Many farmers from other parts of the world have spent time visiting U.S. farms over the years. Rarely does this happen without these visitors staring in awe at the level of mechanization of American agriculture. This has been the case for many years, but the record net farm income (by a very wide margin) of the last five-six years has caused this overmechanization to reach disproportionate levels even in our terms.Consider this:
U.S. farmers have the mechanical capacity to plant 40-50 percent of a 97 million acre corn crop in one week if conditions are good -- as happened this year. Farmers were also planting spring wheat, soybeans, etc. in addition to corn. A rule of thumb (sort of) about corn planters is that you need one row for...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
