Month: April 2019

Good morning! This is Bob Bragg with the April 30^th edition of farm news and views

Last week, two class action lawsuits were filed in Federal Courts that will be of interest to both cattle producers and beef consumers.

On April 23, R-Calf USA filed suit alleging that meat packing companies Tyson, Cargill, National Beef and JBS, violated U.S. antitrust laws, the Packers and Stockyards Act, and the Commodity Exchange Act by unlawfully depressing the prices paid to American ranchers, and thereby inflating their own margins and profits. These four companies slaughter over 80% of all of the cattle raised in the U.S. This lawsuit seeks to recover the losses suffered by both cattle producers and traders who transacted live cattle futures or options contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from January 2015 to the present. read more

Good morning! This is Bob Bragg. Welcome to the April 23^rd edition of Farm News and Views

The Creighton University Rural Main Street Index, which provides indicators of economic conditions in small, rural communities, reported that the economy is expanding outside of agriculture, but in April the borrowing index climbed to 81.3. This is the highest level of farm loans since the survey was started in 2006. read more

Good Morning! This is Bob Bragg with the April 16^th edition of Farm News and Views.

Results of the 2017 USDA Agricultural Census was released on Thursday last week. The Census is gathered every five years, targeting farmers and ranchers who file a Farm Schedule F as part of their federal income Tax returns. The Census provides a broad overview of agricultural production in the U.S., which is also broken down to the state and county levels. The information in this report is often used to spot trends and to provide information for setting agricultural policies over the next five years. read more

Good morning. This is Bob Bragg with the April 2^nd Edition of Farm News and Views.

In its March Quarterly Grain Stocks Report released last Friday, the USDA reported that the U.S. soybean stocks, as of March 1^st, were 2.72 billion bushels, that’s about 600 million bushels more than a year ago. Corn stocks were 200 million bushels lower, while wheat was 100 million bushels higher than a year ago. read more

Good morning! This is Bob Bragg. Welcome to the March 26^th edition of Farm News and Views.

Flooding has been at the top of U.S. news cycle for the past couple of weeks. It’s affecting large swaths of farm land and small towns in the rural Midwest. Nebraska farmers have been especially hard hit with an estimated 1 billion dollars in losses to buildings, fences, machinery, livestock and stored crops, and that figure is expected to rise. Wide areas of Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri are also flooded. Some farmers are ferrying feed to isolated livestock in Iowa and Nebraska by boat, and volunteers from the Nebraska Air National Guard is using helicopters to air drop hay to hungry, stranded cattle. But ng to NOOA, nearly two-thirds of the Lower 48 states face an elevated risk for flooding through May, with the potential for major or moderate flooding in 25 states that could affect 200 million people. The flooding may be caused by additional spring rain and melting snow, especially in the central and southern U.S. As this excess water flows downstream through major river basins, the flood threat will become worse and geographically more widespread. read more