the Treasury’s proposed rule.

“Treasury’s proposal is a definite step in the right direction and will allow corn growers to transition into and supply the aviation sector,” Ohio farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower says in a news release. “Being able to fuel commercial planes with fuel derived from corn would be important to the long-term economic viability of farming. After today we are one step closer to that possibility.”

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) sent a joint release emphasizing how the 45Z rule should be in conjunction with a final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blend target announcement.

“Updating federal biofuel policies to prioritize soy-based fuels is a key ASA priority, and we applaud Treasury for this action which will help build domestic markets for U.S. soybeans,” says Scott Metzger, ASA president and Ohio farmer. “While Treasury’s work to update tax guidance is critical, ASA strongly urges the administration to immediately finalize RFS blending targets that complement the work of Treasury and Congress, by setting robust biofuel volumes and implementing new policies that will prioritize the utilization of U.S. soybeans in production.”

“These policies work hand in hand,” says Devin Mogler, NOPA president and CEO. “Treasury’s updated 45Z guidance is an important step forward, but it must be reinforced by finalizing the RFS as proposed. A strong RFS that includes the import RIN reduction mechanism is critical to putting American farmers and rural manufacturing first and providing the certainty our industry needs to continue to invest and grow so we can crush more soybeans right here in the U.S.”

Why Specialty Crop Economics Has Become an Endurance Game

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 14:08:02 GMT

Editor’s Note: This is the first story in a series that will explore the shifting economic landscape of the specialty crop industry.

Washington State Tree Fruit Association President Jon DeVaney was recently in Olympia, Wash., for Tree Fruit Day, which is a time for growers to discuss the issues impacting the industry with state officials. While those in attendance discussed the dire situation growers find themselves in, he says, a major challenge to having these conversations with elected officials has been how the economics of modern specialty crop farming have taken a turn for the worse.

“Some elected officials think you’re like those carpet stores in big cities that have been going out of business for 30 years, but they’re still there,” DeVaney says. “There is a little bit of that boy who cried wolf danger, from the perspective of talking to some of those folks.”

But much of the conversation stems from the data from the most recent census of ag in which the state of Washington lost more than 3,700 farms from 2017 to 2022, he says.

“Part of it is making sure that they have the stats to see that, yes indeed, this is a particularly rough time throughout the ag economy, especially for specialty crops, and that we’re losing farms,” DeVaney says. “A lot of my growers say, ‘Well, it certainly hasn’t gotten better since 2022, and it has gotten a lot worse.’ So, the aggregate statistics may not be updated, but we know that that trend line, unfortunately, is still continuing.”

Federal Funding Gap

And the sentiment DeVaney shared from his growers seems to be a pulse running through the specialty crop industry. The American Farm Bureau Federation’s figures show $3.6 billion in economic losses for almonds, $1.4 billion for apples, $763 million for lettuce and $717 million for potatoes in 2025. Many specialty crop leaders have pushed for economic support from the federal government .

The Specialty Crops Farm Bill Alliance says specialty crops contribute more than $75 billion annually in U.S. agricultural cash receipts and make up more than one-third of all U.S. crop sales. Yet, under the current USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance program, only $1 billion has been reserved for specialty crops and other commodities while $11 billion has been set aside for row crops.

So, where does that leave the economics of specialty crop farming in 2026? David Magaña, Rabobank senior analyst for horticulture, says a common theme might be unpredictability.

“There have been a lot of moving pieces, but overall, if we want just to characterize the current economic outlook for specialty crops, for growers in ‘26 the climate remains challenging, and tight margins continue to be one of the biggest challenges as the costs remain high, while demand is holding steady,” he says.

Labor and Price Squeeze

And for those in the specialty crop industry, it will likely come as no surprise that labor is the highest cost in specialty crops “by a country mile,” says Michael Swanson, Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute chief agricultural economist. Swanson says this labor cost extends far beyond the field but even to the cashier at the supermarket.

“The producer can’t change the economy’s wage inflation, but they can work to get the best labor force for their spending,” he says. “This will make the human resource manager a key player in 2026.”

Magaña says crop performance also plays a hand in the economic picture of 2026 with tree nuts, including almonds, pistachios and walnuts, performing better thanks to a better balance with supply and demand. He says this is likely due to the crops’ less labor-intensive production.

While tree nuts faced some challenging seasons from 2021 to 2023, they began to improve in 2024 and 2025.

