Latest News From Soybeans

Is private land a federal playground? The government claims a phenomenally powerful right—access and surveillance on every inch of farmland, hunting ground, and pasture in the U.S., without warrant or probable cause.

The shotgun houses and clapboard shacks are gone, but a child's toy lingers in farmland rows. Time, tillage and rainfall reveal the sharecropper's last testament: clusters of magnificent clay, agate and glass marbles.

China is the kingpin customer of U.S. ag commodities while openly attempting to destroy America’s position atop the global ladder. Does the odd paradox portend feast or famine for U.S. farmers?

Stover's Farm Market and U-Pic is running in Berrien Springs, Mich. Customers are coming to buy and pick as Stover says the blueberry crop is a good one this year.

Understory, a weather network, edge computing and machine-learning company, together with Monsanto, will provide localized weather information to Argentinian farmers.

Jay and Cara Myers of Colfax, North Dakota are no strangers of technology. Farming in the state can be challenging due to a smaller window to plant and harvest. That’s why these 2014 Top Producer of the Year Candidates want to make every acre count.  As the remaining bushels of the 2017 crop gets shut in the bin, this North Dakota farm family is turning toward more pressing issues. AgDay national reporter Betsy Jibben has the story. 

Learn how to hire truck drivers carefully to limit liability and save time.

A report last week from Mighty Earth, a campaign of the Center for International Policy, took a break from criticizing farmers and ranchers that raise livestock for meat, and instead turned their attention to the meat companies and feed suppliers (ie. crop farmers), asking them to provide “pollution-free” feed.

The Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxia zone, the “dead zone,” is 3% larger than ever before at 8,776 square miles. 

An American farming story: When Mike Wagner spliced a vertical business approach with ultra-conservation, he created one of the most unique agriculture operations in the United States.

When it rains it pours, and in the Pacific Northwest that means rail transportation hasn’t been able to efficiently haul grain. From Washington to northern California to parts of Montana, excess snow and rain have brought power outages and damaged rail tracks, limited transport to export markets. When transportation issues persist expect a widening basis, says Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transport Coalition.

The gospel of high yields at all costs has a new apostate. A switch to a no till cover crop system changed Johnny Hunter's entire management dynamic and provided a booster shot to weed control, irrigation efficiency and overall soil health.

On this week's episode of Farm Journal College, Missy Bauer, agronomist, has some tips about soybean growth.

As is the case in most years, there are several new generic products labeled for use in cotton available for purchase in 2016.<p></p> Generic products can often offer producers effective and comparable options to brand na

Panama Canal expands, but can U.S. ports keep up?&nbsp;

When John Frey of Mankato received an inquiry about putting a solar array on his land, he didn&#39;t need to be persuaded on the merits. Renewable energy was already his sole focus after retiring as a dean at Minnesota State University. Solar power, he said, is a virtual requirement if we&#39;re to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. When 40 acres of solar panels go up on his rural Lake Crystal land, perhaps this May, he&#39;ll be looking at it as part of a global solution to climate change.

When John Frey of Mankato received an inquiry about putting a solar array on his land, he didn&#39;t need to be persuaded on the merits. Renewable energy was already his sole focus after retiring as a dean at Minnesota State University. Solar power, he said, is a virtual requirement if we&#39;re to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

Farmers may be too distracted by the latest painfully low corn and soybean prices to notice it, but their grain shipments are&nbsp;enjoying a bargain on barge rates these days.

The U.S. has 242 locks in operation on 12,000 miles of navigable waterways. In 2013, $216 billion in freight moved along them, including the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois rivers.

Dow AgroSciences gains approval for Enlist Duo herbicide in nine additional states.

Adequate capacity during demand surges is key to export efficiencies

They don't want to admit it, but we know it's true. There are countless organizations that hate humanity enough to do everything in their power to put a stop to anything that might benefit it. Their focus is on the use of science to improve and protect our lives.

Millions of bushels of temporary and emergency grain storage have been piled in tarps and the ground this year. Those are bushels that will eventually need to be moved by truck, rail or barge. Lockmasters worry about how smooth moving 2014’s massive crop will be.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says farmers have been "tremendously patient" about rail delays, "but that patience is wearing thin."

The state now has the final piece of funding needed to rehab a stretch of railway that will open up grain-shipping opportunities for farmers in south-central South Dakota, officials announced this week.

Midwestern lawmakers and farmers are shifting the attention of a locomotive and railcar shortage problem to Washington this week with legislation, a committee hearing and meetings with decision-makers.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple opened a federal hearing in Fargo about rail service delays in the upper Plains by reading a letter from a grain elevator that said Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. was 525 cars behind in its service.

Truck drivers in Argentina, the world’s third-largest exporter of corn and soybeans, say theft and extortion are on the rise at the main port, Rosario.

Gov. Mark Dayton is urging the federal government to step in on railroad delays hitting Minnesota grain farmers.

The ripening corn and soybean fields stretch for miles in every direction from Dennis Wentworth’s farm in Downs, Illinois.

BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. struggled with "greater-than-normal" demand from shippers of coal, oil and Midwest crops, USDA said last week.

The company posted a 12 percent drop in fiscal fourth- quarter profit as its trading and processing business continued to feel the effects of drought in the U.S. and a shortage of railcars.

Commissioners say they are "confused and troubled" by reports that more than half of the grain hoppers from both railroads are offline.

The delays have stretched dangerously close to grain harvesting season, when barges need to carry wheat, soybeans and corn from throughout the Midwest down to the Gulf Coast for export.

The ongoing transition to pivots is helping farmers improve planting practices, conserve water and reduce in-field labor from as many as 12 days to as few as two.

The lack of a unified, widespread sustainability standard threatens the ability of U.S.-grown soybeans to compete internationally.

The industry is looking to recapture lost markets with high-oleic oil.

He recently issued a public apology for ripping up genetically modified crops, describing his long-held views about modern farming as "anti-science."

Organic growing practices, genetically modified organisms and other subjects are highlighted in this week’s segment.

Stock your shop with lubricants and cleaners that have roots in Ohio soybean fields.

These good bugs partner with soybeans to increase nodulation and fix nitrogen.

Aid for poultry, aquaculture producers also included

Crop insurance quality concerns; how does your pay measure up?

Geneticists say improvements should rival corn during the next decade

Don't let soil sampling mistakes cost you money