Field Posts

From market moves to New World screwworm, stormy weather to high diesel prices, there is a firehose of news for cattlemen to stay up on as we barrel towards the end of 2026. So today, DTN’s Senior Livestock Editor Jennifer Carrico is taking over part of the show, bringing us conversations with two leading cattle handling experts to teach us about proven practices that advance animal health, welfar...

If you talk to top farm business managers in North America today, most will have heard of or attended TEPAP, Texas A&M’s premier Executive Program for Ag Producers.  While this program has been around for more than 50 years, demand from participants has increased in recent years as everything from finances and insurance to technology and cyber security have gotten more complex and demanding fo...

Polling places in many states are already open. Voters have just days left to cast their ballots, which will decide the makeup of the U.S. House and Senate as well as key state-level offices from governorships to commissioners of agriculture.  Key races in this year’s midterms will also decide the makeup of both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees who are still working on passing a farm bi...

The latest WASDE dropped Friday, October 9th, stunning farmers and analysts alike with an unexpected boost to U.S. corn stocks that sent the market on a bearish spiral. To help us understand what all went down, we’re joined once again by DTN Lead Markets Analyst Rhett Montgomery, who takes us beat by beat through the latest updates from both the WASDE and the September 30th Grain Stocks report. We...

Soybean Cyst Nematode, or SCN, is a billion dollar problem for U.S. soybean farmers, and that’s not an exaggeration. Estimates suggest that farmers lose between $1 and $1.5 billion a year to this pest, due both growing, and the way that SCN tends to make other problems, from diseases and pests to stress, worse. More and more farmers are facing down the cost of SCN today, and the need for a new man...

Today, DTN’s Senior Livestock Editor Jennifer Carrico brings us a conversation with multiple experts to update us on the latest news related to the New World Screwworm outbreak.  As the pest has moved Northward over the past few years in Central America, U.S. cattle producers have grown increasingly concerned about a potential resurgence of the pest that was eradicated from the U.S. back in the 19...

October 1st, 2026 is the final day to submit yield data in the 2026 National Wheat Foundation’s Wheat Yield Contest, and with new categories to compete in and tough conditions to contend with, this year’s competition promises to be fierce. To bring us the latest updates on the contest and the wheat season, we’re joined by Anne Osborne, Executive Director of the National Wheat Foundation, and Boyd...

The September WASDE dropped Friday, September 11th, offering fresh insights on the market as weather and headlines continue to drive prices.  This week, we’re joined once again by DTN Lead Markets Analyst Rhett Montgomery, who discusses his expectations coming into the report after a hectic few weeks in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.  Then, he’ll take us through all the highlights on the corn...

As one of the hottest summers on record draws to a close, farmers across the country are hankering to get into their fields and see the final results of another difficult growing year.  After spotty weather left some farmers struggling with extreme heat or flooding while others battled pollination, pest, and other issues, growers are preparing for a challenging harvest season ahead. To help grower...

  DTN Crops Technology Editor Pamela Smith has been making a name for herself in ag journalism for about five decades now, covering topics and issues across the industry and at multiple publications.  As she hangs up her keyboard, we’re sitting down for one last conversation, about what’s changed in the last fifty years, what hasn’t, and what might be coming down the pike.  Today, we’ll wax nostal...

Today, we’re welcoming back DTN Senior Livestock Editor Jennifer Carrico to take the reins and talk about a key topic for cattle growers — communicating the country of origin of beef products, especially through the recent “Product of the USA” labeling program launched by the Trump administration.  Jennifer is joined by a pair of cattle producers who will together explore the history of mCOOL and...

The 9th Annual DTN Digital Yield Tour took place August 10th through the 14th, 2026, offering an early forecast of the crop that’s still in the field, based on DTN’s proprietary models and data.  And this year, for the first time ever, DTN released national corn and soybean yield estimates, in addition to state-level analysis for more than a dozen states. DTN Crops Editor Jason Jenkins joins us to...