“Prices for almonds, for example, should be profitable for most growers depending on the cost structure that they have,” he says. “The vegetables and the fruits that are more labor-intensive are facing more cost pressure compared to others.”

Magaña says what’s interesting is that growers often get excited about lower yields because it could mean more returns. But, he says, revenue equals price and quality. With the current walnut crop, it doesn’t always translate to higher prices, which further compresses margins.

The Consumer Paradox

“When we take a look at all this revenue compared to the cost, you need to be looking also, obviously, [at] how inflation is moving, both on your cost side and on your final price side. … To the point of the consumer, we’re seeing inflation has been stabilizing with the Consumer Price Index, but that doesn’t mean that prices are declining. They’re just increasing at a lower rate,” Magaña explains.

He says fresh produce prices have stabilized when compared to other food categories, which is a good thing for consumers but perhaps not so much for growers.

“The fresh produce aisle has become a healthy alternative, and also from a budget perspective,” he says. “So, that’s good news for the consumer, but for the grower, just stabilizing or flat prices and increasing costs, that’s just more pressure on markets.”

Swanson says that while retailers look to price, it’s also important to secure consistency and reliability in fresh produce contracts.

“It does not do them any good to get a good price on nonexistent or below-average quality product,” he says. “A buyer will always prioritize a supplier who does not let them down.”

Swanson says also of note in 2026 will be the impact of GLP-1 drugs on consumers’ buying habits.

“At the moment, they are trying to add protein to their diet to make up for the lower number of calories they are consuming,” Swanson says. “This pressures the fruits and vegetable categories as they make these trade-offs.”

Global Competition and Currency

Swanson says imports will be another economic challenge in 2026, with imports continuing to put a ceiling on domestic prices for specialty crop commodities that go head-to-head against them.

“U.S. producers certainly know that they have to match or beat import prices,” he says. “That is a tall order with higher land costs, labor costs and stricter environmental regulations, but the U.S. producer also has better local logistics, financing and productivity to compete in this market.”

Magaña, though, says that as the dollar weakens, it helps U.S. growers in the export market. He says the dollar depreciated almost 10% in 2025.

“That has improved the competitiveness of U.S. exports in international markets, and at the same time, when you look at that, that serves in practice in the same way as a tariff does for imports,” he says. “All exporters of fresh produce from Latin America, exporting to the U.S., when the dollar is weakening, they lose competitiveness.”

On the market, Magaña says the weakening dollar has had beneficial impacts. Western Europe has begun to import more California almonds and walnuts, which has also helped improve prices.

Wholesale Disconnect

DeVaney says a lot of his conversations in the Washington statehouse stemmed from prices, showing the upward trend line of retail pricing and the downward trend of wholesale fruit prices. He says it was difficult for those officials to understand.

“We had to explain to them that, yes, you’re hearing consumers say that prices are too high, but we’re not seeing any of that,” he says. “And quite the opposite, our growers are seeing less income and are trying to figure out how to survive in that environment. ... We don’t really have the ability to affect directly what we get from retailers.”

Tree fruit growers also raised the issue that they put up-front costs and investments into a crop for which they might not get paid until eight to 14 months later.

“It’s still the growers’ fruit as it goes into storage, and it’s only when it comes out of long-term storage and is packed and sold that they eventually get the net proceeds,” DeVaney says. “And so, that’s the other decision-making challenge, because the grower doesn’t know what the price will be at the time they’re selling it.”

For many tree fruit growers, certain expenses — such as labor costs — are determined by government policy. When asked to identify the most burdensome piece of legislation, policy or economic factor, DeVaney says it’s hard to do. He likens the current state of economics and policy to being attacked by a swarm of bees.

“There’s so many things coming at you that it’s overwhelming, and potentially fatal,” he says. “But you say, ‘Which bee is the worst in that environment?’ Well, they’re all bad, and they’re all coming at me at once. So, it’s the swarm. It’s not the individual bee.”

Capital Strategy and Survival

In terms of inputs, Swanson says this year growers will look to competitive bids on inputs and technology due to the added constraints.

“The entire crop production sector is asking for value with their compressed margins,” he says. “The old saying ‘you don’t get if you don’t ask’ will ring especially true in 2026.”

Magaña also says growers will likely delay investments and upgrades with a challenging financial picture. This includes orchard development, irrigation upgrades or even automation or mechanization. However, the potential for lower interest rates this year before an expected climb in 2027 and 2028 might mean it’s a good time for growers to secure financing and lock in rates.

