Month: January 2024

Every year, rural ag lender CoBank examines key factors expected to shape agriculture and market sectors that serve rural communities. The 2024 Year Ahead Report forecasts a continued slowdown in global growth, and increasingly stretched consumers here at home that will continue to be burdened with high prices. While high costs will also continue to …

CoBank’s 2024 Year Ahead Report Forecasts More US Soybean Acres, Tighter Cattle Numbers Read More »

If humans have any chance at all of living on the Moon or colonizing other planets, we’ve got to first find a way to grow food in those alien environments. The first stumbling block to accomplishing this is soil, arguably one of the most important elements to growing healthy crops. Recently, scientists have had some …

Scientists Develop New Techniques for Growing Crops on the Moon Read More »

According to an early 1920s study, only 6% of farmers in the corn belt states had tractors, with the rest saying as long as they had to keep enough horses or mules to do cultivating, they might as well use the animals for all their other farm fieldwork as well, so no need for a …

The Great Tractor Story Read More »

In the 2023 edition of “America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance,” the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) finds that the majority of farming and ranching operations in the US during 2022 were still family-owned. What’s more, only around 26% had any debt. A “family farm” is of course one where the majority of the …

Most US Farms and Ranches are Still “Family-Owned”…and Debt Free! Read More »

Global supply chains are once again being thrown into chaos as attacks by Houthi rebels on vessels in the Red Sea cause shippers to opt for longer and more expensive routes. The narrow waterway provides access to the Suez Canal, through which as much as 15% of global trade passes, including around 8% of global …

How Red Sea Hazards are Impacting Global Trade… Including Agriculture Read More »

In any given growing season, the list of potential yield-damaging threats to a corn crop is a long one. It can also sometimes be difficult and expensive to diagnose what’s ailing a crop and many a grower that’s likely wished their plants could just tell them what was wrong. That is exactly the idea behind …

USDA Approves “Intelligent” Corn Plants That Can Change Color Read More »