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Crop Insurance Decision Tool
This program calculates premiums, evaluates insurance payments, and provides historical data useful when making crop insurance decisions for multiple crops. Estimates are for crops in midwest and southeast states. Learn…
Crop Insurance Summary of Business Tool
This program calculates crop insurance historical use and performance back to 1996.
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Crop Insurance Decision Tool
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Latest farmdoc Daily Articles
A Breath of Optimism for Corn in a Down Market
Recent corn price increases have come despite general pessimism about the overall state of the corn market. This article reviews data points supporting the recent rally, including grain stocks and export sales information, and considers what they mean for corn prices dynamics in the current marketing year.
The 2024-25 Financial Downturn: Who is the Most Vulnerable
Midwest crop producers have experienced a significant downturn in corn, soybean, and wheat prices since the beginning of the year and farm incomes are expected to be much lower in 2024 than they have been the last three to four years. Moreover, current expectations are that prices will continue to remain at or below the cost of production for at least a couple more years. Consequently, a key question being asked is as follows: “who is the most vulnerable financially during this downturn”?
Revisiting Big Corn and Soybean Crops Get Bigger
The September 2024 USDA yield forecasts of 183.6 bushels for corn and 53.2 bushels for soybeans are both well above trend and new national records. Some argue that these forecasts will become even larger, but there is no evidence to support the notion that “big crops get bigger and small crops get smaller.” There is, however, a well-documented tendency for USDA crop production forecasts to be smoothed across the forecasting cycle regardless of crop size.
Loss of US Farmland in the 21st Century, Part II: Regional Perspective for Major Land Use Categories from the Census of Agriculture
For all nine US regions, land in farms has declined in the 21st Century. Much has been written and said about the Midwest’s loss of cropland. However, cropland’s share of Midwest farmland and thus its relative importance in the Midwest increased. Specialization occurred in the use of farmland while pastureland declined the most in all nine regions. This decline was likely facilitated by the growth in confinement livestock operations.
Farmer Returns Under Different Lease Designs
Current projections suggest three consecutive years of negative farmer returns to corn and soybeans on cash rented farmland in Illinois from 2023 to 2025. Alternative lease arrangements, such as variable cash or share leases, provide more risk sharing to the farmer. However, today’s article shows that the current environment of relatively low prices and high costs implies negative returns even for a typical variable cash lease and returns just under break-even for a standard 50/50 share lease.
Record Pigs per Litter Starting to Sound Like a Broken Record?
The USDA’s September Hogs and Pigs report holds few surprises. As expected, the September 1 inventory of all hogs and pigs, at 76.5 million head, is up 1.69% from last quarter and 0.46% from last year, while the breeding herd is up 0.6% from last quarter but down 2.2% from a year ago, and market hogs are 1.78% higher than last quarter and 0.69% higher than last year.
Latest Farm Policy News Articles
Ukraine Ag Sector War Losses Could Top $80 Billion
Reuters reported at the beginning of October that “indirect losses in Ukraine’s key agricultural sector caused by the Russian invasion could reach $83 billion by the end of 2025, mainly…
Middle East Tensions Affecting Fertilizer Markets
RFD-TV reported at the end of this past week that “the ag sector is keeping a close eye on the fertilizer market amid tensions in the Middle East. Global nitrogen…
East & Gulf Coast Port Strike Ends
Reuters’ Doyinsola Oladipo and David Shepardson reported late Thursday that “U.S. dock workers and port operators reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a crippling three-day strike that has…
2018 Farm Bill Extension Expires — What Does That Mean?
“The Farm Bill is kaput,” reported Food Safety News’ Dan Flynn. “Congress has failed to extend or replace the 2018 Farm Bill by the Sept. 30 deadline, meaning it has…
Hurricane Helene Causes Billions in Ag Damage
Bloomberg’s Gerson Freitas Jr and Ilena Peng reported that “Hurricane Helene has halted chicken processing plants and caused severe damage to some flocks, while also downing pecan trees and flattening…
Dockworkers Begin Strike at East and Gulf Coast Ports
The Associated Press’ Tom Krisher and Tassanee Vejpongsa reported early Tuesday morning that “dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over…