Cost of production set a record in 2023 as the most expensive crops ever planted. How things turned out for the P&L statement depended on weather, yield, and how well operators navigated the commodity markets. Prices for land, labor, fuel, machinery, and crop inputs aren’t subsiding, nor is the i...

Canada is the world’s number one exporter of oats — a commodity enjoying an upswing in demand thanks to snack bars and oat milk. Did you know almost every bushel of oats goes straight to human consumption? With horse racing’s decline in popularity, human oat consumption is the key to future growt...

Calvin Koeller's Illinois farm operation is about to lose a couple miles worth of farm land to an electrical grid expansion. This new electric line project was defeated a few years ago but, with support from the Inflation Reduction Act — and some Illinois politics — the Grainbelt Express Electric...

Currently, pork profitability (or lack thereof) has certain observers comparing the industry to the late ’90’s when pork was in turmoil. It was that era, in fact, that set the stage for today’s (mostly) vertically integrated hog production model using contact grower farmers. Adam Krause, a contra...

If you’re in business, at some level, you’re in sales. So, how exactly would you rate your sales game? Do you ask the right questions? Is your product knowledge keeping up? Do you understand the needs and problems of the customers you seek to serve? St. John (“Sinjin”) Craner, a sales and marketi...

The Mississippi River is low and that’s causing shipping problems for Agriculture. Mark Milam with Independent Commodity Intelligence Services joins Damian to discuss issues of transportation, supply, and distribution of fertilizer for crop year 2024.

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The chasm between beef and dairy is being bridged as the two industries fuse in a trend that could be good for beef, dairy, consumers, the marketplace, and maybe the environment. The advent of sex-specific semen made a whole lot of dairy cow uteruses available. Meanwhile the beef industry needed ...

As it turns out, we’ve not always been good to our soil. Fortunately we’re starting to better understand the living organism beneath our feet. However, we’re still mistreating this valuable asset that’s selling for $15,000 to $20,000 per acre in some areas. David Kleinschmidt of Progressive Agron...

Using a $40 million federal grant paid over five years via USDA’s climate initiative, DeLong company created the “Grown Climate Smart” program. A 38 branch Ag retailer and grain elevator, DeLong has roughly 250,000 customer acres enrolled in the program that incentivizes wind breaks, cover croppi...

Farmland prices have been on fire the last couple years. But are those prices peaking? Beyond the huge sale numbers seen on social media, Ag property has been selling well but…there are signs of a cooling off. What can we expect moving forward? Will the institutional investors remain in Ag land? ...

Businesses are encouraged to conduct assessments of their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In short: What are you good at, what do you suck at, where will tomorrow’s money be made, and what things could put you out of business? The most critical element of an effective SWOT Analy...

Used machinery markets are heating up earlier than normal. Is this because farmers in need of equipment recall getting shut out during the supply chain disruptions of Covid or is there a used equipment shortage? What are interest rates — more than double what they were just a year or so ago— doin...

Comet Bio is a technology-enabled food ingredient company that, after eight years, is finally ready to churn out food ingredients. The company extracts fiber — arabinoxylan to be specific — from wheat straw and turns it into an ingredient for food companies to use in food for human consumption. T...

Organic food sales growth still outpaces conventional, despite food inflation and even after nearly two decades of “organic” being a thing. Additionally, the margins are better for organic. So, how much longer can “organic” grow organically? How do organic chicken farms operate, is it the same as...

I was recently asked by two investor friends of mine, “Damian, if I handed you a billion dollars, where in Ag would you invest it?” The question, as well as the six weeks of pondering it inspired in my head, made me think this was a solid and stimulating topic for The Business of Agriculture. Loo...

Silage — in case you’re unfamiliar— is high moisture forage chopped and stored for cattle feed, principally dairy animals. It derives its name from the fact we used to blow this forage into silos. That’s not done much anymore for reasons of safety, practicality, and scale. The most common method ...

Regenerative practices have become a new area of focus in production Agriculture. But what about our grazing lands — are we managing those lands for healthier soil, a healthier environment AND a healthier bottom line? Hugh Aljoe and Jim Johnson with Noble Research Institute, an Oklahoma-based ran...

A few years ago there was a great deal of hype surrounding Controlled Environment Ag (indoor farming). Money was pouring into the space from outside investors. Along with the money came the media coverage, which brought more money and more hype. According to some, we were just a short time away f...

My farmer friends at XtremeAg say, “The limiting yield factor isn’t the seed, it’s probably us.” Well, that’s not necessarily the case — another huge limiting yield factor is loss due to pathogens. With so many nasty diseases out there, our problem has often been misdiagnosis or a failure to trea...

We’re several years into various programs looking to sign up acres for such things as carbon sequestration, nitrogen reduction, cover crops, and other regenerative practices. Yet, there are still not very many acres signed up. Why is that and what will it take to get more acres involved with ecos...

If you’re in modern day production Agriculture, you are in business. Probably to the tune of millions of dollars of allocated capital. Yet, many farmers don’t flex their money mindset or think like entrepreneurs. This could make for real on-farm struggles moving into an era of high interest rates...

Every Summer we begin to analyze crop reports, look at the markets and ask the question, “Will Ag make money this year? And if so, which sectors?” Jarod Creed of JC Marketing & Ag Financial Services joins Damian to discuss farm income, recent ag economic history, political winds shaping or shifti...

We produce a LOT of agricultural output here in the United States and the trend line for increased productivity isn’t letting up. So what happens when we run out of places to sell our output or creative ways to burn through our crops as we’ve done with ethanol or renewable diesel? Will we see cal...

As you’ve likely heard me say, we in Agriculture suffer from commodity mindset. When we think of growing margins, we think of reducing costs, getting bigger, and making more with less. But what happens when there’s almost no efficiencies to be gained, or worse yet when we make so much stuff that ...