Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Economy”
Severe weather, high expenses, and global uncertainty are hitting farmers on all sides, squeezing them to the break-even point. Forty-four agricultural groups this week got laid out challenges facing rural America in the letter to President Trump. The March 19th letter recognizes progress has been made enhancing the farm risk management tools and securing much-needed tax relief for farmers, but additional resources are …
Wall Street trying to break a long losing streak, only three more days to trade this week before the Easter holiday. Tomorrow, with the first quarter in the books, we review our list of 48 commodities and how they have fared since New Year’s. But meanwhile, Wall Street has seen lower weekly closes four weeks in a row now. In fact, the S&P 500 …
On a recent episode of the Grazing the Facts podcast, we learned why Ray Hodge with the United Dairy Farmers of Florida is encouraged about the future of the Florida dairy industry. Hodge said, “I think in Florida, we are unique in many ways. You know, as I said earlier, I’m a seventh generation Floridian. We’ve seen a lot of change. The …
The calendar turns to April next Wednesday. USDA’s first weekly crop update comes the following Monday, but state ag departments continue their weekly updates and the early picture for winter wheat shows damaged caused by temperature fluctuations the last 30, 45 days. Top producing state, Kansas, reporting good to excellent ratings now below 50%, well below USDA’s fall rating, 62%. And in fact, the lowest early spring …
The next Federal Reserve Board meeting is a little more than a month away. It’s the last one for Board Chairman Powell before his term expires in May, and his last meeting could be an historic one. There’s more talk on Wall Street that the Fed may be looking at three scenarios at their meeting, April 28th, 29th, leaving interest rates unchanged, …
USDA Agriculture Department says we produced 3,590,000 tons of peanuts this past year. That’s an 11% increase over the previous year. Domestic use for domestic food is predicted to decrease this year about 1.6% so far. Peanuts for crush, that’s going into peanut oil, is up 22%. This could have been caused by some quality issues during the peanut harvest and some dry areas. Peanut …
Alabama Specialty Crop Producers are being encouraged by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries to report damage caused by recent freeze events to their local FSA Offices. According to the department, “Initial reports from farmers indicate early-season fruit crops were among the hardest hit. Producers in several regions have reported significant losses to early varieties of peaches and plums, …
A farm wife from central Nebraska puts into perspective the help that’s coming to areas affected by the wildfires that continue. She did some math and says that a loaded semi can carry about 28 tons of hay, mostly alfalfa, and at today’s market prices that equals about $2,500 donation for each semi. Officials are trying to keep track of a count of how …
The American Soybean Association is calling for the Trump Administration to prioritize soybean exports in upcoming trade talks with China. The ASA called for these additional purchases of soybeans in a letter to the White House with the additional request of removing the remaining 10% retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports into China. ASA President Scott Metzger said, “Farmers continue to …
A group of agricultural organizations is asking for more help in the agricultural area as planting season begins in earnest all across America. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent fuel and fertilizer prices skyrocketing and farmers are bothered being strained in a foreign farm economy that already had its back against the wall due to record inflation, trade uncertainty, rapidly declining …
