USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced this week that the February 2019 income over feed cost margin was $8.22 per hundredweight (cwt.), triggering the second payment for dairy producers who purchase the appropriate level of coverage under the new but yet-to-be established Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program.

Bill Northey, USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation, said that getting help to dairy farmers in the form of having the program authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill rolled out as quickly as possible is the top priority for the department for going forward.

The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator hosted its second annual AgTech Day in late March in West Des Moines. From across the country, nine early-stage ag tech startups gathered to showcase their innovations to the Accelerator’s community of mentors and supporters.

In the aftermath of extreme flooding events in Nebraska this spring, landowners are faced with not only sand, silt and debris deposited on their land, but also with large amounts of corn residue from upstream — piled 3 feet deep on some fields.

Though fertilizer applications have begun to ramp up in some areas of the Corn Belt, average retail prices saw only small moves in either direction the second week of April 2019, according to retailers surveyed by DTN.

The American Simmental Association (ASA) and Holstein Association USA (HAUSA) have announced the formation of the HOLSim™ branded program. The program identifies elite SimAngusTM bulls with specific production attributes as mating solutions for dairy producers who breed some of their herd to beef.

The big fight in the Nebraska Legislature this year is over plans to reduce property taxes, which has the state’s farm lobbies pushing lawmakers hard for some relief. Numbers taken from the 2017 Ag Census show Nebraska farmers have more reason to complain about property taxes than farmers in nearby states.

Henderson Farms put two John Deere 1795 planters out into its north Alabama fields this spring mounting RTK guidance systems. “When you’re pulling the planter on a drawbar with a pin, and the GPS unit is centered over the tractor, you get some planter drift,” said Stuart Sanderson.

USDA has pegged the winter wheat crop at 60% in good-to-excellent condition — the highest-quality rating in seven years. But good wheat growing conditions in the spring can also be conducive to disease.

As devastating images of the 2019 Midwest floods fade from view, an insidious and longer-term problem is emerging across its vast plains: The loss of topsoil that much of the nation’s food supply relies on.