News

Livestock economist Lee Schulz of Iowa State University is featured on this week's cattle market segment... in addition to reviewing last week's market trends, he talks about the new CME boxed beef index, which was launched just a few weeks ago: what it is and how it can be a useful indicator of market direction for cattle producers.

K-State agricultural economists Beth Yeager and Terry Griffin share highlights from a presentation they've prepared for an upcoming symposium being hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in May:  they've pulled together information on how agricultural technology and the use of data will affect agricultural productivity growth in the future, based on their extensive research on technology adoption trends on the part of producers.

K-State agricultural economist Brian Briggeman offers his take on what's happening with the general economy at present, and the signals that agricultural producers should follow...in particular, he looks at the Federal Reserve Board's decision this week to keep interest rates at current levels, and at the potential for inflation in the economy and what that would mean for the agricultural sector.

K-State farm economist Robin Reid talks about the circumstances that might lead crop producers to make last-minute changes in their ARC/PLC selection for 2021 crops. She points to the concerns about the state of the winter wheat crop, as well as worries about a dry growing season for row crops, as the catalyst for possibly reconsidering one's ARC/PLC election, and she goes over what the numbers say about which is more beneficial.

K-State agricultural policy specialist Jenny Ifft talks about new tools from K-State that will help crop producers assess the two relatively new coverage options they can consider for the 2021 production year:  the supplemental coverage option and the enhanced coverage option...these tools provide useful information as the deadline for enrolling is coming up soon.

K-State farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl shares his just-released projections on fertilizer prices for the 2021 crop production year...he uses an economic model he developed a couple of years ago, based on the direction of corn and oil prices, that he says are better predictors of fertilizer prices than natural gas prices.

K-State farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl discusses his just-released early projections on net farm income in Kansas for 2021, based on Kansas Farm Management Association data...within that, he talks about the outlooks on yields, prices, production expenses and government payments he used to come up with this income forecast.

The director of the Arthur Capper Cooperative Center at K-State, Brian Briggeman, talks about trends in farmer cooperative grain storage in Kansas, based on a new survey of cooperative managers...it indicates the degree of cooperative consolidation in the state over the past few years, and the simultaneous growth in grain storage capacity...he talks about the factors behind those trends.