Blogs

  • Ag Policy Blog

    Dee Vaughan, a farmer from Dumas, Texas, addresses members of the House Agriculture Committee and other Texas lawmakers who held a listening session in Waco, Texas. Vaughan talked about the declining buying power of payment limits and the need to update base acres as well. (image from House Agriculture Committee livestream)

    Food security is a major component of a new United Nations climate report released Monday. The report includes 33 references to food security and or food production as a risk going forward. Beyond actual temperature changes and extreme weather, the scientists also note...

  • Canada Markets

    The blue bars represents Thunder Bay grain stocks as of week 32, ahead of spring opening, while compared to 2021-22 (grey bars) and the five-year average (brown bars). (DTN graphic by Cliff Jamieson)
    Posted by Cliff Jamieson , Canadian Grains Analyst

    As we near the start of the 2023 shipping season in Thunder Bay, grain stocks in licensed storage are seen below average.

  • Sort & Cull

    The March 17 Cattle on Feed Report may lend the cattle complex some support and help it look past the current anxiousness of the banking systems. (Photo by Benjamin Krain)

    Regardless of what the futures complex decides to do with the recent COF report, we know where the market's fundamentals sit; when it comes to buying and selling cattle, these fundamentals remain relevant.

  • Market Matters Blog

    The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 allows the Federal Maritime Commission to protect the interests of U.S. businesses that rely on ocean transportation. (DTN photo by Mary Kennedy)

    Federal Maritime Commissioner Max Vekich spoke recently at the annual Transportation Go! conference on the importance of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act enacted last summer.

  • Technically Speaking

    In the week ended March 17, 2023, spot soybeans fell below their 100-day average, preceded by a sharp break in soybean prices in China, the world's largest buyer (DTN ProphetX chart).
    Posted by Todd Hultman , DTN Lead Analyst

    A technical look at weekly soybean, soybean meal and bean oil prices.

  • Ethanol Blog

    Canadian biofuels officials are concerned a change in the U.S. blender's tax credit law will harm producers north of the border. (DTN file photo)

    Canadian biodiesel and renewable diesel producers are bracing for a change in the blender's tax credit to take effect in the U.S. The Inflation Reduction Act changed the credit to a producer's credit only available to U.S. producers.

  • Production Blog

    Farmers and friends, Keith Miller (left) and Bob Worth have stayed in touch after participating in DTN's View From the Cab series 17 years ago. (DTN photo by Pamela Smith)
    Posted by Pamela Smith , Crops Technology Editor

    DTN's View From the Cab editorial series has sown seeds of friendship.

  • South America Calling

    Safrinha (second-season) corn planting (in blue) in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, is at the slowest pace in at least the last five years, putting the focus on the rest of the wet season rains and potential for frosts later this year. (Sistema Famasul graphic)
    Posted by John Baranick , DTN Meteorologist

    With Argentina's crop production almost set, the focus in South America is for Brazil's safrinha corn crop, which may go through some significant challenges this season.

  • Editors' Notebook

    Posted by Greg D Horstmeier , DTN Editor-in-Chief

    March 21 is National Ag Day. Hope you'll join us to salute all the important things agriculture brings to our nation and the world.

  • Ag Weather Forum

    Heavy precipitation in the first half of March across the Dakotas places the Northern Plains and Midwest in wet conditions, while the Southern Plains remain dry following little to no precipitation in February. (HPRCC and NOAA graphics)
    Posted by Bryce Anderson , Ag Meteorologist Emeritus

    Dry soils lead to spring crop concern in the southwestern Plains while wet conditions elsewhere bring caution about delayed fieldwork potential.

  • An Urban's Rural View

    The rescue of Silicon Valley Bank propelled a historic bond-market rally, driving down interest rates and highlighting a dilemma facing the Federal Reserve. (DTN ProphetX chart)
    Posted by Urban C Lehner , Editor Emeritus

    Depositors in Silicon Valley Bank were protected, but what happens to the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation as a result?

  • MachineryLink

    Trimble combined hardware with its autonomous systems in the purchase last year of French technology company Bilberry, which specializes in selective herbicide applications. It's camera and data management system are shown here attached to the top of the sprayer booms. (DTN image courtesy of Bilberry.)
    Posted by Dan Miller , Progressive Farmer Senior Editor

    Before a group of its agricultural customers, Trimble showed off its systems and offered thoughts on its future. An important part of the presentation focused on Trimble's work in autonomy and managing the data systems that will generate profit and sustainable returns on...

  • Fundamentally Speaking

    Chart by Joel Karlin, DTN Contributing Analyst
    Posted by Joel Karlin , DTN Contributing Analyst

    Sunseed oil output out of Russia and Ukraine as a percent of world production vs. their exports as a percent of the global total while also reported is world sunflower seed oil production as a percent of the world vegoil total.

  • Minding Ag's Business

    The average interest rate on a non-real estate farm loan hovered around 6% in the fourth quarter of 2022. While that's the highest rate farmers have seen in 10 years, it's close to the 20-year average. (Chart courtesy of the Kansas City Federal Reserve)

    The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's most recent survey of lenders shows that non-real estate farm loans increased by 20% on average as production costs climbed. Interest rates also climbed to a 10-year high, putting additional pressure on financing costs.