November 8, 2024

A western Nebraska cattle producer says the industry is facing headwinds as fewer generations return to the family farm. Jaclyn Wilson tells Brownfield finding qualified labor is becoming more challenging. “It’s about being competitively priced. It’s about pushing the lifestyle. It’s about, you know, offering opportunities that maybe they wouldn’t see in a corporate job, […] The post Nebraska cattle producer says labor challenges are an ongoing concern appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

The USDA trimmed domestic corn ending stocks a little bit on the lower 2024 crop production estimate, leaving export demand untouched for now, and slashed soybean ending stocks on the smaller crop, while also reducing exports and domestic crush. U.S. wheat ending stocks were up modestly with higher imports canceling out a larger food use […] The post USDA keeps U.S., world supply, demand changes minimal appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

Recent rain in the Midwest has helped improve the flow of the Mississippi River.  Lou Dell’Orco is Chief of Operations for the Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District.  He tells Brownfield the water levels changed drastically since early last week. “They’re up around 10 on the St. Louis gage, and it was a significant […] The post Recent rains improve river traffic appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

A northcentral Wisconsin farmer says last week’s slow and steady rain greatly improved field conditions. T.J. Draeger tells Brownfield he had over two inches of rain a little at a time, which softened the soil.  He says early attempts at fall tillage in the hard and dry ground were challenging. “We were wearing out plow […] The post Recent rains improved fall tillage conditions appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

Researchers have developed a new material that helps remove phosphorus from field runoff and then doubles as a fertilizer. Wei Zheng, Principal Research Scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois, says designer biochar is for use in woodchip bioreactors at the edge of fields. […] The post Designer biochar pellets absorb phosphorus runoff appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

A specialty crop leader says there’s still hope the appropriations process can put a freeze on rising H-2A guest worker wages. Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board executive director Jamie Clover Adams tells Brownfield a nearly 40 percent rise in federally mandated H-2A wages over the past five years has pushed farmers to their financial limit. “We’ve […] The post Push for H-2A wage freeze persists appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

The head of the U.S. Meat Export Federation says the organization utilizes checkoff dollars from partner organizations to develop and bolster markets around the world. Dan Halstrom says Guatemala is a perfect example. “It wasn’t that many years ago where the prices reached a certain level, they stopped buying and they’d buy when the price […] The post Grassroots efforts to develop markets for U.S. red meat appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

The USDA raised its sorghum production estimate due to strong yield numbers. 2024 U.S. sorghum production is now pegged at 320.725 million bushels, up 16.115 million from October thanks to a 3.1 bushel per acre improvement in the average yield projection to 60.8, with no change to harvested area at 5.275 million acres. The final […] The post USDA makes upward sorghum revision on yield appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story