Market News
March USDA Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks Summary
Thu Apr 1, 2021
Chad Hart, ISU Extension Grain Marketing Economist, provides a summary of the March 31, 2021 USDA reports. For most of the March 31, 2021 stats, USDA’s new numbers were below expectations and that was good news for the markets. Corn and soybean plantings are above last year’s levels, but...
Iowa Farmers’ Business and Farm Transfer Plans: A Comparison between 2019 and 2006
Wed Feb 3, 2021
Contributed by Beatrice Maule, undergraduate research assistant, Wendong Zhang, assistant professor and extension economist, David Baker, Director, Iowa State University Beginning Farmer Center The loss of farmers that Iowa has witnessed in the past 70 years is strongly linked to the attitudes and...
Managing farm costs key to profitability in 2021
Thu Jan 21, 2021
Written by Alejandro Plastina, Extension Economist, plastina@iastate.edu Corn and soybeans futures prices have recently rallied to their highest levels in years, providing hope for a market-driven profitable 2021 crop year. However, the only certainty about future prices is that they will continu...
Big report day for USDA
Tue Jan 12, 2021
Chad Hart, ISU Extension Grain Marketing Economist, provides a summary of the latest USDA reports: WASDE, Annual Crop Production, and Grain Stocks. As the market reaction shows, today’s release was a set of favorable reports. In the Annual Crop Production report, USDA ended up reduci...
Making 2021 ARC/PLC Decisions
Thu Dec 17, 2020
Enrollment for the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program for the 2021 crop year is underway at your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. That decision is by FSA farm number and the historical base acres of crops on that farm and tract. The signup period runs...
December USDA WASDE Summary
Thu Dec 10, 2020
Chad Hart, ISU Extension Grain Marketing Economist, provides a summary of the latest WASDE report. The trade was hoping to receive some additional demand strengthening, but USDA’s update provided next to no changes. The December report is almost always about demand, as the corn and soybean supply...
Income Tax Problems in 2020?
Wed Nov 11, 2020
Contributed by Charles Brown, Extension Farm Management Field Specialist, crbrown@iastate.edu Market Facilitation Payments (MFP), Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 1 & CFAP 2), Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Syngenta payments, ARC/PLC payments, crop insurance, etc. hav...
November USDA WASDE Summary
Tue Nov 10, 2020
Chad Hart, ISU Extension Grain Marketing Economist, provides a summary of the latest WASDE report. Compared to trade expectations, USDA lowered corn and soybean yield and production estimates and raised corn exports by more than expected. The slide in yields was across a broad swath of the country...
September’s USDA WASDE Summary
Fri Sep 11, 2020
Chad Hart, ISU Extension Grain Marketing Economist, provides a summary of the latest WASDE report. For corn, national yield was set back to 178.5 bushels per acre, down 3.3 bushels per acre and even with USDA’s earlier trend. With the downward adjustment in harvested area, that subtracts 378...
Practical Guidelines to File Crop Insurance Losses Due to the Derecho
Fri Aug 21, 2020
Written by Alejandro Plastina, Extension Economist, plastina@iastate.edu Printable PDF Version Overview of the Crop Insurance Claim Process Wind is a covered event in Multi-Peril Crop Insurance and farmers whose insured crop acres have been affected by the Derecho may be eligible for indemnity payme...
Crop insurance coverage-frequently asked questions
Thu Aug 20, 2020
Losses due to adverse weather conditions such as hail, frost, freeze, wind, drought, and excess moisture are insurable losses under multiple peril crop insurance. In 2020, some Iowa farmers, especially in Western Iowa, are suffering the extremes of drought. Losses due to drought are an insurable los...
August’s USDA WASDE Summary
Wed Aug 12, 2020
Chad Hart, ISU Extension Grain Marketing Economist, provides a summary of the latest WASDE report. For corn, national yield was set at 181.8 bu/ac, up 3.3 bu/ac from trend. That adds 278 million bushels to production, raising total production to 15.278 billion bushels. Iowa was estimated at 202...
Ten tactics to face farm financial issues
Thu Jun 11, 2020
Contributed by Melissa O’Rourke, B.S., M.A., J.D. Farm and Agribusiness Management Specialist, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, morourke@iastate.edu The farm economy is cyclical in nature, and in recent years has been impacted by one crisis after another. Agricultural...
How to streamline your CFAP application
Mon Jun 1, 2020
Contributed by Alejandro Plastina, Extension Economist, Assistant Professor, plastina@iastate.edu If you are a farmer or rancher who faced price declines and additional marketing costs due to COVID-19, you have until August 28, 2020 to file for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) with you...
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) enrollment
Fri May 22, 2020
The USDA announced the producer signup for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) allocated by Congress through the CARES Act that will begin on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. That enrollment will be through your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office with additional CFAP details and the enrollment...