If corn planted acres were to come in at 90 million acres instead of the projected 86 million acres, and if the crop yield were to remain on trend, the extra 4 million acres would add 612 million bushels to production. The strong demand for corn by the ethanol industry is behind some of the best corn prices farmers have seen in more than a decade. And finally, some folks have talked about the dwindling end of year corn stocks and needing greater storage to prepare for drought or other...

The administration proposes spending $5 billion over the baseline on the next farm bill, but it would still fit within its goals of reducing the federal spending, Johanns said. Many of the changes to the credit title are aimed at helping beginning farmers, Johanns said. The conservation title would put several small conservation programs into EQIP, the environmental quality incentives program, mainly to simplify the application process for farmers, Johanns said. Johanns' offer to help...

At the end of the 2007 harvest, Brazil will harvest fewer acres of soybeans than a year ago, but will bring in a larger crop. Brazil's harvested acreage is down 6 percent from a year ago, but the average yield of 41. Markus encourages crop farmers and livestock producers to pay attention to the market and make grain sales or purchase feedstuffs when prices are attractive. With good weather found in many parts of the world, supplies of corn and soybeans have increased. Many regions of...

corn and soybean production and consumption during the 2007-08 marketing year will be important benchmarks, a University of Illinois Extension marketing specialist noted that considerable uncertainty will persist for several months. soybeans, along with large unshipped sales, suggest that exports for the year might exceed the current projection of 1.08 billion bushels," said Good. Shipments averaged 42 million bushels per week through the first 33 weeks of the year and need to average 45...

Yet many ag businesses, farm groups and the federal government put a price on what you eat every day by promoting, lobbying and enacting food standards that do more to ensure their profits and your ignorance than provide public information and public safety. Keeping consumers in the dark. If you could save $1,000 on the purchase of a new car or truck because it did not have a shatterproof windshield and side glass, would you cut the deal? Of course not; the safety of you and your family is...