2026 Breakout Sessions
SCHEDULE
1. Government Payments for Row Crops in 2026
Robin Reid
Government support payments have played a significant role in the financial performance of Kansas row-crop farms in recent years. This session will examine the contribution of ad hoc assistance programs (including ECAP, FBA, and SDRP) to farm income and present projections for Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments that will be received in October 2026, for the 2025 crop year. These farm program payments are the first to be received under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enhancements to the programs. Base acre changes and election of ARC or PLC for the 2026 crop will also be discussed.
2. Predicting SCO and ECO Crop Insurance Payouts using Preliminary County-Level Loss Data
Anup Paudel, Jenny Ifft
Coming soon...
3. The New Economics of Farm Risk: Specialization, Scale, and Stability
Joe Parcell, Weston Guetterman
Historically, diversification has been viewed as a key strategy for reducing farm financial risk and stabilizing year-to-year variability in net farm income. However, since the mid-1990s, consolidation spurred by enterprise specialization has been a defining trend for the U.S. farm sector. This raises an important question. To what degree has specialization overtaken diversification as a means of risk reduction? Using Kansas Farm Management Association data from 1973 to 2024 and comparing farms relative to their neighbors, we examine the role that specialization, size, government programs, etc. have played in changing financial risk, financial efficiency, and profitability.
4. Macroeconomic Update
Brian Briggeman
As of June, 2026, the macroeconomy has been resilient in the face of uncertainty. Labor markets are holding. Consumption continues to grow at a modest pace despite persistent inflation pushing up prices. Taken together, the US economy continues to grow at a reasonable pace. However, US consumer sentiment is at an all time low and personal debt figures continue to grow. In addition, the Federal Reserve continues the internal debate of should interest rates increase, decrease or hold steady. So the question remains, where will interest rates go? What are the implications for US agriculture and rural America? How should farmers and agribusinesses respond? In this talk, Brian Briggeman will have a discussion on these topics and questions with those in attendance.
5. Agricultural Finance Update
Allen Featherstone
Coming soon...
6. Crop Enterprise Profitability
Mark Dikeman
For KFMA farms, 2025 was a profitable year due in a large part to high levels of government payments and strong livestock revenue. However, few crop enterprises showed an economic profit despite above average crop yields through much of the state. This session will review 2025 data from KFMA, with a focus on major crop enterprises in the state. In addition, we will use 2025 data, combined with audience participation/estimation, to project crop enterprise profitability for 2026.
7. Fertilizer and Diesel Prices, The Crude Story
Gregg Ibendahl
Coming soon...
8. Current Trends of Black Sea Grain and Oilseed Markets
Antonina Broyaka
Coming soon...
9. 2026/2027 World Grain Market Outlook
Guy Allen, Daniel O'Brien
Coming soon...
10. 2026/2027 North American Energy and Bioenergy Market Policies and Trends
Daniel O'Brien, Gregg Ibendahl, Frayne Olson, David Riplinger
Coming soon...
11. Spatial Heterogeneity in Corn–Soybean Planting Decisions and Price Responses
Margaret Lippsmeyer, Jenny Ifft
Corn–soybean rotations dominate much of the U.S. Midwest, with planting decisions influenced by agronomic constraints, local production conditions, and expected relative prices. Extension recommendations often rely on a soybean-to-corn price ratio threshold of 2.5 to predict switching between crops, implicitly assuming uniform production environments and planting responses. This study evaluates that assumption by integrating USDA Crop Sequence Boundary data (2018–2025) with futures prices, climate data, soil quality measures, input costs, and ARC-CO revenue guarantees. We estimate county level planting probabilities, acreage responses, and crop supply elasticities as functions of prices, previous crop choices, local production conditions, and policy incentives. We then simulate county specific soybean-to-corn price ratio thresholds required to induce deviations from a 50/50 corn–soybean split. Results reveal spatial heterogeneity in planting responses and switching thresholds, suggesting that a uniform price ratio rule may mischaracterize regional production decisions and mislead planting recommendations.
12. Market Concentration, Supply Chain Resilience, and Producer Welfare: Lessons from the U.S. Ethanol Processing Industry
Yixin Tian, Aleksan Shanoyan
Coming soon...
