Top 5 Things to Watch

By DTN Staff

OMAHA (DTN) -- Here are the Top 5 things the DTN Newsroom is tracking for the week of March 19. Watch for coverage of these and other topics through the week on our subscription platforms as well as on DTNPF.com.

1. Ag's big day Tuesday: March 21 is National Ag Day, as DTN and Progressive Farmer will help celebrate all that is agriculture. You can watch for coverage from Washington, D.C. events, and you can find out what celebrations are happening in your neck of the woods by checking www.agday.org. Happy Ag Day!

2. Ridin' the fallout: With apologies to those rockers from Champaign, Illinois, we will continue to track the gathering storm of Silicon Valley Bank and other bank failures, along with their ripple effects around the globe. Our focus, as always, is on what it all means to your farming operation. To make sure you're "not missin' a thing," check out our current stories on the issue here: https://www.dtnpf.com/…, here https://www.dtnpf.com/…, here https://www.dtnpf.com/… and here https://www.dtnpf.com/….

3. Speaking of storms: Things may be a little quieter on the weather front this week, with less chance of heavy precipitation in the areas that have been dumped on lately. Low temperatures will slow soil drying, however, and there have already been some reports of frost in the southern parts of the hard red winter wheat world. We'll watch for how that's playing out in Texas and Oklahoma wheat fields already hurt by dry soils and high winds. Latest weather commentary is here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

4. Research falling behind? A House Agriculture subcommittee hearing Thursday will discuss the need to increase research dollars in the next farm bill. Many U.S. land-grant universities make the case we are falling critically behind in public ag research. It's not a new argument, but there are many new ears to hear it.

5. Key economic reports: Bank defaults and Fed intentions may get most of the attention, but there also are several rank-and-file economic reports coming this week that analysts will watch for clues to the state of the general economy. We'll look at existing home sales on Tuesday, Thursday sees new home sales, jobless claims and on the farm side of things we'll watch USDA weekly export sales numbers and the USDA monthly cold storage report. And many eyes will focus on the ongoing Black Sea grain deal, particularly now that there's an international arrest warrant for one Mr. V. Putin.

Be sure and watch for the latest news at www.dtnpf.com, and follow and like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dtnprogressivefarmer.

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