The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is predicting a 3% increase in soybean planted area for 2024, according to the agency’s annual Prospective Plantings report, which was released March 28.
Read MoreA meeting of the Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Board (LSGRPB) has been scheduled.
The purpose for our meeting will be to review nominations to the United Soybean Board (USB). The LSGRPB nominates individuals to the US Secretary of Agriculture, USDA, for appointment to serve as a Board member on the USB.
Read MoreThe Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation is working with the Louisiana Fire and Emergency Training Academy in compiling the locations of grain bin rescue tubes across the state.
Grain bin rescue tubes are specialized pieces of equipment used by first responders to help safely remove someone trapped by flowing grain inside a grain bin or other grain storage facility.
Read MoreThe WASDE’s March outlook for 2023/24 U.S. corn remains relative to last month. The season-average corn price for producers has been lowered to $4.75 per bushel based on observed prices to date.
The outlook for U.S. soybean supply and use for 2023/24 also remains unchanged for March. While soybean crush is unchanged, the soybean meal extraction rate has been bumped up slightly, and soybean meal exports are mostly higher due to lower domestic use. The U.S. season-average soybean price forecast stays unchanged at $12.65 per bushel.
Read MoreThe court ruling revoking registration for three dicamba products designed to spray over dicamba-tolerant soybeans was the “shot heard around the world” in farmer circles. Roughly a week later, many let out a sigh of relief when U.S. EPA indicated that existing stocks of Engenia, XtendiMax and Tavium could be used if certain deadlines were met.
Read MoreSelf-sustaining from an economic standpoint, leadership at the United Soybean Board works on behalf of U.S. farmers to help them prosper in an ever-competitive global marketplace.
Read MoreIf you see a Midsouth farmer wandering along the road this season, odds are his car didn’t strand him and he’s probably not headed home from the bar now that Mardi Gras has ended. More likely, he’s searching for stinkbugs – and if so, he definitely has probable cause.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking nominees for the United Soybean Board to succeed 16 members who represent Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Virginia, and one alternate member in Georgia, all with terms that expire December 2024. Individuals appointed to the board will serve three-year terms beginning in late 2024 and ending in 2027. The deadline for nominations is May 3, 2024.
Read MoreThis report contains the results from the 2023 December Agricultural and Row Crops County Agricultural Production surveys.
Read MoreVolume 14, Issue 1 of the LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Crops Newsletter includes Estimating the Redbanded Stink Bug Threat for the 2024 Soybean Growing Season, Inoculating Soybean with Bradyrhizobium japonicum for Nitrogen Fixatio, and Kicking Around DIRT and Other Irrigation Recommendations.
Read MoreQuestions have recently arisen regarding inoculating soybean for nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation is a process where soybean plants can utilize nitrogen from the air by a symbiotic relationship with Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteria and is essential for economical soybean production. The Science For Success group (A national team of soybean agronomist) published an article on the Soybean Research & Information Network website stating that nitrogen fixation can account for 40 to 70% of the nitrogen requirement for soybean.
Read MoreEarlier this month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision to vacate the label for over-the-top (OTT) use of dicamba, which will negatively impact Louisiana soybean and cotton producers.
In response to the court’s decision, Louisiana Farm Bureau President Jim Harper wrote a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, emphasizing the consequences this ruling and requesting the enactment of the Existing Stocks Use Rule for OOT dicamba.
Read MoreIn late 2022, torrential rains hammered Louisiana’s farmers, laying waste to large swaths of cotton and soybean crops, especially in the northeast. Then, last year’s historic drought stunted growth and created a whole different set of problems.
Will Ratcliff, who farms about 3,500 acres in Tensas Parish, keenly felt both events, which came on top of historically high costs for fertilizer and fuel, driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Read MoreU.S. Soy complex exports (whole soybean, soybean meal and soybean oil) added $39.8 billion[1] to the U.S. economy in marketing year (MY) 22/23 on a volume of 67.6 million metric tons (MMT). The shining star: U.S. soybean meal exports broke records for both volume and value at 13.2 MMT and $6.91 billion, respectively.
“U.S. Soy exports in marketing year 22/23 were nothing short of extraordinary. A standout achievement was the record-breaking performance of soybean meal exports, reaching unprecedented volume and value levels,” said Steve Reinhard, United Soybean Board Chair and Ohio farmer.
Read MoreLast month, I advised anticipating a record (not trend line, but a record) 2024 national average corn yield in your marketing strategy. Then, in USDA’s annual production summary, the national average corn yield increased 2.4 bu. per acre from November to a record 177.3 bu. per acre. To get to that number, USDA took 583,000 of the worst-yielding acres out of the harvested acreage tally.
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