The biggest risk in a high-volatility market is illiquidity, Swanson says. The key will be for growers to control growth or financing to avoid being asset-rich but cash-poor.

“Debt is not the problem, but the dosage is the problem,” he says. “The old saying ‘the dosage makes the poison’ is true for debt as well. Oftentimes, illiquidity and impatience are two sides of the same coin. Companies should be growing, but making sure it’s a controlled growth is the key.”

Endurance Game

DeVaney says another challenge facing growers is the notion of an appropriate supply, which fluctuates based on current market conditions.

“We do not calibrate supply and demand that finally, especially in fresh produce,” he says. “Because if there’s an abundance of table grapes one year, then that sort of puts downward pressure on all the competing fresh fruits that people might grab for lunch. It’s not just our own crops, it’s the aggregated produce sector, in a lot of ways.”

DeVaney says it’s not so easy to simply make a quick reduction in production for permanent crops, especially if growers are unsure that what they’re seeing is a short-term blip or a larger trend.

“Once you’ve already made that investment, the bias is toward sticking with it until you’re absolutely certain it’s not a good long-term prospect,” he says. “And some of those decisions have been drawn out as well, because the grower doesn’t want to walk away from that investment. And if they have revenue insurance, they have sort of a cushion to keep them hanging on longer to decide: Is that the decision they have to make or not?”

When asked to give a snapshot of his growers’ outlook, DeVaney says there’s a lot of frustration, as growers want to be the masters of their own fate. While agriculture has always had inherent risks, it seems even riskier now.

“It doesn’t feel like there’s a single action they can take to determine the outcome with this variety of global market forces and public policy issues at the state and federal level that are influencing their costs and their returns, and so their profitability feels outside of their control — that when they make good farming decisions that affects their potential, but it doesn’t determine their success or not, which is a frustrating place to be,” he says.

While growers might see choices that need to be made to recalibrate with current market and demands, it’s difficult for growers to be the first or second one to make that decision. It’s easy for the industry to say production needs to decrease, but it’s in the execution that becomes more of a challenge.

“It’s like people in a lifeboat together, with a limited amount of food, who want to jump overboard and not save the others,” he says. “That’s a terrible request to make of anyone, and so everyone is dealing with the starvation rations, looking at each other: ‘Will I outlast you and be able to then survive going forward?’ It feels like an endurance game with your industry peers to see who will come out the other side. And that’s a terrible place to be. People know maybe what needs to happen, but it can’t be decided on. And so, you just buckle down and see if you can survive through the point at which the market forces that correction upon us.”

Swanson says since labor will be the No. 1 cost driver, it will also need to be the specialty crop industry’s No. 1 focus.

“Employers cannot hire at below-average wages without getting below-average productivity,” he says. “However, they can hire at average wage rates and get above-average labor productivity.”

Swanson says there will be opportunities for specialty crop growers to share growth and cost control.

“Converting new customers allows them to outgrow conventional crop performance,” he says. “Their challenge is seeking a higher price to match their premium product offerings. If consumers are looking to save money on food spending, it will be harder to convince them to switch to the premium category.”

Swanson also says overproduction pressuring down prices is the biggest risk to crop profitability in 2026, which could come in the form of aggressive plantings or excellent weather.

“Let’s hope that producers stay in their lane plantingwise and the weather is average,” he says. “The flip side is underplanting or a weather event reducing supply. Let’s not hope for that either. It’s not bad when someone else gets hit by bad weather, but it might be you.”

Farmer Financials: From a Yellow Light to a Check Engine Warning

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:40:50 GMT

In 2025, the average size of loans for farmer operating expenses reached a record high (30% higher than last year) and pushed up lending volumes, according to the National Survey of Terms of Lending to Farmers. As noted by Federal Reserve of Kansas City Economist, Ty Kreitman, demand for farm loans has risen with tighter working capital, elevated production costs and higher cattle prices.

What is the outlook for on-farm finances?

USDA did not issue a farm income forecast in December, due to the government shutdown. With a pending update coming at the beginning of February, Meridian Agribusiness Advisors and Ag Access partnered on a farmer-facing survey to provide insights.

“There’s a group of farmers that are doing okay now, and I think that’s something for us to celebrate in the farm economy that farmers are being resilient through this period and finding opportunities, but there are others in our community that need help right now,” says Wes Davis Meridian economist. “It may look like if you’re looking at a traffic light it would be a yellow light. But, I would describe it more as a check engine light.”

