2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour: Minnesota

Jul 13, 2015

Ninth state in a 12-state tour

The 4^th annual Farms.com US Corn Belt Crop Tour continues to make its way through the American Midwest, visiting some of the heavy hitters in agriculture in the United States.

Led by Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino, the team started the tour in Ohio and made their way through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

The ninth state visited during the 12-state tour is Minnesota; a state that ranks in the top 10 of corn, soybean and wheat production in the United States.

Minnesota

Throughout the tour, many of the farmers in the other eight states have battled excessive moisture. Minnesota seems to be in a little better condition than the others.

“I’m not seeing the standing water or moisture issues that we’ve been accustomed to on the tour,” Agostino said while standing near a wheat field on his way to Rochester, Minnesota.

Agostino said the soybeans in Minnesota are the best he’s seen during his tour.

The farmer responsible for those beans gives Mother Nature some of the credit for his field’s success.

“Since May 1^st we’ve had ideal rains. It’s been perfect,” said Kevin Vetter from St. Peter, Minnesota. “We’ve had half-inch rains every three to four days and we’ve been pretty lucky right now. Our biggest rainfall was probably two inches at one time.”

Continue to follow the 2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour as it makes its way into Iowa. Follow the tour on Twitter using the hashtag #CornBelt15.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.