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With this program, a user can estimate payments for individual farm level crop insurance products in addition to SCO and ECO.
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Latest farmdoc Daily Articles

The Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit (45Z), Part 2: Carbon Intensity

The Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit matters to corn and soybean growers because the value of the tax credit depends on the carbon intensity of the final biofuel product. This article addresses three questions. First, what does it actually mean for a corn or soybean crop to have a carbon intensity score? Second, which farm practices may count toward lowering that score under the current 45Z policy? Third, how much can the recognized carbon intensity benefit from the same practice differ across Illinois counties?

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The Evolving US Southern Crop Problem

Over the last 100 years, harvested crop acres have declined more in the US South than rest of the US. Cotton accounted for most the decline in the first 50 years. Over the last 50 years, however, harvested acres have declined much more for crops other than the commodity program crops associated with the US South (cotton, peanuts, rice). The change in acreage dynamics prompts a rarely asked question, “Has the high support for cotton, peanuts, and rice hurt Southern crop agriculture in total?”

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2025 RMA County Yields and ECO/SCO Payments

The Risk Management Agency has released their final county yields estimates for 2025, providing information needed to calculate payments from area yield insurance plans. Yield losses were sufficient in many areas to trigger ECO or SCO payments on corn, soybean, and wheat acres. Since the harvest prices for all three crops was below the projected insurance price in 2025, an even larger number of counties experienced revenue losses sufficient to trigger ECO and SCO payments.

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Will Brazil’s Corn and Soybean Production Continue to Grow in 2027?

Despite headwinds such as low prices, costly fertilizer, tight credit, and a looming El Niño, USDA forecasts continued record Brazilian corn and soybean production in 2027, consistent with recent growth trends driven by area expansion and yield improvement. History shows Brazilian farmers rarely retreat; weather-driven yield shocks, still unobservable for some time, are the most likely cause of production losses.

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Agricultural Credit Conditions in Illinois – First Quarter 2026

Agricultural credit conditions in Illinois showed signs of strain in the first quarter of 2026. Although loan demand remained elevated, repayment rates deteriorated, and collateral requirements remained tight across the…

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Conventional and Organic Enterprise Net Returns

This article compares crop yields, gross revenue, total expense, and net returns for conventional and organic corn and soybeans. Consistent with previous work, organic corn and soybean enterprises had lower crop yields, higher crop prices and gross revenue, higher total expenses, and higher net returns. However, there was a much wider difference in enterprise net returns among organic corn and soybean enterprises than there was among conventional corn and soybean enterprises.

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Latest Farm Policy News Articles

US Could Lose 30 Million Corn Acres without More Biofuels Markets, Study Says

A new report from U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action and its partners predicts the U.S. could lose roughly 30 million corn acres by 2050 if new sources of feed…

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USDA to Move Much of FAS, Rural Development out of DC

The USDA plans to relocate “much of” the Foreign Agricultural Service’s Washington D.C.-based workforce to Kansas City, Missouri, and Beltsville, Maryland, as part of its reorganization plan, the agency announced…

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Fertilizer Prices Drop on US-Iran Peace Deal News

Price indicators for key farm inputs tumbled on Monday following news of the U.S.-Iran preliminary peace deal. The value of urea at New Orleans, a benchmark for North American nitrogen…

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H-2A Guest Farmworker Certifications up 17% So Far in 2026

In the first half of the 2026 fiscal year, the Labor Department certified 17% more (H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker) jobs than in the same period the year before.

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Grain & Oilseed Prices Fall on Strait of Hormuz Reopening

Grain and vegetable oil futures declined on expectations a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would improve access to vital crop inputs, helping to ease the threat of food…

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US Winter Wheat Crop Smallest Since 1965, USDA Says

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday cut its U.S. ​winter wheat crop outlook by 2% from a ‌month earlier as a harsh drought in the Plains cut its hard…

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