Davis says from the recent survey, he can pull forward a divergence between those farm businesses focused on row crops and livestock.

Whereas 56% of livestock farmers in their survey said their working capital situation was very strong or somewhat strong, only 43% of crop farmers said the same.

About that same range for both groups say working capital is tight or very tight.

“There is that group of farmers, 10% to 15% of them, that are challenged with working capital,” Davis says. “They are questioning if they can stay in business this year.”

Mike Mostransky of Ag Access shares the survey had national representation but about 70% of respondents were from the Midwest.

For 2026, the survey sponsors say profitability expectations are factoring into two developments:

A change in behaviors for operating expenditures
Further erosion of working capital

“Farmers who are in challenging times look for help from their input providers, their financial service providers and other,” Davis says. “Farmers are asking them questions like: ‘How can I adjust what I’m doing without compromising my yield and my financial outcomes?’ And they’re looking for a thought partner that can help them with that.”

For row crop respondents, the top actions to preserve operating expenses were listed to be: switching to generics, reducing field passes, reducing or delaying fertilizer rates, and changing crop rotation.

“There’s a position right now that they don’t know what they don’t know, and they’re not about to take the risk.” Mostransky says. “It’s clear farmers are more focused on machinery repair rather than replacement. And they are saying things like, ‘give me your best price the first time, because you won’t get a second or third time.’”

Meanwhile, livestock farmers are more likely to be positioned to see opportunities with expenditures such as herd expansion, investing in genetics, low-inclusion feed additives and animal health products.

Click here for the latest report from the Federal Reserve of Kansas City.

In The Bull's-Eye For USDA: Foreign-Owned Land, Breaking Up Anti-Competitive Practices and More

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:18:36 GMT

USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden outlined a list of priority topics for the agency in 2026 during a recent webinar hosted by the National Ag Law Center. Vaden leads the department’s operations and implements policies that support America’s food and farm systems.

Included in his remarks:

Antitrust and Competition. Vaden says antitrust laws exist for a reason: when an industry gets too concentrated, certain actions undermine free enterprise.

“There are signs that that may be happening in American agriculture. That’s why President Trump has signed at least two executive orders asking USDA to work with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate these antitrust concerns,” he says.

He shares three examples — two in farm equipment and one in crop inputs.

“This administration thinks farmers should be able to repair their own equipment, and the industry’s efforts to prevent them from doing so are illegal,” he says. “That’s why this administration’s Federal Trade Commission is currently suing John Deere and some of the fellow equipment manufacturers to stand up for American farmers’ rights to repair their own equipment and to not to have to suffer under a system where, when their equipment breaks down in the field, they have to call a John Deere dealer, for example, and wait for them to send out someone to fix a simple issue that the farmer can repair him or herself — costing them time, productivity and money.”

He also says the administration is looking into how manufacturers distribute and sell their equipment. Specifically, the geography assignment and trade territories of dealers are being questioned in light of any price differences.

“If you should happen to pick any other dealer than the one they designate as your local dealer, they’ll charge you more for the same piece of equipment — the exact same piece equipment. There’s a financial penalty, which is prohibitive to you exercising choice over which dealer you use to buy your equipment — eliminating the ability to compete on the basis of price,” Vaden says.

He adds the exclusive use of OEM parts at the dealership adds costs to farmers.

“So, all of these three things, when added together, limiting your choice of where you can buy, and then when you have purchased a piece of equipment, preventing you from repairing it, and preventing you from using anybody else’s other than their own parts, give them more pricing power and allow them to drive up the cost of not only purchasing the equipment, but of ownership and operating the equipment — all which goes directly to their bottom line,” Vaden says.

John Deere provided Farm Journal with the following statement from Deanna Kovar, President, Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division for Production & Precision Agriculture:

“For nearly 190 years, John Deere has been committed to providing best-in-class support for farmers and ranchers, and we know just how important our network of more than 1,600 Agriculture & Turf dealer locations supported by more than 50,000 dealer employees across the U.S. are to that commitment. Importantly, because dealer trade areas are not exclusive, our customers can choose to work with any John Deere Agriculture & Turf dealer in the U.S. and John Deere does not penalize customers or dealers for doing business outside of a dealer’s assigned area of responsibility.

