Many farmers will be considering the Supplemental and Enhanced Coverage Options (SCO and ECO) this year, as subsidy levels for these federal crop insurance products have been increased from 65%…

Supply chain disruptions, market concentration, global trade shocks, and housing shortages push issues related to affordability and the cost of living to the forefront. However, these pressures are not experienced uniformly; substantial regional cost of living differences shape how households navigate their daily expenses. These disparities can influence overall well being and exacerbate economic inequality, particularly in high cost metropolitan areas.

Release of the CBO Baseline is an annual ritual required by federal budget policy, pursuant to which the Congressional Budget Office projects spending on certain programs ten years into the unknowable future. CBO released its February 2026 baseline ahead of schedule, providing a new look at agricultural policy after enactment of major changes in the Reconciliation Farm Bill. This article continues a review of concerns with base acres in farm subsidy programs, adding perspectives from the CBO baseline.

Projections in the latest Illinois Crop Budgets suggest negative returns on cash rented farmland for the 2026 crop year (see farmdoc daily article from January 13, 2026).  This article compares…

Overall, farmland tenure in Illinois varies systematically from north to south, with northern Illinois characterized by a higher reliance on cash rent, central Illinois by greater use of crop share leases, and southern Illinois by a higher proportion of owned land.  Average higher-return operations consistently control land in ways that reduce fixed ownership exposure and increase risk sharing through crop share arrangements.

The term “off base” is defined as “not being in agreement with what is true” (Merriam-Webster.com). For farm policy, the term may conjure the base acre design for farm program…

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden (last week) accused Nutrien and Mosaic of working to ‘collude’ to limit U.S. fertilizer supply and control prices, suggesting that the administration could take future…

Republican U.S. lawmakers plan to create a task force to study potential year-round sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline blends in the U.S., after an attempt to pass such legislation in…

A package of funding bills assembled by House and Senate appropriators that needs to pass before the end of January does not contain any more aid for farmers. It’s also…

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration collected an estimated $958 million in revenue from selected agricultural inputs from February to October of 2025, according to North Dakota State University’s monthly…

China has bought about 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, fulfilling a U.S.-stated pledge to purchase that volume by the end of February, three traders told Reuters on Tuesday,…