For many of us, the new year is a time to reflect on the year (or decade) behind us and consider what may lie ahead of us. What will 2020 have in store? Well, that is a daunting – if not impossible – question to answer in January. However, that doesn’t mean we are completely helpless in thinking […]
Craft breweries aren’t just a fun place to meet up with friends. They may be fueling an unprecedented geographic expansion of hop production across the U.S., according to researchers at Penn State and The University of Toledo. Their findings suggest that as more craft breweries emerge around the country, so may new opportunities for farmers. […]
Phase-One Trade Deal Set for January 15th Wall Street Journal writers Bob Davis, Andrew Restuccia and Lingling Wei reported on Tuesday that, “President Trump said he would sign the recently negotiated phase-one trade deal with China in Washington on Jan. 15—marking a formal truce in the U.S-China trade war—and would later travel to Beijing to negotiate a broader pact. “The […]
This is a presentation summary from the 2019 Illinois Farm Economics Summit (IFES) which occurred December 16-20, 2019. A complete collection of presentations including PowerPoint Slides (PPT) and printable summaries (PDF) are available here. In 2019, much of the Illinois corn crop was planted in June, with many acres planted after final planting dates for crop […]
With the Christmas holiday just days away, this week’s post shares three facts about U.S. Christmas tree production. 1) Fewer Christmas Trees Harvested Figure 1 shows a trend of fewer Christmas trees being harvested in the U.S. Specifically, recent Censuses of Agriculture show that roughly 15 million Christmas trees were harvested in 2017, down from […]
After the U.S. and China reached an initial trade deal earlier this month, doubts began to emerge about the potential for China to quickly increase demand of U.S. farm goods to the $40-$50 billion annual range envisioned in the agreement. “Newsletter: Does China Really Need $50B in U.S. Farm Goods?” by Jeffrey Sparshott. The Wall Street Journal Online (December […]
Background Earlier this month, Reuters writers Stephanie Kelly and Jarrett Renshaw reported that, “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler told a biofuels company on [December 5th] that the agency is working to address industry concerns over biofuel blending rules that have sparked outrage across the Farm Belt, according to a source familiar with the matter. “Biofuel producers and representatives of […]
Recent announcements on the completion of a phase one trade deal show promise for stronger corn prices in 2020 despite limited details on the actual outlines of the agreement. While we wait on the information associated with the trade agreement, a series of reports come out on January 10 that provides an indication of the […]
With 2019 coming to an end, it’s time to reflect on the biggest stories in agriculture. It’s been a year full of uncertainty and never-ending breaking news, but here is our list of the year’s biggest ag stories. It’s a little hard to find a place to start, but we will begin with what we […]
Don Lee and Alice Su reported in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times that, “The United States and China reached a preliminary trade agreement that includes the rollback of some tariffs on Chinese imports and a commitment by Beijing to make a substantial increase in purchases of American farm goods and other products and services. “A final settlement on the so-called […]