At the same time, we wholeheartedly agree that farmers should be able to repair their own equipment, and that’s why John Deere offers an industry-leading self-repair tool like John Deere Operations Center PRO Service. Our approach is simple - whether you want to work with your trusted John Deere dealer, a local service provider, or do the work yourself, we empower you to choose how your equipment is maintained, diagnosed, and repaired. For more on our commitment, customers are encouraged to visit www.JohnDeere.com/RunItYourWay.”

Vaden directed his farm input comments to the fertilizer sector.

“The duopoly that is Mosaic and Nutrien and their successful efforts over the past several years to constrain fertilizer supply in this country and drive up the costs that farmers are paying,” he says. “This administration is going to do everything it can to ensure that farmers have the fertilizer they need, at a price that they can pay, and a price it allows food to be purchased at the price the consumer can pay.”

He says a new company, BHP, will enter the mining sector for potash in Saskatchewan, Canada, with a $13 billion investment in a mine that should be operational by mid-2027, with exports coming into the U.S.

“We’re not going allow these two companies to do anything to undermine this or any other new market participant that wants to come in, provide new fertilizer supply and break up the cute little game that Mosaic and Nutrien have been playing for the last several years,” Vaden says.

Farm Journal reached out to Mosaic and Nutrien for comment, but they did not respond.

In a previous role, Vaden served on the U.S. Court for International Trade and oversaw the case regarding countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate.

Foreign Land Ownership. USDA recently unveiled a new online portal to report foreign-owned agricultural land transactions. Vaden previewed this new tool as a modernized way to help USDA enforce regulations that have been on the books since 1978.

“AFITA, the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, has required any time a foreign person comes in possession of farmland here in the United States, they are required to register with USDA. Now in all honesty, over the past nearly 50 years, that statute has probably been ignored more often than it has been followed,” Vaden says.

Biofuels Policy. “We need a proper biofuels policy to open up domestic demand. The Secretary has endorsed E-15,” Vaden says. “We need Congress to pass that. That’s going to instantly result in at least 50% more corn usage for ethanol, meaning millions of more bushels will need to be purchased from American farmers to meet that increased biofuel demand.”

Vaden credits EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and his team for their RVO rule, which sets ‘aggressive’ targets.

“The targets that they have set are aggressive. Some of the most aggressive that have ever been set,” Vaden says. “But what’s equally critical is that, for the first time, the EPA is proposing to make those targeted numbers — which make the headlines, real. Because they’re proposing, for the first time ever, to reallocate volumes that have been waived through the small refinery waiver exemption.”

He adds: “For the first time ever, that top line number — which gets so much attention as to how many gallons of biofuels we need to blend — it’ll be true. And that’s saying something. That will make a difference.”

Pesticide Regulation. Late last week, it was announced the Supreme Court would take up the Durnell case, which is related to Roundup litigation.

“I’m glad the Supreme Court saw that. I’m glad that they took the Solicitor General’s suggestion that they hear this case. And I hope they’ll listen very carefully to what Solicitor General Sauer and his team have to say as this case is briefed and argued. Because this really could make the difference in between whether America is able to retain its status as the innovation leader in agriculture or whether we potentially have a threat to lose that crown because we’re going to let juries second guess PhD experts who’ve spent decades at this work,” Vaden says.

In favor of federal preemption, Vaden goes on to detail the years of paperwork, approval and regulatory steps EPA regulates every commercially available chemical under.

“We have the EPA relying on decades and decades of scientific study, which shows the label they have approved is sufficient to tell farmers how to use the product without harming themselves or the environment, or anyone else,” Vaden says. “And we have that being second-guessed by juries located in jurisdictions specially selected by trial lawyers who know where there is a jury pool that is more than willing to engage in jackpot justice, listen to them weave their tale and then write incredibly large numbers down on the verdict floor. And those two things cannot coexist in a world where the statute is clear that it is EPA that regulates these chemicals.”

USDA Reorganization. Vaden says the agency is being transparent, thoughtful and strategic in its announced reorganization.

“We have a footprint in D.C. that calling it ‘underused’ is diplomatic. The south building can seat 7,500 employees. On its busiest day — we require everyone to come into the office — that building hasn’t reached 40% occupancy,” he says. “As a business manager or managing tax payer money, it makes no sense to keep up facilities that are largely empty.”

Vaden says it’s time to make the department footprint match its needs. Regular updates are being posted to USDA.gov/reorg, but the under secretary says implementation is going on right now with forthcoming announcements on locations for its new hub model.

