How are the crops growing in the Midwestern United States?

Jun 07, 2016

Have your corn and soybean fields featured in a 2016 Farms.com Risk Management Crop Tour video!

Every growing season brings its own set of challenges. Will corn prices go up or down this year? How is the weather impacting yields? Did farmers get all of their acres planted and did some farmers switch some corn acres back to soybean after the recent spike in soybean prices? How will the weather, the yields, and other factors, such as disease or fertilizer and nitrogen needs and prices, impact the price of corn and soybeans this year?

For the fifth consecutive year, the team at Farms.com Risk Management will visit 12 states in 17 days to attempt to answer these questions with first-hand knowledge, so that farmers can get a better understanding of crop growth and the potential for commodity prices.

Farms.com Risk Management’s Moe Agostino, Chief Commodity Strategist, will visit U.S. Midwestern states with a high concentration of corn and soybeans; states such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, to assess farm fields to forecast grain prices. The Farms.com Risk Management 2016 5th Annual U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour will take place June 25 to July 11, 2016.

The information gathered on the tour allows the Farms.com Risk Management team to anticipate the size of the corn and soybean crops early in the growing season, so that they can give farmers better insight into where prices are heading over the next several months. This information can help farmers determine if they should book corn and soybean prices early, or wait until later in the growing season.

“When to book the price of their crop is a decision that can impact a farmer’s bottom line by tens of thousands of dollars,” says Agostino. “So it is critical for farmers to gather as much information as they can. We conduct this fact finding tour on behalf of farmers every year.”

This year, the Risk Management Team is inviting farmers to volunteer to have their corn and soybean fields be part of the crop tour. If you would like to volunteer to have your farm included on the 5th Annual U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour, simply complete the online form at: riskmanagement.farms.com/tourvolunteer. By applying, you may also be selected to be in one of the daily Corn Belt Crop Tour videos.

The 2016 5th Annual U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour sponsors include Penta Equipment, Pride Seeds, and of course, Farms.com. For more information on the 2016 U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour, visit riskmanagement.farms.com/tour. Follow the tour on Twitter by using #cornbelt16, or download the US Corn Belt Crop Tour from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Video: What Does 20 MILLION Hogs a Year Look Like?

?? The Multi-Plant System Processing 20 Million Hogs Annually in the Midwest JBS USA operates multiple large-scale pork processing facilities across the Midwest, including major plants in Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. Combined, these facilities have the capacity to process approximately 20 million hogs annually.

Each plant operates high-speed automated slaughter systems capable of processing up to 20,000 head per day, followed by fabrication lines that break carcasses into primals, sub-primals, and case-ready retail products.

Hog procurement is coordinated through electronic marketing platforms that connect regional contract finishing operations and independent producers to plant demand schedules. This digital procurement system allows for steady supply flow and scheduling efficiency across multiple facilities.

Processing plants incorporate comprehensive food safety systems, including pathogen intervention technologies, rapid chilling processes, and integrated cold-chain management. USDA inspection is embedded throughout the harvest and fabrication stages to ensure regulatory compliance and product integrity. Finished pork products — from bulk primals to retail-ready packaged cuts — are distributed through coordinated logistics networks serving domestic and export markets.