According to the USDA/NASS Acreage Report, 93% of corn acres and 94% of soybean acres in Iowa were planted with a GE (genetically engineered) variety in 2017.
The United States has competitive advantage in crop and animal production over many other locations around the planet starting from the soil under our feet. However, in some cases other countries are able to produce ag-commodities more efficiently than the U.S. Therefore, sharing in the world food production burden is made possible with trade.
According to the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report (WASDE) published by USDA on January 12, 2018, 2017/18 U.S. soybean production is estimated at 4.392 billion bushels, down 33 million bushels compared with the previous month due to lower yields, but up 96 million bushels from the 2016/17 estimate (4.296 billion bushels).
Nitrogen fertilizer is an important input in Iowa, the leading state in corn production. Due to the positive correlation ammonia has with corn and natural gas prices, many question whether the decline in ammonia prices is enough to reflect the lower corn prices and natural gas prices.
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) began in 1985 as part of the Food Security Act. It is a voluntary program that provides the opportunity for agricultural producers to contract their land into conservation protection for a specified time and at a compensation rate that is fixed for the period of the contract at the time of enrollment.
A key tool we've found useful in helping our clients get the biggest “bang” for their outreach “buck” has been the calculation of a “propensity to vote” (PV) score.
There has been a lot of talk on tariffs during the month of March, however, the specifics of what has been happening is still unfolding. The goal of this article is to shed light on how these decisions have been unfolding.
