News, Insights & Interviews Archive

corn harvesting silos in background

As farmers wait to find out how much a new federal bridge payment could replace some of the income that they have lost from higher costs, lower market prices, and international trade complexities, they are assessing their finances for 2026. Jerry Gulke is president of the Gulke Group, an Illinois-based research and information analysis firm that provides marketing strategies for agribusinesses. Gulke has also farmed corn and soybeans for the past 40 years, but he isn’t sure t

Farmers who failed to accurately report their 2025 acreage reporting by 5 p.m. Friday, December 19, could miss out on their share of the $12 billion USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance Program. The program provides emergency help for farmers struggling with repercussions from President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imports, low commodity prices, and higher costs. Acreage reporting will help the USDA determine individual assistance for farmers. USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance Prog

Listen and subscribe on SPOTIFY | APPLE When lifelong dairy enthusiast and former IT professional Brian Burgett  began researching milk digestion, it wasn’t for a new business venture. It was for his daughter. What began as a personal mission to help her navigate dairy sensitivities has evolved into a potentially industry-shifting proposal: a new certification seal for A2 milk products, called “NonBCM7 Certified.” BCM-7 – “beta-casomorphin-7, is a peptide derived from the di

When you rely on certainty, what choice do you have but to express optimism and skepticism at the same time when it comes to China buying U.S. soybeans? China had quit buying American beans altogether in response to President Donald Trump’s global trade war, which levied some of its most powerful focus on the biggest customer of U.S. soybeans. The Trump administration this month trumpeted an agreement that China would resume soybean purchases. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Be

There has been a renewed focus on federal country-of-origin labeling for beef after President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to quadruple the amount of beef imported from Argentina, where Trump’s political ally is the president. Cattle ranchers have been incensed that Trump would allow more beef imports into the U.S. and pressure them to lower their prices. Fourteen Republicans from the U.S. House of Representatives followed the criticism by releasing an open l

An Illinois community watched more than 30,000 bushes of soybeans spilling out, workers scurrying for safety, and parts of town temporarily losing power. But it avoided serious injuries when a grain bin collapsed. The video shows the moments before the bin fell and then the eventual collapse.   The grain bin was 90 feet tall and had stood in town since 1972 until it gave way. Witnesses noticed a bulge forming in the concrete and rebar, according to WCIA-TV in Champaign ,  bef

As family farmers continue to wait for an aid package that President Donald Trump last month claimed that he could fund with tariff revenue, they now watch as the administration considers doubling its financial support for Argentina. The partial shutdown of the federal government could be slowing Trump’s $10+ billion package for U.S. farmers. But the optics of working on giving Trump’s political ally, Argentine President Javier Milei, four times that much doesn’t sit well wit

The incoming leader of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) can spend the next few weeks getting ready to lead an industry...

The Trump administration is looking at providing a $10 billion aid package from taxpayers to help farmers who are suffering from low...

America’s farmers find themselves in a similar position in 2025 as they did in 2018: parts of the federal government have temporarily...

As American soybean producers look toward a record fall harvest and wonder where future buyers will be if China continues to no longer...

Farm incomes have been falling throughout the Minneapolis Fed’s Ninth District; a trend bankers expected over the past year. Comparing...

The potential of Chinese consumers to provide the stable export market for cherry producers in America’s Northwest feels largely out of...

Adam Chappell heard his father’s warnings when he was growing up.  He should get a college degree and do something else rather than...

This year hasn’t been as trying for the “Mighty Mississippi” as the past few years, but it would be nice if it delivered more...

Leaders for two critical agricultural industries for the United States, corn and soybeans, are warning leaders in Washington, D.C. that...

When Blake Hansen describes his family’s seventh-generation Iowa dairy farm, Hansen’s Dairy , as “status quo,” he might need a “sort of”...

A development in Jacksonville, Florida, with the code name, “Project Pan,” received an overwhelming vote of support by council leaders...

There are the pressures of commodities sinking even lower, the reality that input costs seem to keep getting higher, and the uncertainty...