Farmers Took the Money and Ran in Recent Grains Rally
The recent rally in grain prices was a welcome surprise to farmers, and many of them jumped at the opportunity to sell right away for cash. Tanner Ehmke, Lead Grains and Oilseeds Economist with CoBank, said farmers took the money and ran. "Well, think back to when farmers were early in the grain rally when they ha...
Brooks Schaffer Market Report for Tuesday, November 3rd
This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at brooks@palmettograin.com or 843-540-4540. Last week, corn had its fifth consecutive weekly loss, while wheat had its ninth consecutive weekly loss. The market continues to price in the corn crop USDA gave us, and maybe an even bigger one...
Southern Rice and Sugar Growers Hit Especially Hard by Expensive Diesel
Dr. Michael Deliberto is a professor of agricultural policy at Louisiana State University. goes over some of the ins and outs of the new USDA relief program. "But those payments will not be issued in early November, so it's unclear now how much those payments will actually make in terms of offsetting the rise in f...
Farm Financing Is a Tale of Two Economies
As harvest progresses across the Midwest, farm lenders are seeing very different financial conditions from one operation to the next. Chad Gent, senior vice president of retail credit for Farm Credit Services of America, says some producers are positioned to grow, while others are focused on maintaining financial stabi...
Brooks Schaffer Market Report for Friday, October 30th
This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at brooks@palmettograin.com or 843-540-4540. Corn, wheat and soybean markets continue to move lower, probing for support. A weakening Brazilian real after the surprise election of Lula da Silva in Brazil over the weekend put pressure on soy...
Drought Worsens in Eastern Carolinas as Rainfall Remains Limited
Well, as we get to the end of October, let's take a look at the drought map. And right now, we're not really seeing a lot of improvements in the eastern part of the state. The western part of the state is still seeing that soil degradation from Hurricane Isaias. We got State Assistant Climatologist Corey Davis here. Co...
Managing Storage for a Near-Record Crop
The second-largest corn crop on record is coming off the ground: where will all that grain go? While total U.S. storage capacity is substantial, some parts of the Corn Belt are facing tighter conditions than others as harvest rolls ahead. Guy Allen, Senior Economist for the International Grains Program at Kansas State ...
More Corn, More Pressure on Prices
The latest USDA reports have added significantly more corn to the balance sheet than traders expected, while inflation and interest rates continue weighing on the broader economy. Texas A&M grain marketing specialist Mark Welch says those developments are creating new challenges for producers as they look ahead to ...
Brooks Schaffer Market Report for Tuesday, October 27th
This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at brooks@palmettograin.com or 843-540-4540. Late Friday, USDA announced it had made a mistake in calculations on a crop report and was making some revisions. Unfortunately, the agency claims that the only mistakes were on the September rep...
Demand for U.S. Pork Up Sharply in Central America
One of the fastest-growing regions for U.S. pork exports is Central America. It's grown quickly in recent years and is reaching new heights in 2026. Luciano Ruano is the U.S. Meat Export Federation's regional representative for Central America and the Dominican Republic. She said one of the keys to this rapid growth ha...