We’ve been hearing about carbon credits for several years in Agriculture. Finally, the vagueness of the ecosystem marketplace is becoming more clear. In this episode we learn how farmers enroll their acres to get compensation for carbon sequestration and nitrogen reduction. Who pays for these env...

The Business of Agriculture trades commodities. We produce them, buy them, sell them, and process them to make products for our end users. But who does all this trading and who ultimately, uses the goods we make? Dave Smoldt and Kyle Schrad with StoneX Financial give us a behind the scenes look a...

U.S. net farm income set a record in 2022, up 14% from 2021 to $160.5 billion. To put it mildly, things in Ag are good financially speaking. 2022’s farm income number is double what it was just 3 years ago during the China - U.S. trade spat. What does this mean for those of us who earn our living...

Agriculture has a lot of battles to fight beyond the daily challenges of producing our food, fuel, and fiber. Causes against production Ag have turned into religious movements as well as full-blown business models. Call it what it is, it’s “the conflict industry” and in places like Holland, farms...

In 2022 American farmers produced the fourth largest soybean crop on record at 117 million metric tons or roughly 4.4 billion bushels. The good news: Demand is matching global supply and prices are decent. The challenging news: Our demand for soybean oil is outpacing our demand for soybean meal. ...

Cow farts cause “climate crisis” and climate crisis is reducing crop yields, eating eggs causes high cholesterol, global population growth will cause mass starvation, sunlight exposure is harmful to your health. You’ve likely heard these dire predictions confidently proclaimed by so-called expert...

Shay Foulk with Ag View Solutions predicts cost of corn production for 2023 will average $5.35 per bushel. That number is an all time high and it’s due to an increase in every crop input from nitrogen to diesel to labor. The story is the same for the other major commodity of soybeans, and presuma...

Farmers love to talk about the weather but in this episode we go deeper and talk about systems, climate, global weather patterns, and the year ahead. My guest is Eric Snodgrass, Senior Science Fellow for Nutrien Ag Solutions. Will we see the sort of devastating dryness we experienced in the west ...

Lasse Jakobsen was born in Denmark, now the Millennial heads up U.S. business development for the company his grandfather created to serve European hog production. Today, Protekta is a joint venture with a Danish organization that produces feed additives, among other things, for pork, poultry, an...

Your smart phone has more technology and capability than NASA’s Apollo program had 50 years ago. Think about that, then think about the technology in today’s modern farm machinery. Data collection, yield monitoring, analysis down to the square foot…It’s amazing to say the least. John Deere busine...

Two weeks ago I posted on social media a photo of an antique tractor next to a modern machine. In my post I referenced the advancements we’ve made since the antique tractor worked the land — 7 times increase in per acre yield, less natural resource consumption per calorie produced, environmental ...

Renewable diesel is the new buzz talk everywhere in Agriculture. Will its take off and reality match the fervor in farm circle discussions? Will the tax credits giving RD lift off remain with us? Will more biofuel fuel the “no food for fuel” debate? Well, yes, that’s almost a guarantee! Mac Marsh...

Fertilizer markets have been tumultuous for a few years now. Just when you thought things had settled down on fertilizer price and availability, a hurricane hit, a war broke out, and the Mississippi dried up. Nathan Carson is VP of Operations with Chemical Dynamics, a Florida specialty fertilizer...

The global population is getting older and fertility rates have been plummeting. Unless you follow my commentary, this is probably news to you. Most everyone in Ag is still operating under the misguided assumption that population growth is boundless. It’s not. As fertility rates drop like a rock,...

There’s an industry within the world’s most important industry that most folks probably don’t think a lot about but it’s huge and it’s growing: The fats and oils side of Ag. Vegetable oil demand is growing, not just because of human consumption but also as a fuel source with renewable diesel and ...

While Ag’s detractors often paint Agriculture as an environmental villain, I promote Agriculture as an environmental solution. Renewable energy, carbon sequestration, water filtration, and enviro benefit via land management are all enhanced through Agriculture. In the future we may also be a rese...

We began incessantly hearing the words “supply chain” a year after we’d already been feeling the brunt of its breakdown. In Agriculture it became noticeable when meat and milk processing plants closed or couldn’t convert to a new product mix during shutdowns. Then it moved to a supply problem, me...

There’s way more to Montana than just Yellowstone — the park AND the popular television show. Montana agriculture is diverse, productive, and as big as the Big Sky state. The state produces wheat, oats, flax, canola, camelina, lentils, peas, and more. Justin Miller, a fifth generation Montana far...

The Columbia - Snake River system consists of 465 miles of river that acts as Agricultural infrastructure. The waterways and their 8 dams allow barges to move 10% of America’s exported wheat and 40% of the inland Northwest’s total wheat production. In short, the river system is vital for food pro...

50 years we didn’t have much in the way of crop insurance. Then came the 80’s and the realization it was smarter — and more financially sound— for the government to subsidize crop insurance. Today, more than 90% of American cropland acres are insured. But that’s still not enough coverage for the ...

Farm land prices are up. A lot! So are interest rates, input prices, and diesel fuel. What does all this mean heading into fall and for 2023? Should you buy acres to expand your Ag enterprise in this environment? How will a doubling of operating loan interest rates impact your bottom line. Jarod ...

Biologicals are the newest iteration in Ag inputs but they’ve actually been around for several decades and they still lack consistent results. Consolidation among Ag’s biggest players has left just a handful of huge companies — will they all still be here in a decade? If so, who will they acquire...

During the Summer of 2022, Dutch farmers began protesting extreme environmental legislation poised to force liquidation of livestock and shut down farms. The purpose of Holland's legislation is allegedly for the good of the environment, but upon further analysis, the laws will simply offshore and...

Ken Wall left his post as an attorney and moved his two sons back to the Ontario specialty crop farm he was raised on in the 1990s. Since then he’s expanded the enterprise, gotten in the seed business, built a food processing facility, and created a niche manufacturing company. He explains the bu...