More in Heat and Drought

The USDA has designated an additional 172 counties in 15 states as primary natural disaster areas due to drought and heat, making all qualified farm operators in the areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans. To date, USDA has designated 1,792 counties as disaster areas -- 1,670 due to drought....More

A month ago, we presented alternative supply, consumption, and price projections for the 2012-13 marketing year in the context of addressing the question of whether or not prices were high enough to ration a much smaller crop. We concluded at that time that prices were likely still not high enough if the national average yield was below 135 bushels. Now that corn prices have moved higher and the USDA has released the first survey-based forecast of 2012 corn yield and production, we revisit the question of rationing....More

Producers with revenue protection for corn acres contracted for a guaranteed minimum price $5.68 for whatever percentage they insured, Massey said. The final recovery price will be the average of the October prices on the December corn futures....More

The USDA intends to purchase up to $170 million of pork, lamb, chicken, and catfish for federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks. The purchase will help relieve pressure on American livestock producers during the drought, while helping to bring the nation's meat supply in line with demand while providing high quality, nutritious food to recipients of USDA's nutrition programs....More

Looking to cushion the forecast of diminishing U.S. corn yield, a myriad group of domestic and international interests has called on the EPA to waive the government-mandated Renewable Fuel Standard, which places a quota on ethanol production....More

Drought in the Midwest continues to sap corn and soybean yields, according to USDA's August 10 crop report....More

Soybeans were introduced on Missouri farms as a hay crop, not an oilseed crop. That started back in the dry years of the 1930s. This year, cow-herd owners short on feed are asking about baling soybeans that won’t make a bean crop....More

An opportunity exists for crop farmers to come to the aid of our cattlemen here in Arkansas by agreeing to bale row crops into hay bales to be feed to cattle....More

Following a Tuesday (August 7) meeting with the White House Rural Council, President Obama ratcheted up pressure on Congress to pass a new farm bill calling the legislation “the single-best way that we can help rural communities … in the short term, but also in the long term.”...More

U.S. corn rated very poor to poor stood at 50 percent on Aug. 5, a 2-point increase from a week earlier and just below the peak of 53 percent recorded in August 1988....More

Cattle producers struggling with intensifying drought learn about management and tax options Aug. 16 at the North Central Arkansas Drought Management Conference at North Arkansas College....More