Wheat

Harvest is in full swing for Mark Seib, a grain farmer from Posey County in the southwestern corner of Indiana.

Corn harvest started on the Rahn farm at the middle of September, which is typical for them.

Kyle Schminke deep tills all his farm ground. However, it is not done with a tractor and tillage equipment.

The Illinois Wheat Association Checkoff Committee is circulating petitions for a wheat checkoff program in the state. The proposal calls for a 1.5 cent checkoff per bushel of wheat sold.

While most farmers’ planters have been cleaned and put away and their focus is now on harvest, Eric Miller’s planter — along with his combine, grain cart and tractors — is ready to go.

As American grocery buyers await a verdict on Kroger’s two-year-old bid to buy Albertsons, the European Commission took just 35 days to give its blessing to the merger between two of the world’s largest grain merchandisers.

Rain at the end of August was good timing for the double-crop soybeans growing in northern Illinois.

New survey-based production estimates, slight downward tweaks in old crop ending stocks and no changes on the corn and soybean demand side were of note on the USDA’s supply and demand estimates report.

After waiting, not so patiently, for the corn to mature, we finally had a field last week get mature enough to start chopping. Now we will race to stay ahead of the corn getting too mature.

A bottle of Windex led Jessica Rutkoski from a high school in rural Wisconsin to working on crop research and improvement around the globe and back to Midwest wheat fields.

Wheat is strategically planted on the Rahn farm to provide opportunities for manure applications and tiling projects.

Rain makes grain, and two mid-August Department of Agriculture reports offered this year’s first in-the-field look at just how much corn, soybeans and wheat American farmers will grow this wet, grain-making year.

A Natural Resources Conservation Service display brought the field to the Illinois State Fair. The tabletop display demonstrated the interaction between water and soils with different characteristics and management practices.

The first survey-based crop forecasts for this growing season estimated record average yields nationwide and in the “I” states for corn and soybeans.

The season-average farm price projection continued edging downward as production out-paces demand, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Berkeley Boehne harvested an excellent wheat crop in July and his corn and soybean crops also look good at the start of August.

Headwinds hit the soybean market, pulling prices below the $10 mark to a four-year low, driven by abundant supply and relatively low demand reflected in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reports.

Summer is in full swing on Clay Geyer’s home fields, where he’s on the lookout for — and has already found — some plant diseases and weeds.

To gain a better perspective in the current November and December futures price volatility, a soybean trade specialist noted historic parallels in the past 20 years, buyer opportunities and demand potentials.

With planting and harvest completed on his farm for now, Eric Miller has plenty to do as the middle of summer arrives.

It seems like it’s forgotten to rain in the month of June for the last few years. It was great weather for wheat harvest. It was about as easy as a wheat harvest can get because the weather was so warm and dry.

Agricultural conditions varied in tandem with sporadic droughts across the Federal Reserve districts, but concerns over crop price declines were common in all corners of the Corn Belt.

Wet and hot conditions in northern Illinois are impacting crop growth, as well as providing an opportunity for increased disease pressure this year.

A wheat-double-crop-soybean combination is a common practice in some areas of Illinois, particularly in the southern part of the state, but it can present production challenges.

American Farmland Trust and ADM are launching the next season of a program that supports Illinois farmers and the environment.

An unexpected reduction in old crop corn stocks thanks to increased demand surprised the market when the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report.

Updated data from the recent planted acreage and grain stocks reports were plugged into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new crop supply and demand balance sheets.

Illinois and Indiana statewide average winter wheat yield estimates were each bumped up by a bushel from last month in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop production report.

Berkeley Boehne and his brother, Vaughn, raise corn, soybeans and wheat on their DeKalb County farm, where they also feed pigs and operate a custom manure application business.

In another hit to U.S. farmers already dealing with low grain prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service grain stocks report held no good news.

Corn and the farmers who grow it weren’t having a good day. Two U.S. Department of Agriculture reports both brought negative news for corn supplies and corn prices.

Clay Geyer, former From the Fields columnist, is back this year to share updates from his farm in northern Indiana.

The Stars Over Illinois announcement of the top four FFA members in the state was just one of numerous highlights of the 96th Illinois FFA State Convention held in the state’s capital city.

Only small changes were made in the primary crop balance sheets released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Projected winter wheat production was lowered in Illinois and Indiana’s was increased compared to last month in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop production report.

In the southwest toe of Indiana, 25 miles north of the Ohio River and 12 miles east of the Wabash, the Seib family farm continues its legacy.

My last article had just been sent off when I got word that my good friend, Jamie Willrett, had left suddenly to be with the Lord. This tragic news shook me and the rest of the cattle industry as we all lost a trusted friend and leader.

The extensive KWS Cereals wheat breeding program was featured during its open house.

The company that’s bringing a new rye cover crop to market this year has a long history of developing top genetics through its research and breeding programs.

Eric Miller grows more than corn, full-season and double-crop soybeans and wheat on his Piatt County farm.

We are having flashbacks to 2019 in our immediate area. We have a weather station out here and we had about 6.25 inches of rain in April.

Exceptional projects of FFA members from across the state will be highlighted during the 96th annual Illinois FFA State Convention, set for June 11-13.

The Illinois winter wheat crop may not top the 2023 record average state yield — but it won’t be far from that, as the recent Illinois Wheat Association yield tour showed.

We in agriculture have a long tradition of marketing our bounty by more pleasant, if not less-than-truthful, names in hopes that less-informed eaters buy the sizzle rather than the fact.

Agricultural reports across Federal Reserve Districts in the Corn Belt were mixed, as drought conditions eased in some districts, but farm finances and incomes remained a concern.

For the second year in a row, Indiana landowners set a record number of conservation practices to maintain soil health, according to the Indiana Conservation Partnership.

Slightly bullish corn numbers and somewhat bearish soybean data were featured in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand estimates report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided a first look at the new crop balance sheets in its domestic and global supply and demand estimates report.

The first objective yield and farmer survey of the winter wheat growing season projects U.S. production of 1.28 billion bushels, up 2% from 2023.

The farm-to-port export chain from Illinois to Oregon and beyond was the focus of a recent tour for 12 South Koreans hosted by Kansas State University’s International Grains Program.