Land O'Lakes CEO Chris Policinski today said, "Our first-half results are not only driven in part by strong markets and, to a lesser degree, some one-time gains, but also reflect an ongoing commitment to effective cost control, the strength of our brands, and an intense focus on simplifying our business portfolio. Land O'Lakes CEO Chris Policinski today said, "Our first-half results are not only driven in part by strong markets and, to a lesser degree, some one-time gains, but also reflect...

The market found solid support early in the session from crop condition concerns for this week with a mostly hot and dry outlook for much of the Midwest through Tuesday/Wednesday of next week. After a correction into the mid-day, weather models took some of the rain out of the next week rain event which sparked more active buying late in the session and supported the moderately higher close. There are also some concerns for key soybean producing areas of China which added to the positive...

Farmers who sell their goods at local farmers markets, as well as those involved in the WIC (Women Infant and Children s) and Senior Farmers Market programs, were given reason to cheer late last week, as Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Carol Adams and Department of Aging Director Charles Johnson announced $1 million from the USDA for the 2007 WIC and Senior Farmers Market programs. Farmers who sell their goods at local farmers markets, as well as those involved in the WIC...

Although interior basis levels were mixed, the respective cash contracts ofcorn and soybean futures rose by 2 1/2 cents and 7 1/4 cents per bushel Monday. Linn Group analyst Nathan Smith sees weather conditions as generally benign,saying, "Expect ratings for this afternoon's USDA soybean and corn conditionsto be unchanged to slightly better. crop condition ratings are expected to post a 1-3% decline ingood/excellent ratings this afternoon," said the AgResource Company. USDA reported...

Assigning one, two, three or four stars to biofuels based on how the feedstocks used were raised and the biofuels produced might seem a bit simplistic, but Alex Farrell, director of the University of California, Berkeley, Transportation Sustainability Research Center, favors that system from among the several that have been examined. Although there are several systems and models being developed, EPM talked to researchers involved in two projects that are tackling the challenge from...