Latest News From Farm Economy

What will the next decade hold for your farm? What factors should you use to weigh investments or crop planning?  Here are five trends and data sets to ponder from USDA's latest Agricultural Baseline Projections.

For 15 straight months, the rural economy has posted healthy and consistent growth.

For 14 straight months, the rural economy has posted healthy and consistent growth.

While some producers near the Elkhorn River in Scribner Nebraska are in the process of cleaning up. AgDay Betsy Jibben heads to Scribner, Nebraska. She talks with Aaron Lange and Angie Lange.

Cargill Goes Tech With Plan to Nurture New Wave of Food Startups

Could dinner talk help bust through a NAFTA impasse?

Billions in breaks for energy sought in ‘tax extenders’ bill.

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JBS Says It's Done With Asset Sales as Earnings Boost Outlook

U.S. Is Said to Propose Freezing Mexican Trucks Out of New Nafta

China's largest online retailer to buy Montana beef

What should have been good news for the grain and oilseed markets ended up having the opposite effect as we ended the week down, sharply down some cases says Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group. 

The United States’ number one beef importer for value and volume is hiking its tariffs on U.S. beef products.

Commodities dropped 40-60% in value the past few years. How much longer will the slide continue? 

The farm economy has been struggling for a while now, especially with weak cattle prices and disease issues in wheat. 

Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. meat processor, had its stock rating raised by an analyst at CLSA who said a class-action complaint alleging price collusion among chicken producers was "baseless" and that investors should buy the company’s stock on strong pork and beef margins.

It’s been a stressful time for cattle producers trying to keep their heads above water in the last several month’s volatile market conditions.

Bankers said deal of this size usually would be syndicated.

The seedstock industry is starting to feel the pressure of low cattle markets. 

Cattle prices continue to plummet, falling below the dollar mark on Tuesday.

Saudi Cash Is a Bonanza for Once-Distressed Beef Bonds in Brazil

Analyst warns that U.S. restaurants are heading into recession.

China National Chemical Corp. and New Hope Group Co. are among companies considering bids for McDonald’s Corp. operations in the world’s most populous nation, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Despite meager GDP growth and a higher inflation rate, consumers appeared to be more optimistic about their financial situation. 

Concerns about livestock prices took some air out of the Purdue/CME Ag Economy Barometer, pushing the new index down to 97 in May from April’s 106.

Group plans to structure new deal to win government approval.

One of the Chinese bidders for Australia’s most iconic cattle company is joining forces with a local investment group as it seeks government approval for a foreign takeover.

Cattle prices have dropped more than 32% during the last 16 months, but beef prices haven’t seen the same dramatic decline.

The price for uncooked beef steaks has come down recently, helping earnings at restaurant chains such as Texas Roadhouse Inc.

Restaurant Brands International Inc., the owner of Burger King and Tim Hortons, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ projections after new menu items helped sales at the burger chain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast that farmers will face a drop in profit for the third straight year as persistent surpluses depress crop and livestock prices.

Australian beef exports to China grow six-fold in three years.

Shares of JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, plunged to a 15-month low after Brazil’s public prosecutor accused executives including Chairman Joesley Batista of financial crimes involving a series of loans made to related companies.

The rapid drop in cattle futures has cattle organizations concerned about the instability of beef trade.

The beef export market was down overall this past year after a strong dollar had countries looking to trade elsewhere. The strong dollar brought a flood of cheaper beef into the U.S., too.

Cattle futures have taken another turn over the past two weeks as prices have drifted lower, correcting the big December 17-24 advance.

JBS SA, the world’s largest beef producer, fell the most since 2009 after a report that former shareholder Grupo Bertin is involved in Brazil’s largest ever corruption scandal.

If our nation's consumers can limp along and hold this bedraggled economy to its walker, beef should have a chance to make that decent recovery.

Saudi Arabia agreed to take a 20 percent stake in Minerva SA in a transaction that will raise as much as 1.56 billion reais ($390 million) for one of Brazil’s largest beef producers and help it gain better access to markets in the Middle East.

One of Australia’s most iconic cattle companies, with ranches that span an area more than twice the size of Switzerland, is being broken up to clear the way for a foreign takeover,

The World Trade Organization ruled Monday that Canada and Mexico can slap more than $1 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods in retaliation for meat labeling rules it says discriminated against Mexican and Canadian livestock.

Today, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) arbitration panel announced its final ruling that the United States’ Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements for livestock and meat imports have cost our trading partners over $1 billion dollars.

Coming off a period of record cash receipts that boosted rural Kentucky, farmers are facing downward trends caused by lower commodity prices, sluggish exports and large stockpiles that are sowing declines in farm income, agricultural economists said Thursday.

Canadians may soon pay less at the supermarket for steak.

JBS SA’s third-quarter profit more than tripled as a currency slump in the Brazil real boosted revenues at the world’s largest meat producer.

China's building up their beef industry with cattle flown in from Australia.

Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. meat producer, dropped the most in more than two months after JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded its rating on the stock and the World Health Organization said eating processed meat is a cancer hazard.

August beef exports totaled 185.5 million pounds, down 18 percent from a year ago.

Herd rebuilding limits exports, but will pay off in years to come.

As tobacco demand continues to fall, beef production has become more important to the Bluegrass State.