A cold April and early rains have slowed farmers in southern Minnesota, and especially in Iowa, the heart of the nation's corn crop, where farmers had just 14 percent of the crop in the ground by Sunday, compared with 58 percent in the ground by the same time last year, according to the U. Despite farmers' corn intentions, the weather has reminded everyone that nothing in farming comes easy. A cold April and early rains have slowed farmers in southern Minnesota, and especially in Iowa, the...

They say a bumper crop could hold prices steady while yielding enough corn to meet the needs for ethanol, livestock farmers and other food production. A drought, on the other hand, could squeeze the market and send corn prices spiraling. Corn prices that hovered around two-dollars a bushel for a decade have nearly doubled in the last year due to ethanol demand. Many farmers and analysts say corn prices likely won't dip below three-dollars per bushel this year due to ethanol demand. But...

An expected corn planting rush to feed growing ethanol demand will likely spread from the Corn Belt to the land of cotton. Combined, the three states are expected to add 1.2 million acres of corn while trimming cotton production by more than a million acres. Billy Joe Ragland says high corn prices offer a chance to make a little money for a change on his long-time cotton farm in central Mississippi. But the sharpest increases are expected where cotton has been king for generations. The...

They say a bumper crop could hold prices steady while yielding enough corn to meet the needs for ethanol, livestock farmers and other food production. A drought, on the other hand, could squeeze the market and send corn prices spiraling. Corn prices that hovered around two-dollars a bushel for a decade have nearly doubled in the last year due to ethanol demand. Analysts tell the Associated Press, the combination of ethanol and weather uncertainties will make for a volatile corn market this...

Fresh ears direct from the corn patch are so much tastier and so much more appealing than corn prepared and served in any other way. If you've shopped for corn seed, it is easy to get confused by the initials on the packet or by the catalog description. In short, it is not your father's or your mother's sweet corn. If it is not possible to separate the corn by distance, stagger the planting date so that your corn tassels at least two weeks earlier or later than the other varieties. It is...