“I signed a memorandum, USDA can start to enter into leases. They are already government owned or leased. But they are newer, tech adept and ready for us to move into,” he says. “This is at no additional cost to the taxpayer, but at less cost, because they don’t have the $2.2 billion in backlog maintenance. As we go forward this year, you’ll see leases, you’ll see notices to employees who we request to move to the hub. And taking into account employees have kids in school, the move will take place after the end of this school year. So they are able to move during the summer and are settled before the school year begins.”

Specialty Crops Suffered Staggering Economic Losses in 2025, Will Relief Come in Time?

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:35:01 GMT

Economic losses to specialty crops last year were on a level that can put farming operations out of business.

The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates $3.6 billion in economic losses for almonds, $1.4 billion for apples, $763 million for lettuce, and $717 million for potatoes alone.

Specialty crop leaders this week renewed their calls for urgent economic support for U.S. growers and shared their disappointment after the U.S. House released final spending bills Jan. 20 that did not include aid for American specialty crop producers.

While the Specialty Crops Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA) says specialty crops, including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery, greenhouse and floriculture products, generate more than $75 billion annually in U.S. agricultural cash receipts, account for more than one-third of all U.S. crop sales and support rural economies nationwide, under the current USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance program, $11 billion is allocated to row crops, and only $1 billion is reserved for specialty crops and other commodities, with key details on eligibility, payment and timing still unresolved.

“It’s a challenge with specialty crops to come up with aggregated data across all the more than 300 different commodities, but the American Farm Bureau Federation has done good analysis related to specialty crops,” says Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council and SCFBA co-chair.

“Effectively Farm Bureau is saying that if you’re going to have a relief plan rollout, specialty crops should be about a third of whatever Congress spits out,” he says.

Word on Capitol Hill is Congress is contemplating a total of $15 billion in assistance, SCFBA says.

“We agree with the one-third of whatever Congress comes up with, but also the package has to be large enough to make a material impact,” Quarles says. “The specialty crop industry has told Congress that we need no less than $5 billion in economic relief for specialty crops in order to positively move the needle for growers.

With food affordability still a top focus for many consumers, what happens to the cost of fruits, vegetables and other grocery staples if specialty crops don’t receive the aid they desperately need?

“We’re facing an unprecedented economic crisis in the U.S. right now for agriculture, and it’s not just specialty crops, it’s broader than that,” Quarles says. “If you have growers that are going out of business due to this economic crisis, that’s going to further impact supplies of commodities. It’s going to impact prices, and it will add to the affordability issue.”

Last week SCFBA joined American Farm Bureau Federation and ag organizations across the U.S. in penning a letter to Congress highlighting record-high input costs, labor shortages, weather challenges and historically low market prices that have caused farmers to face negative margins and nearly $100 billion in losses nationwide.

Reasons for Optimism

Quarles says feedback from both the House and Senate appropriations committees on the specialty crop crisis has been encouraging.

“They absolutely understand where we’re coming from,” he says. “The other thing to remember is that there have been fundamental changes in tax policy that were put into law last summer, and they’ve already started to come online. And when some of the trade agreements that have been discussed are finalized, they also could create a more competitive environment, along with the tax policy.”

But could this be a case of too little, too late?

“These policy recommendations could create a much better environment in the future, but if you’re out of business before you ever get to that better environment, it just doesn’t matter,” Quarles says. “So that’s the imperative of this economic relief; we need a short-term safety net or a bridge, whatever you want to call it, to get producers from this crisis into an area where they can start to take advantage of some of these changes.”

Another bright spot, he says, is how effectively the industry, along with he and his SCFBA co-chairs, including Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association; Mike Joyner, president of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association; and Dave Puglia, president and CEO of Western Growers, are working together.

“The industry has really rallied together under the umbrella of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance,” Quarles says. “Twenty years ago, this was not the way the industry worked, but the alliance has created a kind of muscle memory, where we know how to all get around the table. We know how to look at a particular situation, develop a strategy, and then everybody disperses out to where they have strengths across the United States.”

“It has really been the best of the fresh produce industry rallying together to try to get some relief for our grower members,” he continues. “I’m very hopeful that we’re going to get something positive done here.”

Surface Transportation Board Rejects Rail Merger App Because It’s ‘Incomplete’

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:43:09 GMT

On Friday afternoon, the Surface Transportation Board announced it came to a unanimous decision to reject the merger application filed by Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) because it was incomplete.
By law the board said they must reject the application, which was filed on December 19, and this is done without prejudice—so the applicants can refile an application with the necessary fixes.

