Farm Operations
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You Do Not Need to Own Any Land to Farm
Moe Russell, of Russell Consulting Group wrote a very good article in the Corn and Soybeans Digest clear back in 2007 on the fact that you do not need to own land to be a farmer. I personally think in today’s environment, most farmers who already own a bunch of land with no debt are […]
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How High Will the Potash Corp. Price Go
Reuters is reporting that Potash Corp. has formally put pressure on BHP to raise the price for its takeover of Potash Corp. or have the company get sold to some other company. BHP originally bid $130 per share for the company or $39 billion in total. The price has already jumped to over $150 per […]
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Pre Crop-Tour Comments
I am flying out of Seattle early Sunday morning and meeting up with my farm partner at the Kansas City airport. We are then driving up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to meet up with all of the Crop Tour participants that are doing the western leg of the tour. The plan is to spend […]
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Should Wheat Farmers Lock in 2011 Prices
As I write this post September 2011 wheat futures are trading at slightly more than $7 per bushel. If I had asked any wheat farmer three months ago would they like to lock in $7 wheat for next year’s crop, I am fairly certain that 100% of them would have said yes. These farmers now […]
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Don’t Miss a Marketing Opportunity
Since the June crop report came out, wheat has rallied over a $1 per bushel, corn is up about 50 cents and soybeans have rallied also. Now, it appears that the world wheat supply is looking at drought issues around the world (except for our hemisphere it seems) and this is continuing to help wheat […]
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Health Care Credit Limits Posted by IRS
The large health care act passed earlier this year had an up to 35% credit available to farmers who paid for health insurance for their employees. The credit is based upon the percentage amount of health insurance that a farmer pays times 35%. As long as you pay at least 50% of the premiums for […]
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Minnesota Farmers See 63% Reduction in Net Income for 2009
Of the 2,401 Minnesota farms included in the “FINBIN” survey for 2009, the median farm saw a 63% decrease in net income from $91,242 to $33,417. Each year, the Center for Farm Financial Management performs a survey of Minnesota farmers. Their response for 2009 represented about 3% of overall farms and about 10% of the […]
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Working Capital – Lifeblood of a Farm
Dave Kohl is an ag economist who writes the Road Warrior of Agriculture for Corn and Soybeans Digest. His columns are usually very insightful regarding economic issues related to agriculture. Back in March, he had an article regarding working capital being the financial shock absorber for farms and business. Working capital is the excess of […]
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$6 Billion Cuts in Crop Insurance Program
As we have discussed in this blog before, the Obama administration is going forward with $6 billion in cuts to the crop insurance program. This will end up slashing agent commissions that have been as high as 30% of premium. Under the new plan, these commissions will now be capped at around 18% of premiums […]
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Russia is Going for Dominance in Wheat
I had a post from about two weeks ago about the USDA predicting that Russia would become a larger exporter of wheat than the US by about 2019. Bloomberg Businessweek just wrote an article on how Russia is fighting for World Dominance – in Wheat!. The article recaps that Russia is able to sell their […]