As tensions escalate between the U.S. and China, one crop is emerging as the most powerful weapon in a potential trade war: the soybean. China is the biggest buyer of American soybeans, picking up about a third of the entire…
The National Cotton Council (NCC) found growers intend to plant 13.1 million acres to cotton in 2018-up 3.7% over 2017, according to a recent planting intentions survey. Upland cotton will likely see the bigger jump by 3.8% over last season…
While some states in the Western Corn Belt are seeing strength in farmland values, others are showing weakness. That’s according to the most recent appraisal update conducted by Omaha-based Farm Credit Services of America and eastern Kansas’s Frontier Farm Credit.…
Surrounded by mountains in a remote part of southwestern China, Xinguangan's first large-scale, modern pig farm is getting ready to produce its first offspring. By the end of the year, 10,000 sows will live inside two huge barns on this…
Crop prices may be showing some recent signs of life, but that' s of little comfort for American farmers who are forecast to see their incomes fall to a 12-year low. Farmer profits will drop 6.7 percent this year to…
A strain of bird flu that's deadly to poultry but poses no immediate public health concern has been detected in Missouri, state agriculture officials announced Sunday. The Missouri Department of Agriculture said in a news release that the virus was…
This winter, farmers will undoubtedly be confronted with the infamous supply curve for commodities. Economists can’t explain what’s for lunch without drawing X-Y axes with price rising upward and quantity growing to the right. On this academic playing field, the…
A lack of rainfall and a developing drought is raising caution flags for American cattlemen. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows 67 percent of the United States is in an abnormal drought. The majority of the dry conditions are lingering in…
Sorghum demand and basis are strong, and many farmers are considering planting more of the crop in 2018. The United Sorghum Board (USB) expects a total of 6.7 million acres, an increase of 1 million acres—a 17% hike—from 2017 levels.…
Popularity of ground beef continues to grow, and packers are responding to the increase in demand. Cargill Protein is investing $4.2 million at its Columbia, S.C. plant to expand beef grinding capabilities for consumers in the East Coast. The investment…