13. Long Term Care Planning Considerations for Farmers and Ranchers
Ashlee Westerhold
This session will help farmers and ranchers understand the realities of long-term care costs, available care options, and strategies for funding future care needs. Participants will learn how long-term care planning intersects with estate planning, farm succession, and asset protection, while exploring tools such as insurance, trusts, and Medicaid planning. Attendees will leave with practical steps to help protect their operation, reduce family stress, and preserve their farm or ranch for future generations.
14. General Tax Updates and Trump Accounts
Kellen Liebsch, Chelsea Plummer
Coming soon...
15. The 1980s Farm Crisis and Off-farm Labor Allocation
Wyatt Pracht, Jenny Ifft, Jisang Yu
Coming soon...
16. Investment Analysis on Rented Ground
Megan Hughes
Coming soon...
17. Farmland Value Effects of CRP Enrollment
Eugene Oku, Gabe Sampson
Farmland accounts for over 80% of farm sector assets and is critical for farm profitability, land tenure decisions, and rural development. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the largest U.S. land retirement program, pays farmers fixed rental payments to retire land from production and implement conservation practices. Despite its scale and budget, the effects of CRP enrollment on farmland values are not well understood. We combine transaction-level sales data for all Kansas farmland from 2010 to 2024 with geospatial CRP contract data to estimate how enrollment affects land prices. We find that CRP participation reduces land values: a fully enrolled parcel experiences a 27% discount, each additional year under contract lowers values by $14 per acre, and each additional dollar of rental rate increases values by $2 per acre. Across the 91,000 acres of CRP-enrolled land in our sample, we estimate an aggregate land market discount of $45 million. These acres are also estimated to sequester roughly 685,000 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.
18. Farm Household Spending and Responses to Farm Stress
Megan Hughes, Brady Brewer
Coming soon...
19. Grazing Management Plans and Their Economic Effect on Kansas Cow-Calf Producers
Kylie Bedel, Dustin Pendell, Phillip Lancaster
In 2023, the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef announced an industry goal of putting 385 million acres of grazing lands into grazing management plans (GMPs). These GMPs accumulate producers’ operational goals and objectives, resource and forage inventories, and monitor contingency plans for their grazing land and cattle operation. This presentation looks at how GMPs and different grazing patterns affect Kansas cow-calf operations and their costs, profitability, and productivity of their animals.
20. LRP Usage: What Coverage Is Being Used and Where?
Jioh Park, Brian Coffey
Coming soon...
21. Valuing Groundwater Across Irrigation and Livestock Systems
Micah Cameron-Harp, Hannah Parker
Coming soon...
22. Flexible Water Rights
Micah Cameron-Harp
Coming soon...
23. Using OpenET to Determine the Impact of Groundwater Conservation
Bill Golden
The Ogallala Aquifer in Kansas is experiencing significant impacts from declining aquifer thickness. To stem declines and approach aquifer sustainability, producers must transition to reduced groundwater withdrawal and enhanced system-level water use efficiency. The Sheridan #6 LEMA is an example of an area that has restricted groundwater use. Data obtained from OpenET will be used to determine the impact on corn yield and producer risk.
24. AgriBot: Improving Farmer Access to Extension Publications Through AI-Assisted Summaries
Chandan Bhattarai, Nirmal Gelal, Pravesh Niraula, Aastha Gautam, Romulo Lollato, Hande McGinty, Jesse Tack
Coming soon...
25. Solar Opportunities in Rural Kansas: Siting on Marginal Agricultural Land, Community Solar Projects, and Support for Solar in Rural Communities
Eliyasu Osman, Jason Bergtold, David Wesseler, Pedro Dan Edamatu Carvalho, Marcellus Caldas
Coming soon...
26. Measuring the Resilience of Kansas Farms to Environmental and Policy Shocks
Gifty Ayela, Jesse Tack
This project aims to use the KFMA data to study how farms cope with challenges such as droughts, extreme weather, market volatility, and policy changes. The goal is to identify the financial and management practices that help farms remain profitable during difficult periods and recover more quickly afterward. The findings can help farmers evaluate their own operations, improve risk management decisions, and identify strategies that support long-term business success.
