Corn: Corn futures traded lower this week due to an improved forecast for much of the Midwest. The forecast is now showing milder weather with more rainfall for most of the Corn Belt. We are in that time of year when weather now dictates the price direction of the grain market. Truthfully, the direction of the market can change from day to day based on changes in the forecast. And we all know that mother nature can be quite fickle this time of year.
The University of Tennessee Weed Tour will be held next Wednesday, June 22 at the West Tennessee Research & Education Center in Jackson, TN (605 Airways Blvd). For those of you who have not been here before, once you pull in the drive just follow the sings that read “Weed Tour”.
Instead of printing a book, we have posted on-line the weed management research trial map, weather data as well as protocols for the research trials that will be featured at the weed tour. These can be download on Ipad, notebook or other electronic device. Of course they can be accessed old school by printing.
The link for all the individual trials for the weed tour can be accessed 2016 UT Weed Tour Report
Registration will start at 8:30 A.M. and the tour will begin at 9:00 A.M. The tour will end about 11:30. will be no lunch served this year but we will have breakfast biscuits available during registration.
Threecornered alfalfa hoppers, snails, Japanese beetles, and plant bugs … should you be worried? I’ve had a variety of calls this week, but the most frequent call has been about Continue reading
Dry weather over most of Tennessee last week brought welcome opportunities to do field work and also aided in crop development. Farmers took the break from wet and cooler conditions to harvest wheat, cut hay, and spray crops. Wheat yields are reported as favorable. Continue reading the Tennessee Crop Progress at TN_06_13_16. The U.S. Crop Progress report can be read at CropProg-06-13-2016.
Recent research in the Mid-South has convinced me that threecornered alfalfa hopper (TCAH) is almost exclusively a pest of only small soybeans. We’ve had a relatively mild winter. Tennessee is on the northern edge of threecornered alfalfa hopper home range, and warm winters generally means higher populations. That appears to be the case in 2016. Late planted soybean such as Continue reading
Corn, cotton, and soybeans, were up; wheat was mixed for the week. This week commodities continued there bullish move with soybeans leading the way. However, one change this week was the harvest contracts outperforming the nearby futures contracts. For example, July 2016 soybeans were up 46 cents, 31 cents less than the November contract which increased 77 cents. This phenomenon also occurred for corn (5 compared to 11 cents) and cotton (0.83 compared to 1.16 cents), as well as the nearby deferred spread with wheat (-2 cents compared to 1 cent). Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.
May 10th 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.
Dr. Larry Steckel and Garret Montgomery walk you through their evaluation of different nozzles used to apply contact herbicides in this video: