Jenny Ifft

K-State grain economist, Daniel O'Brien, starts off today's show as he discusses the upcoming WASDE report expectations and how exports have been for corn, grain sorghum, soybeans and wheat. The show continues with K-State's Robin Reid and Jenny Ifft as the pair explain ARC and PLC options for producers and what they recommend they look into before making their decision for the 2026 program decision.

These forecasts are provided as one source of information for ARC/PLC decisions. Please consult the documentation before using these forecasts. Sharing them does not constitute an AgManager endorsement of their accuracy or a recommendation to select either program. Actual yields may differ substantially from forecasts in individual counties, even when forecasts perform well overall. RMA and FSA yield sources and methods may also change from year to year. Producers should consider a range of yield and price scenarios before making their ARC/PLC election.

Wheat Yield Dashboard

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In this episode of Smoke & Mirrors, Jennifer Ifft talks with Ali Hill, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, to make sense of one of agriculture's most complex issues: the farm workforce. Drawing on her work with growers and farm workers in California, Ali discusses how data gaps make it difficult to establish even basic facts about the farm workforce, the growing role of farm labor contractors in meeting seasonal workforce needs, and how employers are hard pressed to keep up with changing labor regulations as minimum wages and compliance costs rise. She also discusses the ambiguous impact of overtime protections on earnings, as some farm workers could end up with fewer hours and smaller paychecks when employers cut hours to avoid overtime costs. She addresses the challenges of finding affordable housing for farm workers and what automation can realistically do to address labor shortages.