From the STB announcement: “Today’s decision is based solely on the incompleteness of the December 19 application and should not be read as an indication of how the Board might ultimately assess any future revised application.”

So what was missing?

Per the board’s decision, the application did not include:

its impact analyses required by 49 C.F.R. § 1180.7(b), specifically inconsistent claims in the application about how the merged railroads would experience growth by diverting traffic from trucks and other rail carriers.
the entire merger agreement required by 49 C.F.R. § 1180.6(a)(7)(ii) with certain documents missing or incomplete.

There are two other business transactions included in the application which have subsequently been rejected.

The acquisition for control of the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway Company was pending the NS/UP transaction, so its related application is rejected.
The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis control application was described as a “minor” transaction, but the Board concludes that that proposed transaction should be classified as a “significant” transaction. It’s therefore rejected.

What are the next steps?

NS/UP have until Feb. 17, 2026 to file a letter informing the board and the public if they’ll be submitting a revised application. The revised application must be submitted by June 22, 2026.

What is the industry reaction?

The full decision is available online with details and letters submitted by other railroads pointing out omissions or questions about the information supplied in the original application.

In a press release, the American Chemistry Council said:

“A transaction of this magnitude must not be rushed. We appreciate the Board’s deliberate, data driven approach and its firm commitment to the STB’s modern merger standards, which make clear that any major rail consolidation just enhance competition—not diminish it. That is the only acceptable bar.
“American industry cannot afford another mega-merger that leaves customers with fewer choices, higher prices, and declining service. ACC remains committed to working with regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders to ensure that any proposed merger serves the public interest as the law demands and protects the nation’s supply chain, economy, and manufacturing competitiveness.”

Supreme Court Will Review Roundup Case

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 22:32:09 GMT

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will review a case that could impact litigation that involves Roundup. This comes after Monsanto, a subsidiary of Bayer, petitioned the court and received a brief in support of the appeal from the U.S. solicitor general’s office.

“The Supreme Court decision to take the case is good news for U.S. farmers, who need regulatory clarity,” said Bayer CEO Bill Anderson. “It’s also an important step in our multi-pronged strategy to significantly contain this litigation. It is time for the U.S. legal system to establish that companies should not be punished under state laws for complying with federal warning label requirements.”

The specific case to be reviewed (Durnell) originated in Missouri in October 2023, when the Missouri Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, saying the company failed to warn of the product’s risk, and awarded them $1.25 million.

There has been a split among federal circuit courts in Roundup personal injury litigation, which brought it to the Supreme Court. The company says this raises the cross-cutting question of whether federal law preempts state claims based on failure-to-warn theories.

To date, Bayer has paid more than $10 billion to plaintiffs in litigation claiming Roundup as the cause of their cancer. The company has budgeted more than $17 billion toward the glyphosate litigation.

Anderson became Bayer CEO in 2023, and one of his commitments was to get the glyphosate litigation “under control” by the end of 2026. In total, there have been about 180,000 lawsuits brought forward, with about 60,000 cases open now.

Previously, Bayer announced a multi-prong strategy to achieve Anderson’s goal, including court case management, state law advocacy and a call to the Supreme Court to review the FIFRA’s preemption provision.

The company has said it could withdraw from the market if they aren’t successful with the goal of containing the litigation next year. Currently, Bayer is the only domestic producer of glyphosate in the U.S.

USDA Trade Team Returns from Malaysia with a Focus on These Key Ag Products

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:53:32 GMT

As a follow up to the Oct. 26, 2025, trade deal announced by President Donald Trump, the USDA trade team just returned from a recent Trade Reciprocity for U.S. Manufacturers and Producers (TRUMP) mission.

Luke Lindberg, USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, says there were good, productive meetings toward elevating the relationship between the U.S. and Malaysia, which ranks as the 26^th largest ag trade market.

“These TRUMP missions were one of the aspects of [Agriculture] Secretary [Brooke] Rollins’ and my three-point plan to really ramp up U.S. agricultural exports. So, the president’s done a tremendous job of negotiating these new agreements around the world, and our job is to get on the ground with farmers, with U.S. agribusinesses, and start to make deals happen,” Lindberg says. “The analogy I’ve been using is the president is opening the door, and it’s our job to drive a bus through it.”

