Iowa Farmer Today

TOWANDA, Ill. — While harvest season started about the same time as usual for Ron Miller — mid-September in Central Illinois — the moisture levels were already what he would usually see a week or week and a half into…

PIPER CITY, Ill. — Brandon Grubbs couldn’t help but thinking “what if” when he was harvesting corn this fall. In his area of East Illinois, he was harvesting corn at between 240 and 250 bu./acre where they had no rain…

MALVERN, Iowa — Most farmers in Southwest Iowa harvested in the darkness Oct. 4 and into Oct. 5, knowing a long period of rain was on its way.

MOKANE, Mo. — On a sunny September afternoon in Callaway County, Don Mealy was at work harvesting a field of corn. It was a busy day in the fields for area farmers. He was enjoying the warm, dry weather.

RUTLEDGE, Mo. — On Oct. 2, Trent Shultz was harvesting soybeans in the Fabius River bottom. Combines were running in several fields in the area, although most were shelling corn. The late afternoon sun shone on Shultz’ red combine as…

WILTON, Iowa — Despite a dry summer, yields are coming in stronger than expected in East Central Iowa.

ALVORD, Iowa — Like everyone else in his neighborhood on Oct. 10, Ross Mogler was waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to come out.

BREDA, Iowa — Chris Huegerich has seen the good, the very good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to his crops this season.

Mad cow disease has been found on a U.K. farm for the first time since 2015, raising concern that some countries may move to limit imports of British beef.

MANLY, Iowa — Andy Hill laughs when asked about his harvest progress.

On any given Monday, America’s biggest supplier of ground beef has 1,000 jobs unfilled, pushing Cargill Inc. to aggressively sweeten the pot on benefits to retain existing workers and hire new ones.

A decade ago, Greek yogurt was ascendant in America. In New York state, the hope among farmers and politicians was that their fortunes would benefit as well.

U.S. and Chinese officials clashed in Geneva on Tuesday as the world’s two largest economies disagreed over how to reform the global trading system.

Soybean farmers in eight of the 18 major soybean-producing states harvested 5 percent or less of their crop in the past week as rain and muddy soil kept them out of fields.

Two more vessels loaded with U.S. soybeans have departed for China, signaling that buyers may be getting more desperate for supplies amid the prolonged trade war between the nations.

Based on available trade data, USDA estimates that 2017-18 U.S. soybean market share in China has fallen to 29 percent from 39 percent last year, while Brazil surged to 66 percent from 48 percent.

Editor’s note: The following was written by Daniel Kaiser, University of Minnesota soil fertility specialist, and Jeff Vestch, researcher, for the university’s Minnesota Crop News website.

Editor’s note: The following was written by Chris Hurt, with the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics, for the University of Illinois Farmdoc Daily website Oct. 1.

Mike Ammeter barely received a drop of rain on his Alberta farm all summer. Now, wet and snowy weather has kept him from harvesting his crops for five weeks.

Any significant farm price improvements over last year’s prices will be limited, particularly with record U.S. yields for many of the major crop commodities adding to available supply levels. Animal ag will need more export market growth to absorb the…