Farm business is managing employees, finances, inputs, as well as planting, harvesting and marketing | Corn and Soybean Digest

Being a farmer is more than just planting, harvesting and marketing your crop. There are many factors that affect the overall business of owning a farm. From finances to human resources to managing inputs, here is information to help keep your business running smoothly.

May 15, 2012

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Simple vs. Olympic Prices used in Farm Commodity Programs

When historical averages are needed, an Olympic average often is used rather than a simple average in calculating benchmarks in farm bill commodity programs. For example, the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program that was passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee uses Olympic averages of prices and yields in calculating benchmark revenue. In this post, Olympic averages are compared to simple averages for corn and soybean prices. Generally, Olympic and simple averages will track one over time. The relationship of Olympic to simple averages depends on the nature of distributions across time.
May 15, 2012

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The Rule of Ten

The lead-in to this topic came from a farmer who had heard me speak about the Rule of 10 a number of years ago, and had experienced it in his own business. The gentleman is over 50, and has operated the farm for more than 30 years. Let’s explain the rule....More
May 15, 2012

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3 Things to Watch After May USDA Reports: Corn Yield, Soybean Acreage, Corn Feed/Residual Use

USDA reports frequently move markets and last week’s first supply/demand for the 2012 grain and oilseed crops was no exception. The day of the report, July corn closed down 20¢/bu. and cotton down 4¢/lb., while July beans closed 25¢/bu. higher and wheat 1¢ higher. Despite the immediate market reaction to the numbers, some aspects of the reports are debatable. Here are a few numbers Brock analysts expect to change....More
May 15, 2012

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U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Goes Into Effect May 15

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the following statement about the U.S-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, or Colombia TPA, which enters into force today."Beginning today, U.S. agricultural exporters receive duty-free access on more than half of the products we currently export to Colombia, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years."...More
May 14, 2012

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Corn Market Direction Unfolding; Magnitude Still Uncertain

The USDA’s projections of U.S. and world corn and feed grain supply-and-demand conditions presented in the May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report set the benchmark by which the corn market will judge unfolding events. According to Darrel Good, a University of Illinois agricultural economist, those events are continually unfolding, with some of the more important ones to be revealed this summer....More
May 11, 2012

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Markets Plead for Soybeans; Farmers Have Time to Respond

Much has happened since early March that could sway farmers to take advantage of an increasing market for soybeans and plant more of the crop – a change that could help improve projections of decades-low supplies, says Chris Hurt, a Purdue University Extension agricultural economist....More
May 2, 2012

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Nation's 100 Largest Ag Co-ops Post Near-Record Sales, Margins

The nation's 100 largest agriculture cooperatives reported near-record revenue of $118 billion in 2010, USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Dallas Tonsager has announced. This was an increase of 4% over 2009 figures. Net income for the 100 top agriculture co-ops was also up more than 10% in 2010, reaching $2.39 billion, up from $2.16 billion in 2009....More
May 1, 2012

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Perspectives From Canada

My road warrior travels recently took me north of the border to Canada. It is amazing how many Americans know so little about our biggest ally to the North. I laugh when U.S. weather maps stop at the U.S./Canadian border like Canada does not exist. The 10 Percent Rule applies to Canada as compared to the U.S.: the Canadian population is 10% of the U.S. population; the Canadian economy is 10% of the U.S. economy; and farm and ranch numbers and agriculture are about 10% of U.S. agriculture....More
Apr. 30, 2012

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Corn and Soybean Digest

Think Like a Grower: Syngenta's Integrated Approach

Syngenta has unveiled a new strategy to "think like a grower," as part of a new integrated approach to doing business with farmers. By thinking like farmers, the company will be better able to develop integrated solutions to address growers' needs....More
Apr. 24, 2012

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2012 Custom Farming Agreements

An alternative to leasing farmland is a custom farming agreement (CFA). In a typical CFA, the custom operator agrees to perform all the machine operations on the owner’s land in exchange for a set fee or rate. The landowner pays for all seed, fertilizer, chemicals, crop insurance and other input costs; receives the all grain produced and all eligible farm program payments on the land; and is responsible to store and market the grain....More