The trip to Malaysia had a delegation of 16 agribusinesses and trade associations. In recent years, the biggest U.S. agricultural exports to Malaysia have been soybeans, dairy products, cotton, vegetables and nuts.

“The whole barnyard kind of came with us this time around, because one of the things that the U.S. trade representative’s team and we did with USDA and the White House was we actually got Malaysia to agree that the U.S. food system is safe, and that’s in the language of the agreement,” he says.

Of the specific categories he shared, there was progress on many fronts including:

Soybeans — In 2024, Malaysia imported almost 452 metric tons of U.S. soybeans. Lindberg says U.S. leaders met with the largest soy crush facility, and he sees opportunities for growth.
Dairy — In total for 2024, Malaysia imported $118 million in dairy products. “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in dairy access and opportunities there, 23% growth this past year for dairy,” Lindberg says.
Ethanol — “We had a great conversation around ethanol opportunities,” Lindberg says. “Malaysia is a regional distributor of fuels, and so working ethanol into the fuel supply chain that can really spread throughout the ASEAN region, a lot of good opportunities out there.”
Beef — “We visited a very successful restaurant group in Malaysia that’s been begging for U.S. beef for a long time,” Lindberg says. “They’ve actually invested in a beef processing plant in the United States to get their beef halal certified so that they’re ready to go for when the actual duties shift and the regulations come into full force.”

Lindberg says a key tenant of the trade deal is to reduce or eliminate all tariffs.

“A lot of our producer groups haven’t been able to compete on a level playing field in Malaysia in the past, and now they have that access and that opportunity,” he explains. “When our groups can compete on a level playing field, I think we win more often than we lose.”

Next steps include a Malaysian delegation visiting Washington, D.C., next week.

“We’re marching forward here with a great opportunity on the horizon. I think it’s progressing nicely,” Lindberg says. “These rapid-response missions are largely driven by building these kind of new opportunities that really didn’t exist yesterday and exist today. In the next couple months, we’ll see full implementation of the deal, and that’ll really be the access-opening opportunity for our producers.”

Looking ahead this year, Lindberg says the USDA trade team is “hyperfocused” on fixing the agricultural trade deficit. With 2026 agribusiness trade missions announced for Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, he highlights time spent in Southeast Asia is a strategy to build trade in a region with growing GDP and positive consumption trends for U.S. agricultural goods.

“It’s going to be a dynamic year for U.S. trade,” Lindberg says. “I keep saying to folks: Trade agreements are great, but sales are the goal.”

Closing the Transparency Gap: Ag Data Group Updates Its Model Agreement

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 22:20:43 GMT

Technology moves fast. For example, five years ago, we were just seeing commercially available selective spraying machines in the U.S., now a handful of companies have hundreds of machines across the country.

Changes in the industry were recognized by Ag Data Transparent, an industry group founded 10 years ago with the goal of bringing greater transparency for farmers and the industry in how data is used, collected and stored.

As such, five years after ADT wrote and distributed its first Model Ag Data Use Agreement, they updated it late in 2025. It’s now available on their website for no fee.

“A lot of companies would come to us and say: ‘We want to do things right, how do we do it? What’s the best way to go about collecting data from farmers?’” says Todd Janzen, administrator for the Ag Data Transparent project. “We created this model agreement that they could use as their primary contract with farmers.”

He says in the past five years, it’s been downloaded hundreds of times.

The committee that recently worked to update it included:

a new category for sustainability data (carbon, conservation programs, and climate data)
a new category for usage data and how a farmer is using a platform
addressing artificial intelligence, adding derived data, which would be new data sets that are created based upon use of the ag data itself

“The agreement tries to be much more specific than others you see outside our industry,” Janzen says. “Also, it starts with a basic framework that a farmer owns the data.”

Reflecting on the origin of the model agreement, Janzen remembers a time with many ag startups all collecting data individually. Since then, there’s been a shift, mostly due to consolidation but also businesses closing, where there are fewer players today.

“Ag Data Transparent was created to first establish a set of core principles around what are the best practices for how data should be collected from farms,” Janzen says. “And then secondly, to do a certification or verification of which companies were adhering to those principles, by going through this voluntary certification process.”

Nevertheless, tools to help farmers ensure transparency are important, he says.

“What I understand, there still is a great deal of concern from farmers about what happens to all this data, and with advent of AI it started to reinvigorate a lot of these discussions about data and what does it mean for these AI models to use data, to train themselves,” Janzen explains.