I’ve spoken with several who planted a few fields last week. Soils have been a little cooler than we would prefer but it was hard to keep the planter at the shop with 60+ degree soil temperatures at 3” at 8 AM with warm temperatures in the forecast. Moisture is currently not hard to find in most areas given you caught some of the showers Continue reading
How can I manage my equipment costs? With profit margins tight, one recommendation is to delay major equipment purchases, but that could put a producer in a bind if equipment breaks down or he doesn’t have the capacity to do the job. Continue reading at Southeast Farm Press.
Supply and Demand Estimates and Profitability Outlook
This link to Supply & Demand Estimates & Profitability Outlook contains a summary of the USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. Domestic balance sheets for corn, soybeans, cotton, and wheat are displayed along with price reaction in futures markets for each commodity on the day of the report release. Additionally, supply and demand estimates for key importing and exporting countries are provided for the current month along with change in estimates from the previous report. The Profitability Outlook section contains estimated returns per acre for each commodity based on 2015 Tennessee state average/trend yields and current price offerings (note: cotton prices include a seed and hauling rebate). Variable expenses are based on the University of Tennessee Extension 2016 Row Crop Budgets. Prices are updated monthly; expenses are updated as warranted during the year and may be different than the expenses contained in the 2016 Row Crop Budgets. This section provides an estimation of the current relative profitability amongst major row crops in Tennessee.
The report is prepared monthly by Dr. Aaron Smith and Chuck Danehower.
In tough economic times, producers review their cost structure to determine what crops are profitable. In a year like 2016, some farmers are going a step further and looking at each individual field to decide what is the best option for that particular farm. On land that is deemed to be more marginal, what is the best option? Should that ground even be farmed? Could it be enrolled in CRP for a greater return? Read the following article for more considerations on this topic: Will We Farm Every Acre in 2016
A Summary of the March 31 USDA’s Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks Report including a Profitability Update has been posted at UT Extension Summary of USDA’s Reports.
Corn: The USDA released the acreage report at 11:00 AM today. This report caught the market off guard with a much larger than anticipated corn crop for 2016. In fact, the average trade estimate for the 2016 corn crop was 89.97 million acres. This was based primarily on the USDA’s Outlook Forum projection of 90.00 million acres of corn that was released back in February. Today’s report estimated that 93.60 million acres of corn will be planted in 2016. That is a significant increase over 2015’s levels and will be detrimental to U.S. corn prices. The increase stands to reason what many producers have been stating that they plan to do in 2016. Continue reading
Corn: The USDA is to release their planting intentions report next week. On Thursday, Farm Futures released their survey of farmer’s planting intentions for 2016. Their survey indicated that farmers intend to plant 90 million acres of corn, which is a 2.3% increase from last year. The abundance of grain supplies is keeping a lid on U.S. corn prices. Argentina’s government has projected that their corn crop to be approximately 37 million metric tons. This is larger than USDA’s projection of 27 million metric tons for Argentina’s crop. Over the past week, September corn futures increased by $0.01 while the average local harvest basis equaled -$0.17. Continue reading
Corn: Over the past week, September corn futures increased by $0.06 while the average local harvest basis increased by $0.02 in West TN. The increase in corn prices can be attributed to the recent weakness in the U.S. dollar. The U.S. dollar has shown signs of weakness due to sluggish economic news. In fact, the Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen, stated this week that the Fed will not raise interest rates as high as previously thought. Prior to this week, the Fed was expected to raise interest rates up to four times throughout 2016. However, due to lackluster economic data within the U.S., it seems that the Fed will only raise rates twice this year. Continue reading