The Van Trump Report

A Roadmap to Better Decision Making

For Investors and Ag Professionals

Try our report FREE for 30 Days!

Ag News

What You Need to Know About EPA’s Sweeping New Ag Chemical Rule Proposals

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is raising alarms among the agriculture industry, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as it proposes new guidance for agricultural chemicals. A new pilot program regulating pesticides is designed to bring the agency into better alignment with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and would restrict ag chemical usage in parts of 29 US ...
Read More

How to Find America’s “Barn Quilt” Trails

Rural America is dotted with countless barns of all shapes and sizes, most of which take their form from the specific function they serve. In some parts of the country, you may have noticed a number of barns adorned with giant quilt-like decorations. The so-called "barn quilts" are a new take on an old tradition that was rekindled about two ...
Read More

Cargill Tests New Wind-Powered Ship Technology

Cargill recently chartered a Mitsubishi Corporation vessel that has been retrofitted with a technology called "WindWings," an advanced wind-assisted propulsion system that could cut fuel usage by as much as 30%. The solid wing sails were developed by UK firm "BAR Technologies" and manufactured by "Yara Marine Technologies." If the trial succeeds, Cargill intends to add the WindWings to more ...
Read More

New Incentive Payments to Help US Farmers Adopt More Cover Crops

Farmers in 20 US states that plant cover crops can now receive financial and technical assistance through a new "Farmers for Soil Health" program. The program, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, will pay transition incentives totaling $50 per new acre of cover crops over the course of three years. Signing ...
Read More

Potato Chips Anniversary and the Great Potato Story

Last weekend America celebrated National Potato day and many historians will agree that today is the anniversary of the invention of the "potato chip", which took place in 1853 at the Moon’s Lake House on Saratoga Lake in New York thanks to chef George Crum and a disgruntled customer.Interestingly the story really begins in France with the adoption of the ...
Read More

Can Perennial Wheat Feed the World?

The perennial grain crop "Kernza" has been generating a lot of buzz as a climate-friendly wheat substitute. Developed by Kansas-based research organization, The Land Institute, Kernza is a hybrid created from durum wheat and intermediate wheatgrass. The perennial trait it gains from wheatgrass means it comes back year after year from the same root system, providing multiple harvests for at ...
Read More

My Two Cents… Investing in Our Farming Future

I hear so many in agriculture say, "This is how my daddy did it and how his daddy did it and this is how we are going to keep doing it..." I heard that a lot growing up at several farms in my area. As I've gotten older, however, I've come to learn that it takes a lot more than ...
Read More

Corn-Based Ethanol Could Help Solve the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Problem

One of the biggest hurdles to wider adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is price competitiveness compared to traditional jet fuel. There simply isn't enough SAF being produced to supply the more than 100 billion gallons of jet fuel demand generated by the global aviation industry every year. Ethanol producers believe SAF from corn-based ethanol is the best practical solution ...
Read More

What You Might Not Know About the “Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame”

Fort Worth, Texas, is known for Longhorns and the cowboys that drove the vast herds north to market. It is also home to the only museum in the world that is dedicated to the often overlooked cowgirls that played an equal role in taming the American West - the "National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame." The Cowgirl Museum and ...
Read More

How Soybeans Finally Became a Major Crop in America

Soybean production and demand are currently being heavily debated in today's trade. With this in mind, I thought it was good timing to reflect back on how this crop came about here in the U.S. and how quickly South American production has expanded.   U.S. farmers are expected to produce over +4.2 billion bushels of soybeans this season, putting it second ...
Read More