When a land buyer is shopping for a piece of farmland, they must compare many different aspects of the land. A land buyer should do plenty of research prior to making a purchase including studying farmer demands, rent prices, comparable land sales, yields, wetness and many other factors. Often the easiest comparison to draw between parcels will be a soil rating. In the state of Iowa, they use a Corn Suitability Rating (CSR). A parcel’s CSR acts as a standard for comparing different ...<< MORE >>

(DTN) I had the opportunity to present a marketing year outlook at the Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines this week. Many farmers I talked to were upbeat, but were also concerned about future price direction. That brings us to the question: What will it take to turn the corn market around?

There is good reason for the pessimism shared by many, including myself, about the price outlook for corn. The market structure is bearish and growing more so by the week. Both the long-term and short-term trends...<< MORE >>

This picture comes from just outside of Sisseton, South Dakota. All across the Midwest, fields had become extremely wet during harvest due to steady rain and early snow, causing farmers to become severly delayed in harvest. The result for many farmers was to skip fall tillage to save time; as seen in this particular field.

Skipping fall tillage will cause the ground to heat up and dry out slower in spring, which can delay planting if the ground is too wet. This farmer was lucky compared to others in the area that could not even access their fields with combines in fall and must wait until spring to harvest.

 

Remember, we are always looking for more agricultural pictures from anywhere in the world. Submit pictures to farmlandforecast@colvin-co.com.

WASHINGTON AP – A presidential task force recommended spending more money to make biofuels such as ethanol, saying the nation is likely to fall short of mandates for more environmentally friendly energy.

An energy task force presented President Barack Obama with a report outlining how the United States' production of fuel from plants or animals was unlikely to meet the goal Congress has demanded. The current production of 12 billion gallons annually is hardly the 36 billion lawmakers have mandated by 2022...<< MORE >>

University of Minnesota Extension - Farmland values continued to rise last year and are once again reaching all-time record levels, according to a survey I conduct annually on bare farmland sales.

However, the recent increase across the 14 Minnesota counties surveyed was only 0.8 percent.

I often receive requests for this information from across the state, although all counties surveyed are in southwestern Minnesota.

Surveyed counties include: Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, ...<< MORE >>

How fast are yields increasing? The so-called trend yield for corn edges up every year, but the past several years have brought more rapid increases from one year to the next. (At least when the yields are averaged out.) Has it been that same way with other crops? Soybeans, for example?

Grandpa was raising corn when the national average was less than 100 bushels per acre, but it seems the 2009 average of 165 took quite a jump upward. The trend yield for 2010 is about 158, and it hasn’t been all that long ago when the ...<< MORE >>

ThisDay Reporter & Agencies - A United Arab Emirates (UAE) company is seeking a 98-year lease on vast tracts of farmland in Tanzania to grow rice in order to secure food supplies for the Gulf countries.

Pharos Miro Agriculture Fund, which was launched in November last year, plans to lay hands on 50,000 hectares of prime land in Tanzania this year.

According to media reports from the Gulf, the private sector fund is to invest $350m ... << MORE >>

This picture comes from Tom in Wisconsin. Last week a heavy, dense fog produced magnificent frost. This tree got a great dusting from the declining temperatures. In the background there is a no-till corn field that still shows its old stalks above the snow. Temperatures have dropped across the Midwest over the past week, preventing a snow storm from moving in from the South. The result has been snow in Texas.

 

Remember, we are always looking for more agricultural pictures from anywhere in the world. Submit pictures to farmlandforecast@colvin-co.com.

Wisconsin Ag Connection - Wisconsin cropland rents rose in 2009, but not as dramatically as in 2008. That's according to the 'Status of Wisconsin Agriculture' summary released last week by economists with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW Economist Ed Jesse says average rents increased about five-percent statewide from $85 per acre in 2008 to $89 per acre in 2009. Wisconsin's increase in cropland rents was larger than Michigan's but less than those in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota...<< MORE >>

Since the USDA updated the U.S. and World 2008/09 and 2009/10 balance sheet estimates for major agricultural commodities in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) on January 12th, grain prices have declined drastically. The WASDE reported record yields and production for the 2009/10 crop, which lead to an increase in ending stocks. Since the release on January 12th, corn prices have declined from $4.22 to $3.64, soybean prices from $10.01 to $9.51, and wheat prices ...<< MORE >>