Field Posts

DTN’s 2025 Virtual Ag Summit has just wrapped up, with farmers from across the country convening to discuss what to expect, and how to prepare, for an uncertain year ahead.  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 2026 class of America’s Best Young Farmers and Ranchers . Today, we’ll drop in on the conv...

Every year, the staff of DTN Progressive Farmer spend time reflecting on the news that was and evaluating which stories did the most to shape producers’ experience in the field, in the markets, and beyond.  Given the non-stop flood of news this year, competition to make the list of the Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025 was particularly stiff.  To walk us through the top stories, we’re joined today by DTN...

The U.S. tax code doesn’t often go through big changes, but with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, or OBBBA, earlier this year, there are plenty of changes to keep an eye out for as 2026 comes into view. To help us understand what’s new and what matters most, DTN’s Taxlink columnist and CliftonLarsonAllen principle Rod Mauszycki joins us for an update on what’s new, what he’s talking abou...

The December WASDE dropped Tuesday, December 9th, bringing home what’s been a tumultuous year of grain market news in the U.S. and beyond.  Though the Department of Agriculture is still catching up on some reporting that was disrupted during the government shutdown, the coming of this relatively quiet report — which anticipates a more active January WASDE — marks a much-anticipated return to norma...

The 2025 DTN’s 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.  Today, we’ll listen in on DTN Ag Meteorologist John Bara...

Another harvest season is just about wrapped, which means that the annual DTN Ag Summit event is upon us once again — coming up on December 3rd and 4th.  This year’s program aims to help farmers prepare for success as they navigate lukewarm markets, and plenty of open questions around everything from farm policy to the global trade landscape.  Today, DTN Farm Business Editor Katie Dehlinger joins...

The November WASDE dropped Friday, November 14th, marking a return to normalcy as the longest government shutdown in history came to an end and USDA began to process and release more than a month of unpublished data. Surprises abounded, and markets oscillated between responding to new and confirmed information and reacting to the latest comments and updates from the Trump Administration in the hou...

The U.S. federal government began a partial shutdown starting Wednesday October 1st, and after 43 long days it finally came to end on November 12th. A resumption of funding means that many furloughed USDA employees will be getting back to work, and farmers and ranchers across the country can finally expect some forward movement on issues from biofuels to possible trade aid.  To help guide us throu...

Though cattlemen are still in a good marketing position compared to years past, the last two weeks have seen enough price instability to make any rancher feel sick to their stomach. With competing headlines around whether or not the Southern border will remain closed due to the threat of New World Screwworm, and unwelcome moves by the Trump administration to potentially increase beef imports from...

Since 2005, DTN Progressive Farmer has been selecting two farmers from across the country to participate in the annual View from the Cab project.  These farmers spend a full year getting to know DTN’s Pamela Smith through weekly calls and check-ins, sharing their stories and their seasons with the broader farm community.  Today, we’re sitting down with one of the 2025 View from the Cab farmers, St...

The New World Screwworm has been uncommon in the U.S. since the 1960s, but plenty of ranchers, especially those in the Southwest, still remember how devastating a problem it can be.  The larval maggots of the screwworm feed exclusively on living flesh, and an infested animal can succumb in a matter of days. So evidence that the pest is moving Northward from Southern Mexico is a key concern for Ame...

Farming in America today is an expensive endeavor. Even as commodity prices continue to slump ahead of a record big crop, farmers are already having to make decisions about purchases for next year’s crop. There are many hard conversations with lenders, agronomists, and family members ahead, with questions about how to finance land deals, equipment purchases, and seed and crop protection needs weig...

The U.S. federal government began a partial shutdown starting Wednesday October 1st, disrupting services and efforts across sprawling agencies — though workers deemed essential remain on the job without pay.  Farmers and the agricultural industry writ large have been affected, from delays at local FSA offices to lost momentum on trade deals to missed national reports. DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Cl...

The battle for year round E15 is not new, but in the last several weeks, it has become increasingly urgent.  Though lawmakers have expressed support again and again for expanded rules that would create additional demand for ethanol around the country, farmers and their advocates continue to wait for changes, and now with a gigantic corn crop about to flood the market, and hamstring prices, any bit...

DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton has had his hands full for months, tracking a wide range of stories from Washington that promise to impact farmers and ranchers in myriad ways. For one, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is still in the midst of a proposed reorganization, which is leaving local FSA offices short on staff — and farmers are starting to raise their concerns. Our conversation today...

The September WASDE dropped Friday, Sept. 12, bringing relief to many as USDA announced that the record 188 bushel/acre yield estimate for corn they’d published in August had been cut more than two bushels per acre — amounting to a reduction of millions of bushels of anticipated supply. However, USDA’s report also announced an unprecedented update to acre figures, which meant that lower bushel per...

As another year’s wheat harvest draws to a close, the country’s most progressive farmers are getting ready to submit their crop data to the National Wheat Foundation’s annual Wheat Yield Contest.  Anne Osborne, Executive Director of the National Wheat Foundation, and her team are preparing to review submissions and crown a new year of bin-busters and quality leaders, but took a break for her prepa...

For the usual big names at this year’s Farm Progress show, size and expanding autonomy were the name of the game. Despite the tricky market conditions going into the show, with farmer equipment purchases down double-digits as compared to last year, companies still showed up and showed off their latest and greatest, displaying new tools aimed at improving productivity and reducing labor needs. Fres...

The ideal 2025 growing season is giving way to the dog days of August, as farmers finally start to see the hot and dry conditions that were expected months ago. With harvest in sight, the rise in temperatures and lack of precipitation is putting a damper on a brilliant season, but also promises to ease harvest, even as it hints at a longer range forecast that’ll impact farmers in the U.S. and arou...

In the middle of the 2025 DTN Digital Yield Tour, the U.S. Department of Agriculture dropped a bombshell — predicting a record-breaking corn crop in the August WASDE. As the fallout continued throughout the week DTN data scientists, analysts, and reporters were keeping up with the latest data coming not from USDA but directly from the field, just as beans are starting to fill and corn enters its f...

The August WASDE dropped Aug. 12, stunning the market with a nearly 17 billion bushel corn crop prediction — shattering the previous record. The eye-popping number was helped along by a 188 bushel per acre yield estimate and an additional 2.1 million planted acres over the July figure. This news comes as a summer that was expected to be hot and dry remained persistently mild, and farmers across th...

Mud and mosquitos were plentiful on this year’s Wheat Quality Council Spring Wheat tour, which brings together dozens of industry officials to travel the highways and byways of the Northern Great Plains in order to get a boots-on-the-ground perspective on this year’s crop. After collecting yield estimates from hundreds of fields, and taking a closer look at hundreds more from the road, the results...

Despite the investment that many farmers make into crop insurance products, some policies in some parts of the country simply don’t pay out. As farmers look ahead to increasingly difficult conditions and no real prospect of improved indemnification, many are on the hunt for alternatives to conventional insurance products that are better built for unique and changing conditions in agriculture. Toda...

Agriculture news has gone mainstream in a big way recently, and few farmers are happy about it. Immigration raids on farms, especially those in California and elsewhere along the U.S.’s southern border, have been growing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials become a more and more constant presence on the road and in the field. And even farmers whose workers are hired through the H2-A p...

The July WASDE dropped Friday, July 11th, coming fast on the heels of USDA’s big June 30th update for planted acres, grain stocks, and more. Those latest figures updated the balance sheet, and when combined with the USDA’s new expectations for domestic and global demand, there were at least a few fireworks lighting up the market in the days after.  To help us drink from this firehose of recent new...