Commodity Marketing
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Building US Ag Exports – One BRIC at a Time
We periodically quote publication issued by the Kansas City Federal Reserve. Last month, they issued a report entitled “Building U.S. Agricultural Exports: One BRIC at a Time”. The report is only 10 pages long, but has a lot of good information. Here is a recap of what I found interesting: A chart showing the amount […]
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How to Pick a Futures Broker!
In response to the bankruptcy filing of Peregrine Financial Group this week and the MF Global filing last year, these are some of red flags to watch out for in picking a broker (or continuing) to handle your futures trading and hedging: Review the financial information that is available regarding the financial health of the […]
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Peregrine Financial Group Files for Bankruptcy
Peregrine Financial Group of Cedar Falls, Iowa filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The National Futures Association had received information that the company’s founder had, for many years, falsified bank confirmations indicating over $225 million in the bank account when in fact, the account may have contained only $5 million or less. The founder, Russell Wasendorf, SR. […]
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Most Farmers Would Prefer House Over Senate Farm Bill
Texas A & M just published a very good report on the key differences between the House and Senate Farm Bill. The report indicated that for almost all farmers, the House version of the farm bill would provide more revenue over the five year period than the Senate version and in the case of lower […]
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1 AGI instead of 3 AGI
For farmers who are enrolled in ag programs with the FSA, there are currently three different levels of AGI (adjusted gross income) that affect whether they qualify to receive any payments from the FSA during the year. These levels are: $500,000 of non-farm income $750,000 of farm income $1,000,000 of non-farm income, but OK if […]
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What is your plan?
I just finished up attending a two day seminar in our Minneapolis office with our company wide Agribusiness and Cooperative group. There is a ton of talent assembled in this group and it was great to get to know them better. As I was attending one of the discussions I got a text with updated […]
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Intended Corn Plantings Up Over 7 Million Acres in 2 Years
I was reviewing the intended corn acre plantings just issued by the USDA and some of the numbers that jump out at me are: Total intended corn acre plantings of 95.9 million acres for 2012. This is up almost 4 million acres over 2011 and up over 7 million acres from 2010. This is the […]
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Number of Farms Get Smaller, But They Produce More
Most of you are aware that the number of farms in the US continues to get smaller, but they produce more and more. In the dairy sector, one report from the Idaho Dairymen’s Association indicated in 2008, there were over 800 dairies in the state of Idaho. Just three years later, this number had dropped […]
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My First Tornado Warning!
I got into Nashville late Thursday night/early Friday morning. Friday morning I headed over to the Gaylord Opryland complex. Wow, what a facility. There was probably five acres or more of glass roofing and it felt like a 10 minute walk from my car to the convention center. I was able to attend the last […]
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The $5 Billion Corn States
The USDA has reported that there were five corn states in 2011 that generated over $5 billion in corn sales: Iowa – $14.5 billion Illinois – $12.3 billion Nebraska – $9.4 billion Minnesota – $7.0 billion Indiana $5.3 billion These five states generated 63.4% of all corn sales in the US for 2011. The states […]