Field Posts

The months since President Trump first took office have been marked by executive orders, policy announcement, shakeups, and for many in ag, the hopes that policies will also provide protections from market and political fallout. Just this week, President Trump announced a pause for tariffs on China as trade talks continue, and that is just one of the many ways changes are leaving farmers uncertain...

The May WASDE dropped Monday, May 5th, and the market reacted to both predicted records and to a few unexpected surprises. Given the number of acres and the USDA’s trendline yield, the department is officially estimating a record breaking corn crop in 2025– at least at this early moment in the season.  To help us understand the latest, we’re joined once again by DTN’s Lead Analyst Rhett Montgomery...

The winners of the National Wheat Yield Contest, hosted by the National Wheat Foundation, represent some of the most progressive and thoughtful wheat growers from across the country.  This week, DTN Crops Editor Jason Jenkins takes the reins to lead us through a conversation with national winners Steve VanGrunsven, a grower/agronomist in Forest Grove, Oregon and Travis Messer, the grower/agronomis...

John Deere’s See & Spray technology crashed onto the precision spraying scene a few years ago, making a big splash in the industry long before it was killing weeds in commercial fields. Since then, progress on sense and act technologies has felt like it’s both made big leaps forwards and lagged behind expectations.  Now, in 2025, millions of acres are being treated with precision spray tools a...

Uncertainty and unpredictability in Washington and beyond have made following updates around ethanol, biodiesel, and the ongoing fight around sustainable aviation fuel challenging for farmers and industry watchers alike. As advocates spend time sitting down with the new Trump administration and farmers try their best to make planting decisions, the broader atmosphere around trade, interest rates,...

The April WASDE dropped Thursday, April 10, bringing with it a raft of bearish and bullish updates for the three major grains. This month’s report came in the wake not only of market-cratering tariff announcements, but also in the week after the department’s latest Grain Stocks Report and the annual Prospective Planting update, meaning the USDA had plenty to chew on when shaping the latest numbers...

Cattle sellers continue to rule in beef markets, fetching record prices in recent months and weeks as expectations for more growth in the cattle herd come up short. But there’s more than just prices to watch as multiple factors — from pests and disease to shifting trade regimes to the state of individual ranch and packing businesses — come into play. To help us find the insights in the noise, we’r...

Each year, the National Wheat Yield Contest, hosted by the National Wheat Foundation, attracts top growers from across the country to compete to grow the healthiest, and largest, wheat crop in the nation.  The 2024 results are officially in, and farmers in the Pacific Northwest and the Northern Plains managed to bring home many of the top accolades, and though 2024 didn’t quite offer record-settin...

The March WASDE dropped Tuesday, March 11th, and bullish farmers and traders looking to see upside for corn and possibly soybeans too were disappointed the USDA held pat across the two major U.S. grain balance sheets. Wheat, on the other hand, which was expected to go unchanged, overshot expectations in a bearish direction, but markets on the day ended up. Go figure. Luckily, we’re joined once aga...

We're officially on the cusp of spring, and farmers in the warmer regions are already in the planter, while those further north are raring to get the 2025 season started. But some snap cold weather in February and some roaring blizzards on March’s doorstep have us wondering if winter might stick around a bit longer. Luckily for us, DTN’s Ag Meteorologist John Baranick is joining us today, not...

The 2025 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show took place February 4th through 6th in sunny San Antonio, and by all accounts it was an event where ranchers came together to celebrate a good year in the beef industry, and to put their heads together about what might be ahead.  DTN Senior Livestock Editor Jennifer Carrico attended the show, and joins us today with the latest updates from th...

The National Farm Machinery Show attracts more than half a million farmers, ranchers, and ag industry professionals every year to a massive event in Louisville where everything from tractors to precision equipment to drills are on display. But after several years of excitement in the machinery market, high interest rates, low commodity prices, and an atmosphere of uncertainty means this year'...

The February WASDE dropped Tuesday, February 11th, and with few updates expected for U.S. balance sheets, the market’s attention was locked on the Southern Hemisphere, where harvest for the major grains is in view.  This week, we’re joined once again by DTN’s Lead Markets Analyst Rhett Montgomery, who took a break from his work at the National Farm Machinery Show to guide us through the latest fro...

