Ag Policy
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My Last ACRE Post for the Year (I Promise!)
With less than two weeks to sign up for the ACRE program (the date is August 14, which is a Friday) and with most ag offices being understaffed, if you need to sign up for ACRE, I would suggest doing it now. I have read about several meetings where there might be a crowd of […]
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One More ACRE Posting
I know my readers are probably getting tired of me writing about the ACRE program, however, I think it is very important for you to review how it affects your farm operation and your landlords. Marcia Zarley Taylor at DTN has several good postings on how the ACRE program works and how to communicate it to […]
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Three Weeks to ACRE Sign-up
There is now less than 3 weeks to make your final decision on signing up for the ACRE program. You have until August 14, 2009 to sign up for the 2009 season which will lock you into the program through 2012. There are many sites out there that have a review on how the program […]
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Wind Energy Report Card
We have several farm clients in Washington and Oregon that either are getting royalty checks from wind turbines or will be getting these checks in the near future. In many cases, the income from wind turbines is substantially higher than the income from traditional farming. In many cases, one turbine can generate in excess of […]
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Corn Coming out of our “Ears”
Many are calling the USDA Planted Acreage Report that came out this week “Bloody Tuesday” since the amount of corn acreage planted this year was much higher than what the trade was expecting. Even though there was a large amount of rain early in the Eastern Corn Belt, three of the Western Corn Belt states, […]
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Senate Report Finds Excessive Speculation in Wheat Markets
A Senate Subcommitee spent the past year investigating the impact of index funds on the wheat market. They concluded that all of this new money flooding into index funds distorted the market. The 247 page report released on June 24, 2009 summarized their findings as follows: 1. Excessive speculation in wheat. Index Traders increased future prices […]
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Be Careful of Organic Demand
For several years, farmers who grew organic crops were able to generate higher returns than non-organic farmers. However, with the current recession, those days may be coming to an end. Organic farmers are required to meet tough standards to have their crops and food products branded as organic. Generally, they are not able to use […]
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The Evolution of the U.S. Corn Ethanol Industry
In a recent article in the Regional Economic Development publication of the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, the three primary phases of the U. S. Corn Ethanol industry were documented. These primary phases are: Birth – the events surrounding the oil shocks of the 1970’s from the OPEC price increases Development – The decline in […]
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Credit Squeeze is Hitting Farmers Now
It seemed for several months that the credit squeeze was passing farmers by. However, lately I have ready several acticles about the credit squeeze hitting farms and farmers now. Frontier Bank in Colorado specialized in loaning to farmers and it went under a couple of months back. Most of these farmers using the bank were […]
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Stimulus Package May Benefit the Ag Industry
House Democrats proposed last week an $825 billion stimulus measure including $275 billion in tax breaks and $550 billion in spending that touches almost every area of the economy including agriculture. The bill included $245 million for the Farm Credit Service Agency to purchase a computer system to considered necessary to implement the 2008 Farm […]