Fertilizer prices have been on a declining trend in recent months, yet farm costs likely will remain high this year, said University of Illinois Agricultural Economist Carl Zulauf, in a report published by the Illinois farmdoc daily. Declines in natural gas and corn prices likely led to nitrogen fertilizer price decay, Zulauf said.  However, any … Read More

The numbers suggest cow herd expansion will not be possible this year, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist, in a letter to Extension agents called Cow-Calf Corner. Drought-accelerated herd liquidation the past two years has made the beef cow herd the smallest in 61 years, Peel said.   HEIFERS DOWN   … Read More

It looks like wholesale beef prices are being supported by lower production, although lower pork production doesn’t seem to have had as much of an effect. Red meat production this year could continue to decline, and may not recover noticeably until 2024, a market analyst said.  As a result, prices could be supported for another … Read More

After a year of war, Ukraine’s corn and wheat production and exports are of broad market interest because Ukraine’s exports comprise a significant share of the global markets, said Joe Janzen, economist at the University of Illinois and Carl Zulauf, economist at the Ohio State University, in the Farmdocdaily. Overall, corn and wheat exports from … Read More

Canada’s cattle on feed Feb. 1 declined from January, following a normal trend, but the total number remains less than a year earlier, although holding at more than the 2017-2021 average. Canada’s cattle-on-feed numbers come from CanFax, a private market advisory service and only include feedlots in Alberta and Saskatchewan.  They are collected and shared … Read More

Total red meat supplies in freezers at the end of January were up about 5% from the previous month and up about 9% from last year, according to the USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Friday. Total frozen poultry supplies on Jan. 31, were up about 3% from the previous month and up about 13% from … Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted expectations of work from home for employees and employers, said Jason Brown and Colton Tousey, economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, in a report Thursday. Prior to the pandemic, only about 15% of employees over the course of a year performed any full workdays from home, Brown and … Read More