COVID’s impact on American agriculture were legion, but one of the positive changes for the industry is the way it encouraged consumers —who were experiencing supply chain disruptions in empty shelves at the grocery store — to reconnect to where their food is grown.  Ordinary American consumers turned to farmers markets and Facebook groups, looking to go directly to farms to buy meat, flour, and a...

CES is the world’s largest showcase of technology and electronics, held every year in sunny Las Vegas. In the last decade or so, ag tech companies, and especially ag equipment companies, have been attending this event to show off their latest hardware and software tools, and so DTN has also attended to keep up with the technological forecast on display.  DTN Progressive Farmer’s Senior Editor Dan...

It has been a hectic eight weeks in Washington since the re-election of Donald Trump. There has been a non-stop torrent of news that will, and is already, affecting American agriculture, from disaster aid to Farm Bill updates to the nomination of Secretaries of Agriculture, the EPA, FDA, and others.  Luckily, we’re joined today by DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton, who’s been staying on top of al...

The January WASDE dropped Friday January 10th, and this blockbuster report left producers, traders, and analysts alike scrambling to respond to major drops in production estimates for corn and soybeans. This news came alongside a quarterly stocks report and a wheat seedings report, which meant there was a ton of new information to process from USDA on the state of U.S. grains. This week, we’re joi...

DTN’s 2024 Virtual Ag Summit is a wrap, and this year’s event included a gripping conversation between DTN Progressive Farmer’s Senior Editor Dan Miller and a couple of the honorees in the 2025 class of America’s Best Young Farmers and Ranchers. Today, we’ll hear the second half of the conversation with Emily Mullen, a dairy farmer from Ohio, and Ben Neale, a cattleman from Tennessee. We’ll dig ba...

A new year is upon us and U.S. farmers are taking to the office, planning for the 2025 season and keeping an eye on critical inputs like fertilizer as they do. It’s been a tumultuous few years for crop nutrient prices, and though there remain a few wild cards to watch, forecasts for the coming year suggest there might be more stability ahead. This week, we’re joined by DTN Staff Reporter Russ Quin...

DTN’s 2024 Virtual Ag Summit wrapped up in December, with farmers from across the country convening to discuss what to expect, and how to prepare, for a New Year, New Administration, and New Markets.  The event also gave DTN Progressive Farmer’s Senior Editor Dan Miller a chance to show off some of the stellar producers honored in the 2025 class of America’s Best Young Farmers and Ranchers, who of...

DTN’s 2024 Virtual Ag Summit is officially a wrap, and as is the case every year, a highlight of the event was the trio of forecasts on weather, grain markets, and livestock markets from DTN Progressive Farmer’s industry-leading analysts.  Today we’re dropping on the cattle markets forecast with DTN’s Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart. She’ll look back on the 2024 season, reflecting on the highs an...

The December WASDE dropped Wednesday December 11th, and this usually quiet report brought with it unexpectedly bullish news for corn markets. As markets and the USDA turn their attention towards the crop in the Southern hemisphere and demand from around the world, U.S. crops are getting a boost.  This week, we’re joined once again by DTN’s Lead Markets Analyst Rhett Montgomery, who guides us throu...

DTN’s 2024 Virtual Ag Summit has just wrapped up, with farmers from across the country convening virtually to discuss the year that was, the year ahead, and the key issues affecting their operations. Forecasts for weather and market in the year to come were, as always, a top issue, and today on the podcast we’re dropping in to hear the latest.  DTN’s Team Lead for Ag Weather John Baranick tackled...

With the 2024 election firmly in the rearview mirror, President Elect Donald Trump has been dominating headlines with cabinet picks and more recent announcements about proposed tariffs.  Farmers and ag industry stakeholders are now waiting to see what happens next on a variety of critical agricultural priorities, from labor to trade to potential pesticide regulation changes.  Luckily, we’re joined...

In the last decade, farmland prices have shifted under the pressure of farm policy, a global pandemic, a changing interest rate regime, and a broader market anxious for safe investments. The picture of US farmland today is mixed, with some record sales still hitting inboxes even as many properties go unsold at auction. These mixed signals have left some producers wondering– what’s going on with th...