Blogs

  • Ag Policy Blog

    USDA has announced $7.7 billion in conservation funding for fiscal 2025, the most funding in history. The bulk of the funds come from the Inflation Reduction Act to focus on sequestering carbon or reducing emissions. That includes cover crops such as this cover crop inter-seeded into corn at a University of Missouri research farm. (DTN photo by Chris Clayton)

    USDA this week announced the department would spend a record $7.7 billion in fiscal 2025 "to help agricultural and forestry producers adopt conservation practices on working lands."

  • Market Matters Blog

    DTN's weekly spot price for domestic distillers dried grains for the week ended Oct. 3 is higher on average versus one week ago. (DTN file photo)
    Posted by Mary Kennedy , DTN Basis Analyst

    DTN's weekly average spot price for domestic distillers dried grains is higher versus one week ago.

  • South America Calling

    Dry areas in western Argentina and central Brazil, circled, are forecast to see some significant rainfall next week. (DTN graphic)
    Posted by John Baranick , DTN Meteorologist

    Though rainfall has been very limited outside of southern Brazil, a storm system next week could bring some needed changes.

  • Ag Weather Forum

    Drought is expected to increase in areas across the Southern Plains and Western Midwest during the last quarter of 2024. (NOAA/CPC graphic)
    Posted by Bryce Anderson , Ag Meteorologist Emeritus

    An expected warm and dry October suggests difficult conditions for early winter wheat growth in the Southern Plains.

  • An Urban's Rural View

    China produces more than 35% of the world's factory output, such as these steel rolls, more than the next nine largest manufacturing countries combined and six times the No. 2 U.S. (Photo by Antoniorosset, CC BY-SA 4.0)
    Posted by Urban C Lehner , Editor Emeritus

    China dominates world manufacturing and it's redoubling its investments in new factories, hoping to make other countries more reliant on it. Policymakers in those countries are struggling to solve this China problem.

  • Fundamentally Speaking

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

    September 1 stocks of U.S. corn & soybeans and percent of stocks stored on farm.

  • Production Blog

    Zach Grossman, Tina, Missouri, helped DTN with a soybean cyst nematode (SCN) testing project last fall. (DTN photo by Jason Jenkins)
    Posted by Pamela Smith , Crops Technology Editor

    Nematodes are a big deal. Observe National Nematode Day by testing your own knowledge about the silent killer and putting it to work in the field.

  • Sort & Cull

    The cattle complex thrived last week, but if boxed beef prices continue to trade lower this week, cattlemen and traders may be hard-pressed to get the market to trade higher again this week (Photo by DTN ProphetX photo).
    Posted by ShayLe Stewart , DTN Livestock Analyst

    Last week's market outperformed what many expected it would do, but if boxed beef prices continue to soften this week, the market could struggle to maintain its rally.

  • Canada Markets

    A worker strike began at the Port of Montreal on the morning of Sept. 30. (Public Domain photo by Andre Chivinski)
    Posted by Mary Kennedy , DTN Basis Analyst

    As one Canadian union ends a strike in the Port of Vancouver, another union went on strike in the Port of Montreal.

  • Editors' Notebook

    Changes in a person's behavior such as increased use of alcohol or drugs, a lack of sleep and taking less pride in personal appearance or even upkeep of the farm may be warning signs the person is facing a mental health challenge. (Getty Images photo by YorVen)
    Posted by Russ Quinn , DTN Staff Reporter

    After writing about a new online course about mental health and suicide prevention in rural America, DTN Staff Reporter Russ Quinn participated in the course and gained critical knowledge about how to recognize the warning signs someone may be struggling with mental health...

  • Ethanol Blog

    Members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation on Friday to allow for permanent national E15 sales. (Photo courtesy Nebraska Ethanol Board)
    Posted by Todd Neeley , DTN Environmental Editor

    A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday to allow permanent sales of E15 nationally.

  • Minding Ag's Business

    A federal appeals court issued a ruling on an ongoing legal dispute involving attorneys' fees awarded in the Syngenta corn settlement. (DTN file photo)
    Posted by Todd Neeley , DTN Environmental Editor

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit last month rejected appeals filed by attorneys who represented farmers in the Syngenta corn settlement. The attorneys for years have been contesting court allocations of compensation for legal fees in the case.

  • Technically Speaking

    This is a daily chart of November soybeans, showing an extreme oversold condition and trading just above Friday's contract low. (DTN ProphetX chart)
    Posted by Dana Mantini , Senior Market Analyst

    November soybeans have been battered and beaten up. The market was already reeling when USDA came up with one million additional acres of soybeans planted and a record yield of 53.2 bpa. In the past few weeks, soybeans have registered new contract lows as funds reveled in...

  • MachineryLink

    The Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a watch for a minor-level geomagnetic storm this weekend (DTN image courtesy of the Space Weather Prediction Center)

    The Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a minor-level geomagnetic storm watch for this weekend. A storm of this intensity will have little to no impact on farming guidance systems.