Iowa farmland sale hits new record high at $21,900 an acre

Reuters / As the Midwest struggles with the ripple effects of this year’s devastating drought, farmland prices in Iowa hit a new record high Oct. 25 when an 80.47-acre parcel sold for $21,900 an acre, the auction firm that handled the sale said Oct. 26. The parcel is located in Sioux County near Boyden, Iowa,

U.S. corn harvest on record pace, soy lagging

Reuters / U.S. corn harvest was a record 87 per cent complete and farmers had finished 80 per cent of soybean harvest as of Sunday, Oct. 21 according to a U.S. Agriculture Department report issued on Monday, but the tail end of their combining efforts was expected to be slow due to rain. Analysts had


Aflatoxin corn allowed in U.S. livestock feed

Aflatoxin contamination prompted a series of U.S. 
pet food and livestock feed recalls last December

Reuters / The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow grain handlers in Iowa and Illinois to blend corn containing aflatoxin, a naturally occurring toxic substance, with other grain to make animal feed. Aflatoxin is the byproduct of a corn mold that tends to spread in drought years. Following the worst drought in the Corn

U.S. corn farmers nervous over dry forecast

Some farmers in the eastern U.S. Corn Belt have been buying back contracts of corn sold to their local elevators for post-harvest delivery as a deepening drought raised concern that there may be no grain to deliver. Volumes of buybacks have been minimal thus far, but grain merchants expect there will be more as weather


China’s agricultural future: Adopt developed technologies

China is a grudging importer of corn and pork, preferring instead to increase domestic production 


As the most populous nation on Earth, China has intermittently been seen as the solution to the problem created by the ability of U.S. farmers to produce more than they can sell at a profitable price. Sometimes the discussion is focused on cotton; at other times it is corn or soybeans. Today, it is pork



U.S. seeding ahead of normal

chicago / reuters / U.S. farmers had planted three per cent of this year’s corn crop by April 1, matching the fastest pace on record, as they took advantage of the warmest March on record to start running their planters early, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data issued April 2. A year ago, farmers had

U.S. Corn Belt not ready to seed just yet

Reuters / Shirt-sleeve weather across America’s central Grain Belt is tempting, but expensive seeds and worries about insurance covering any sudden cold snap have kept crop planters out of fields. “We’ve got a lot invested in this crop. We want to be careful,” said central Illinois farmer Tim Seifert, who doesn’t want to take the