The USDA will announce the final 2025 marketing year average (MYA) prices for corn and soybeans on Sept. 30, which are used to calculate Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC-CO) farm program payments for the 2025 crop year. Based on the September WASDE Report, the current MYA price estimate is $4.15 per bushel for corn, holding steady for several months, and $10.50 per bushel for soybeans, up a dime from the prior estimate.

The latest USDA weekly Crop Progress Report, released Monday, showed corn and soybean harvest continuing ahead of their average paces despite heavy rain across much of the Corn Belt last week. Spring wheat harvest is nearly complete, while winter wheat planting and emergence are running behind the normal schedule as growers work through fall fieldwork.

USDA's Sept. 1 Cattle on Feed report showed feedlots with 1,000-plus head capacity holding 11.2 million cattle and calves, up 1% from a year ago. August placements totaled 1.62 million head, down 9% from last year and the lowest for the month since USDA began tracking the series in 1996, while August marketings came in at 1.52 million head, also a record low for the month and 3% behind 2025.

The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of the 2026 farm bill on Wednesday, the Agriculture Act of 2026, marking a major step toward a new five-year farm bill after years of delay. The committee approved the measure on a 12-11 party-line vote, sending it forward for further action in the House and Senate.

The latest USDA weekly Crop Progress Report, released Monday, showed soybean harvest kicking off ahead of both last year and the five-year average pace. Corn harvest also continued slightly ahead of normal.

More ranchers are taking a closer look at fall calving, drawn by a favorable price spread between spring- and fall-born calves. There's also a potential health payoff: calving during cooler, drier months.

The USDA's September WASDE report brought a notable shift for the 2026/27 corn outlook. USDA lowered its corn yield estimate to 178.5 bushels per acre (down from 180.7 in the August report, but still ahead of trade expectations) and cut corn ending stocks to 1.567 billion bushels, down 86 million bushels from last month's estimate.

Hilltop Preserve, a 58-acre working farm in Raritan Township, New Jersey, was transformed into a permanent memorial ahead of the September 11 25th anniversary. Sitting nearly 700 feet above sea level, the farm offered a clear view of smoke rising from the World Trade Center more than 45 miles away that day in 2001.

California's table grape harvest kicked off nearly three weeks ahead of a normal year, following an early spring warm-up, and shippers have held that faster pace all season. Volumes are tracking close to industry expectations, though July's heat put stress on some of the more delicate and heirloom varieties.

A new USDA rule under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changes how farm program payment limits work for LLCs and S corporations, and Sept. 15 is the date FSA will use to set your farm's structure for the 2026 crop year. Under the rule, qualifying pass-through entities can stack payment limits by each actively engaged owner instead of sharing one flat cap, meaning a multi-owner farm could see its limit multiply several times over.