News

The director of the Arthur Capper Cooperative Center at K-State, Brian Briggeman, talks about the contribution of farmer cooperatives to the Kansas economy...that's the subject a new study conducted by the center which illustrates the economic importance of cooperatives to local and regional economies in the state.

K-State agricultural economists Terry Griffin and Gregg Ibendahl talk about their economic analysis which is identifying the most profitable farms in Kansas and the reasons why they excel financially. They are using Kansas Farm Management Association data for this and will be posting a series of weekly reports on their findings this spring.

K-State agricultural economist Mykel Taylor talks about what farmers can do to maintain a mutually-beneficial working relationship with landlords:  she urges producers to treat their landlords as partners in their operations, and to fully inform them of what's being done on their land.

The executive director of the Kansas Farm Management Association, K-State's Kevin Herbel, offers his assessment of the economic state of production agriculture in Kansas currently, and offers a checklist of what producers can do to improve their financial management in 2019:  setting achievable goals; keeping an organized set of financial records; and managing debt structure. He also details the benefits of conducting an enterprise analysis and projecting the financial returns to each enterprise; using economic benchmarks for a comparative analysis of an operation; and preparing a cash flow for the farm or ranch, as well as looks at the family expenses on a farm, including health care and insurance. 

K-State agricultural economist Mykel Taylor announces that the new 2019 Kansas County-Level Cash Rents for Non-Irrigated Cropland report has just been released by K-State...it identifies the average cash lease rate for dryland crop ground county-by-county, as a baseline from which farmers and their landlords can negotiate leasing arrangements for this next cropping season.

The director of the Arthur Capper Cooperative Center at K-State, Brian Briggeman, and the associate director of the Kansas Farm Management Association at K-State, Mark Dikeman, talk about a late-breaking development that grain farmers and cooperatives should know about...it could have a one-time impact on a farmer's ability to claim a section 199A tax deduction on grain sales.

K-State agricultural economist Art Barnaby reports on K-State's preliminary evaluation of the price-support and risk-management features of the new farm bill:  he looks at making the choice between the ARC and PLC program options, and talks about subtle changes to the crop insurance program. There is also discussion with Art, who reflects on what he considers the most significant developments in federal farm "safety net" provisions and crop insurance over his 39-year career at K-State, as he is retiring at the end of this month.

K-State agricultural economist Jesse Tack talks about his latest study of the adoption of genetically-modified corn over the last three decades, and how that technology has helped producers contend with changes in climatic patterns over that time...his work says that genetically-engineered corn has contributed favorably toward that end.