The November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates from USDA show lower forecasts for domestic production of both corn and soybeans. This month’s 2020/21 U.S. corn outlook is for lower production, reduced feed and residual use, larger exports, and smaller ending stocks. Corn production is forecast at 14.507 billion bushels, down 215 million with a reduction in yield to 175.8 …
2021 Commodity Classic Will Be Virtual
Even though we all expected it, the news is still sad. Commodity Classic will be virtual in 2021. The annual conference and trade show was originally scheduled for March 4-6, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas. The new format is expected to be offered the first week in March 2021. The 2022 Commodity Classic will be held in New Orleans on …
Study Finds Gas Car Ban Would Hurt Agriculture
The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) has just released a study on the impacts of increased electric vehicle penetration on U.S. biofuels, agriculture and the economy. Proposals to ban internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 and 2050 served as the economic models for the study, along with a base case provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook. The …
USDA Lowers Corn, Soybean and Cotton Estimates
USDA is now forecasting smaller corn and soybean crops for this year, compared to last month’s estimate, but still higher than last year. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) October Crop Production report, acreage updates were made in several states based on a thorough review of all available data. Corn production for grain is forecast at 14.7 billion …
New NCGA President Starts New Year
It’s a new year for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) with new president John Linder of Edison, Ohio who took over the post on October 1. Linder, along with his brother, Mike, and wife, Cheryl, run a fifth-generation farm raising corn, soybeans, soft red winter wheat and soybeans for seed in central Ohio. In addition to traditional row crop …
AMVAC® Releases Two New Products for Weed Control in Corn
American Vanguard® company AMVAC® has announced two new herbicide products for corn available for the 2021 growing season. IMPACT CORE™: A postemergence corn herbicide that controls grass and broadleaf weeds with punishing takedown and lasting residual. SINATE™: Controls herbicide-resistant and important driver weeds in LibertyLink® corn with outstanding crop safety. IMPACT CORE field studies have shown extended residual weed control …
EPA Announces Interim Approval of Atrazine
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler joined farmers and ranchers at an outdoor round table in Missouri where he announced the interim decisions for the triazine herbicides atrazine, propazine and simazine. “The benefits of atrazine in agriculture are high,” said Wheeler. “If we were to lose that, it would cost the corn growers between 475 and 775 million dollars …
EPA Denial of RFS Waivers Good News for Ethanol
Ethanol producers and farmers were pleased to hear Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is denying petitions for retroactive small refinery waivers for the 2011-18 compliance years. EPA announced it is denying 54 “gap-year” small refinery exemption petitions and will deny the remaining 14 petitions once they are received from the Department of Energy. In announcing its decision, EPA …
USDA Lowers Corn and Soybean Forecasts
The August derecho that charged across the Midwest has taken its toll on the latest crop estimates in USDA’s September World Agricultural Supply and Demand report. Despite the decline, the numbers would still be records or near records for both crops this year. The 2020 corn crop would still be nine percent higher than last year and the second highest …
EPA and USDA Announce Next Gen Fertilizer Challenge
The Environmental Protection Agency has teamed up with USDA to advance agricultural sustainability with the Next Gen Fertilizer Challenges. The competition includes two challenges that seek proposals for new and existing fertilizer technologies to maintain or improve crop yields while reducing the impacts of fertilizers on the environment. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced …