The markets were seeing green after a mostly sunny World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate report on Friday, May 10, released by the USDA. The report offered more of a boost than anticipated, according to Randy Martinson, president of Martinson Ag Risk Management, who discussed the report with Randy Koenen of the Red River Farm Network during the Agweek Market Wrap on Friday afternoon. Martinson described the monthly report as friendly to wheat with a cut to stocks; bullish for corn thanks to cuts to stocks and higher yield; and a bit negative for soybeans as stocks were higher than ex ..read more

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - The Biden administration said on Friday, May 10, it will provide nearly $200 million to fight the spread of avian flu among dairy cows, in the government's latest bid to contain outbreaks that have fueled concerns about human infections with the H5N1 virus. The virus has been detected among dairy cattle in nine states since late March. Scientists have said they believe the outbreak is more widespread based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of retail milk samples. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will make $98 millio ..read more

PARKERS PRAIRIE, Minn. — The name of a 28-year-old man who died in a farming accident near Parkers Prairie on Tuesday, May 7, has been released. The Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office confirmed he was Kyle Laverne Olson of Parkers Prairie. At about 1:30 p.m., the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office and emergency personnel responded to a report of a farm accident with critical injuries at a farm site north of Parkers Prairie. Olson had been working with others to repair a piece of tillage equipment, when a part of the machinery fell on top of him and pinned him underneath, according to the ..read more

2024 is proving to be a year of extremes. For grains, volatility has proven to be alive and well as fundamentals shift. To start the year, ample global supplies and demand outlooks pushed prices to three-year lows — an extreme move many across the global grain industry were unprepared for, myself included. Just recently, however, the market sentiment is changing, once again, thanks to global weather events. While U.S. weather may be arguably adding some additional weather premium to grain futures, South American weather is taking center stage, specifically for corn and soybeans. Typically ..read more

I’d like to recognize the moms out there who are quietly doing all the things that only moms can do, in ways that only moms know how. As a dad, I know I have my skills and I put them to use daily for my family. But my contributions are different from the superpowers of moms. My kids inherently understand this better than my wife and me. The kids know to ask Mom for some things and Dad for other things. My wife may say, “Go ask your father,” but they already know that it’s her answer they want. Dad’s answer won’t suffice. Sometimes they’ll ask me where the (fill in the blank) is. If it’s i ..read more

HAVANA, May 9 (Reuters) - The Cuban sugar harvest is winding down at the lowest tonnage since 1900, forcing the government to import and putting more pressure on its domestic rum, soft drink and pharmaceutical industries, according to official reports, two economists and a rum industry source. President Miguel Diaz-Canel said at the end of April that the state-run industry had produced 71% of the 412,000 metric tons planned, or just shy of 300,000 metric tons, and would mill into May. Cuba produced 350,000 metric tons in the last harvest and while some sugar mills remain open, yields drop s ..read more

May 6 (Reuters) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday it had met with state health officials and asked them to facilitate distribution of protective gear for farm workers to avoid infection against H5N1 bird flu. The CDC said it asked state health departments to work with their agriculture department counterparts and partners in communities to prioritize the distribution of personal protective equipment from their stockpile to workers on farms where dairy herds have been known to be infected with bird flu. Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah said while ..read more

DEKALB, Illinois, May 9 (Reuters) — Falling crop prices are leaving agriculture equipment sellers with an excess of unsold tractors and combines. To cope with the surplus, dealers are discounting machines, suspending new orders, and even auctioning off equipment at reduced prices. The slower equipment sales are a knock-on effect of corn and soy prices dropping to more than three-year lows as U.S. farm income plummets and equipment makers and dealers are forced to pivot quickly after a period of booming business. Reuters interviewed ten equipment dealers, mostly in the Midwest, as well as fa ..read more

Spring fieldwork got off to a good start in many portions of the upper Midwest in mid-April; however, conditions have been much different in late April and early May. Frequent rainfall events and above-normal precipitation have kept most farmers out of the field since late April. In some areas, it may take several drier days in order to return to full-scale fieldwork, and the resulting soil conditions may be less conducive for good planting conditions. In addition, except for a few brief stints of some warmer temperatures, very cool and cloudy weather conditions have existed throughout the reg ..read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds calls a move by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to transition to electronic identification tags for certain types of cattle that cross state lines "federal government overreach." Rounds, R-S.D., on Wednesday, March 8, introduced legislation to prevent the Secretary of Agriculture from implementing any rule or regulation requiring use of electronic identification tags — also known as EID or RFID for radio frequency identification — on cattle and bison. The USDA announced on April 26 that a rule soon will be published in the Federal Register to require u ..read more