To talk about the August WASDE this week, we’re joined once again by DTN Lead Markets Analyst Rhett Montgomery. He's been keeping an eye on everything from conditions on the ground to analyst expectations, and brings us a complete picture of the Department’s latest updates.  He’ll walk us down the balance sheets for corn, soybeans, and wheat, putting demand and international trade in perspect...

Since the start of Dan Miller’s career in ag journalism, the pace and scale of news has only increased.  His first gig in the biz, as the very first writer for the old Iowa Farmer Today paper, introduced him to current and future Presidents, to farmers from across the country, and sent him on reporting missions around the world, including to the former Soviet Union. For just a little while long, w...

With election day 2026 just over three months away, lawmakers in Washington are facing the end of the runway for passing legislation they can take home to their districts before November.  Farm state legislators in particular would like to finally have a completed Farm Bill to show for their efforts over the last 18 months, but the possibility of passing farm legislation in both houses and getting...

Today’s cattle market is a wild place, and there is so much to keep up on.   To help us stay up on the latest, DTN Senior Livestock Editor Jennifer Carrico is taking over the show today — bringing in multiple experts from across the industry to check in on new proposed policy around grazing CRP acres and other emerging stories.

The July WASDE dropped Friday, July 10th, pulling in the June 30th acreage numbers to give farmers and traders the clearest look yet at the 2026 crop in the field. With some expectations that the report would lean into bullish estimates, watchers also had to keep in mind ongoing conflicts around the world that continue to disturb markets.  To help us dig into the latest, DTN Lead Analyst Rhett Mon...

Though it took some time for aerial drones to find the right application on American farms, today, drones are commonplace across much of the countryside, used for everything from scouting to spraying to helping tracking down missing cows.  But as drone technology advances exponentially, and the global geopolitical atmosphere changes, U.S. policymakers grew increasingly worried about where the data...

Today, we’re dropping on DTN’s recent Beef Industry Exchange, a beef webinar series hosted by Senior Livestock Editor Jennifer Carrico.  This month’s webinar, which took place on June 24th, included a summer weather update from DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick, a cattle markets update by DTN’s analyst ShayLe Stewart, and an deep dive with Aaron Berger, the Beef Systems Education Extension agent...

We are just days away from celebrating the 250th anniversary of America's Independence Day, prompting many to look back to the earliest days of our country for lessons in how to weather challenging and uncertain times.  DTN’s Farm Business Editor Chris Clayton even took a trip down to Mount Vernon, the historical farm of America’s first President, George Washington, to bring us a vision of ho...

Register for the June 24th DTN Cattle Webinar here. The June WASDE dropped Thursday, June 11th, offering the latest update on USDA’s thinking since President Trump’s historic trip to China in the middle of May and in light of the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East. But these market-moving events are far from the only things disrupting expected trends in the grain complex. So to help us s...

Weeds are always a problem for American farmers.  But a warm spring and recent burst of wet weather in many parts of the country has created ripe conditions for everything from waterhemp and Palmer amaranth to Kochia and newly arrived species like Asian copperleaf.  As farmers feel the pressure to use inputs sparingly due to cost while bringing in the biggest crop they can, keeping these weeds und...

The debate over year round E15 has become a perennial battle ground for biofuel interests, but farm state lawmakers are increasingly optimistic that 2026 will be the year.  With the extraordinary market pressures farmers are facing after 2025’s bin-busting crop, and the pain that voters are feeling every time they fill up their gas tank, policymakers are pushing forward once again. To help us unde...

While a hectic spring season brought with it welcome rainfall, it also brought an unruly mix of record heat and late local cold snaps that has set some farmers back in their planting efforts. But as May makes way for June and a Super-El Niño summer, likely the most extreme on record, emerges, American farmers are looking to what’s in store for the heart of the season.  DTN’s Ag Meteorologist John...

Coming into the 2026 planting season, many expected a significant crop shift thanks to the war in Iran. Little sign of this shift has been seen so far, but with less than half the crop in the ground and weeks left for farmers to finalize decisions, there are still plenty of wild cards on the table. To give us an update on planting thus far, and help us understand what might be ahead for the emergi...