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8 Trends Shaping the Future of Agriculture: The Census of Ag Facts Everyone...
The recent release of the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture provides a comprehensive picture of the U.S. farm sector. There are many, many potential insights that can be gleaned from the data, but...
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Are Fixed Farm Expenses Coming Down Yet?
by David A. Widmar As production agriculture in the U.S. transitions out of the boom-era, producers face a margin squeeze resulting from declining output prices and stubbornly high input costs. In...
View ArticleU.S. Farmers and Ranchers Deserve Better
By David Widmar and Brent Gloy It’s been ten months since China imposed tariffs on U.S. soybeans and the Trade War still has no end in sight. The breakdown in trade comes at one of the worst...
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5 Takeaways: A Look at Early 2021 Net Farm Income Estimates
In February, the USDA released its first estimate of net farm income for the upcoming year. While subject to several updates and revisions, these early estimates help size up conditions as producers...
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Hindsight Bias (Isn’t) 2020 – Direct Payments And Farm Economy Uncertainty
Looking Back On An Unprecedented Year “Unprecedented” was chosen by dictionary.com as the ‘People’s Choice’ for Word of the Year for 2020. That term was used to describe nearly every aspect of our...
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2021 Crop Insurance Guarantees
Crop insurance guarantees provide one clue to how farmers might approach their 2021 planting decisions. Given the tight ending stocks and strong prices for both corn and soybeans, this year’s report...
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U.S. Meat Consumption Trends and COVID-19
During the height of uncertainty about the pandemic and economic shutdown, the U.S. meat sector found itself in the middle of several COVID-related disruptions. On the demand side, consumers rushed to...
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2021 Corn Yield Guide
Introduction – 2021 Corn Yield Unknowns Every year, USDA’s early yield projections come under scrutiny for seeming large. 2021 is no exception. USDA’s May WASDE report estimated initial corn yield for...
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2021 Soybean Yield Guide
Following up on the 2021 Corn Yield Guide, this week’s post reviews the historic soybean yield data and considerations for 2021. USDA’s May WASDE report estimated initial soybean yield for 2021 at 50.8...
View ArticleCarbon Markets: Many Questions and Few Answers
Carbon has suddenly become a popular discussion topic in agricultural circles. Spurred on by the changing political winds in Washington, speculation has grown that meaningful revenue streams might be...
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Trends in Corn and Soybean Usage
For data that trend upward over time, it can be hard to consider the base level or what is “normal.” The challenge comes up frequently with yields, where 2004’s record-shattering national yield of...
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How Good? Reviewing the Farm Economy in 2021
By: Brent Gloy and David Widmar Some Context for 2021’s Farm Economy Enthusiasm It’s the time of year where we get questions about where the farm economy might be headed. Right now, many are enjoying...
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CRP, CRP, Where Art Thou Acres?
Launched in the depths of the 1980s Farm Financial Crisis, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a long-running cornerstone of farm bill programs. Initially implemented to primarily curtail...
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Four Key Insights from the USDA’s Farm Income Estimates
Earlier this fall, the USDA released the latest estimates of farm income and financial data. The September data dump included updated production and prices data for 2021 but also improved the cost of...
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More Treats Than Tricks: The Farm Economy In 2021
There has been no shortage of worrisome news for agriculture throughout 2021: growing ending stocks, higher input prices, and tax reform, to name a few. But while there are many risks and uncertainties...
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Farmland Values and Cash Rents in 2021
Three Charts That Show Where Conditions Have Changed the Most The combination of higher commodity prices, strong farm sector profitability, and low interest rates have placed upward pressure on...
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2021 Crop Insurance Guarantees
Crop insurance guarantees provide one clue to how farmers might approach their 2021 planting decisions. Given the tight ending stocks and strong prices for both corn and soybeans, this year’s report...
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Three Insights from the 2022 Corn Yield Guide
Each spring, we dig through the historical yield data to provide a framework of what to expect about the upcoming national corn crop. The exercise is helpful as the upward trend in yields over time...
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Three Insights from the 2022 Soybean Yield Guide
In an earlier post, we summarized three insights from the 2022 Corn Yield Guide. This week, we are following up to highlight three key ideas from the 2022 Soybean Yield Guide. To capture how difficult...
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A Lot of Yield Uncertainty Remains
In August, the USDA estimated the U.S. corn crop to be 175.4 bushels per acre. With harvest just weeks away, it raises the question: How much variability should we reasonably anticipate in the USDA’s...
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