April 6, 2026

Iowa farmers are off to a fast start to oat planting. In its first weekly crop progress update of 2026, the USDA says 20 percent of the state’s intended oat crop has been seeded, compared to the five-year average of 16 percent.  One percent has emerged. Topsoil moisture levels are rated 77 percent adequate to […] The post 20% of Iowa oat crop has been planted appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

On-going drought across Nebraska is continuing to deplete the soil profile. The USDA says topsoil moisture is 84 percent short to very short, and subsoil moisture is 85 percent short to very short. The report does not reflect widespread rainfall that occurred in eastern Nebraska this week. Winter wheat condition is rated 19 percent good-to-excellent. […] The post Drought impacting soil moisture levels in Nebraska appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

A southeast Michigan farmer says he expects to plant soybeans starting this week. Jim Isley tells Brownfield, “We’ve planted soybeans on the eighth day of April for three years in a row,” he says. “For each of those three years, they were our best soybeans. We plant about 40 to 50 acres just to try […] The post Corn and soybean planting hasn’t started, but Michigan farmer says it’s about to get underway appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

May corn $4.54, up 1 and 3/4 centsMay soybeans $11.66 and 3/4, up 3 and 1/4 centsMay soybean meal $316.60, up $1.40May soybean oil 69.95, up 101 pointsMay Chicago wheat $5.95 and 1/4, down 3 centsJun. live cattle $247.02, up 70 centsMay feeder cattle $370.35, down 27 centsJun. lean hogs $107.70, up $3.22May Class III […] The post Closing Grain and Livestock Futures: April 6, 2026 appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

A southwest Indiana farmer says he plans to start planting soybeans as early as next week.  Ben Kron tells Brownfield, “We’ve got a bunch of anhydrous put on and a bunch of ground worked down,” he says. “Last week, we got a couple inches of rain over a few days, but overall, the weather seems to […] The post Southwest Indiana farmer expects to start planting next week appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

Another blast of winter weather is slowing spring fieldwork in parts of the Upper Midwest. Jake Thompson farms near Barnsville in central Minnesota and says about a foot of snow fell over the weekend. “We had some guys that were about an hour and a half north of us to two hours north that had […] The post Moisture welcome, but snow delays start of planting season appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

U.S. winter wheat is out of dormancy and showing the impact of dry weather. The USDA says 35% of U.S. winter wheat is in good to excellent shape, 13% below the first national rating of 2025, while 31% of the crop is poor to very poor, 10% above a year ago. The most recent Drought […] The post USDA winter wheat condition rating lower than a year ago appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

A milking system that reduces labor by using robotic milk technology is now available. James Bringe with GEA tells Brownfield dairy farmers have been asking for a simple semi-automatic milking system.  He says the farmer simply puts the milking unit on the cow and moves on to the next cow. “Once the unit is applied, […] The post Semi-automatic milking system called “game changer” appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story

The American Biogas Council says the EPA’s recently-announced Renewable Volume Obligations for renewable fuel were good for ethanol and biodiesel, but inadequate for biogas. Executive Director Patrick Serfass says, “We think the volumes should have been a lot higher.” Patrick Serfass tells Brownfield the biogas sector has been growing at around 20% for each of […] The post Group says EPA’s RVO targets left out biogas appeared first on Brownfield Ag News. View Full Story