An update on March 23rd from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis stated that, “Farm incomes and capital spending continued to decrease, according to lenders responding to the Minneapolis Fed’s fourth-quarter (January) agricultural credit conditions survey. [node:read-more:link]
The development of what would be Oregon's second-largest dairy received approval from state agencies, despite an unprecedented amount of controversy and public concern about effects on business and the environment. The Oregon Department of Agriculture issued a permit with more stringent groundwater monitoring requirements than ever before, but environmental and small-farm advocacy groups say that the requirements don't go far enough to protect the environment. [node:read-more:link]
South Dakota Board of Animal Health officials are continuing to investigate the discovery of bovine tuberculosis in a cattle herd in Harding County. Since February, 41 infected animals have been found. South Dakota State Veterinarian Dr. Dustin Oedekoven says a cow calf herd was quarantined in February after Bovine TB was found and traced back from a routine inspection at a slaughter plant of cull cows in Nebraska. He says the South Dakota Board of Animal Health is working with the USDA and the herd owner on how to dispose of the herd. [node:read-more:link]
DuPont will sell the majority of its 600-employee Stine-Haskell Research Center in Newark to Philadelphia-based FMC Corp. as part of a multibillion-dollar asset swap. The Wilmington-based company also announced it has pushed back the expected closure date of its proposed $130 billion merger with the Dow Chemical Co. DuPont now expects the deal to be completed between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. Originally, Dow and DuPont said the merger would be finalized in the first half of 2017. FMC will acquire the 515-acre facility's agriculture research space, known as the Stine portion. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. pork producers continue to expand their herds as windfalls from 2014 and relatively cheap input costs help them weather lagging pork pricing and new slaughtering capacity set to come online in the fall provides an incentive. So said analysts Thursday after USDA released its quarterly Hogs and Pigs report, which showed a record crop of 71 million head, up 4.2 percent from the year-ago report. That compared to analysts' average expectations of a 3.9 percent bump in the total inventory. [node:read-more:link]
Prestage Farms on Thursday broke ground in Eagle Grove, Iowa, to begin construction of its new fresh pork processing plant. The $240 million facility is expected to be completed in the fall of 2018 and will employ about 1,000 people.Prestage Farms now raises pigs in more than 30 counties in Iowa. The plant will support those operations, utilizing "the latest in processing and automation technology," the company said. [node:read-more:link]
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) officials reported net income of $131.8 million, compared to $94.1 million of net income for 2015. The increase was attributable to higher sales volumes, overall operating efficiencies and lower commodity input costs. The record earnings were also buoyed by the acquisition of the remaining 50 percent equity interest in DairiConcepts, a manufacturer of cheese, dairy ingredients and dairy flavor systems with eight facilities across the United States. DFA’s net sales totaled $13.5 billion for 2016, compared to $13.8 billion in 2015. [node:read-more:link]
All producers should be aware of the new “Flag the Technology” program. This is a field-marking program designed to prevent the misapplication of herbicides and to ensure applicators are aware of nearby sensitive crops. Essentially, producers should mark all fields with a colored flag. The different colors correspond with the specific trait technology planted in that field. Red flags, for example, signify conventional varieties with no herbicide technology traits and sensitive crops like grapes, vegetables, or organic fields. [node:read-more:link]
Dow Chemical and DuPont won the blessing of the European Union for their $130 billion merger on Monday by agreeing to sell substantial assets including key research and development activities.The European Commission had been concerned that the merger of two of the biggest and oldest U.S. chemical producers would leave few incentives to produce new herbicides and pesticides in the future. The deal is one of a trio of mega mergers that will reshape the industry and consolidate six companies into three. [node:read-more:link]
"Going forward, we're predicting warmer and wetter springs, and drier, hotter summers," Davis says. "The season fragments and we start to see an early-early season, so that March starts looking like a good target for planting in the future. In the past, March has been the bleeding edge; nobody in their right mind would have planted then. But we've already seen the trend for early planting. [node:read-more:link]
