News

Senior economist with the International Grains Program at K-State, Guy Allen, gives producers an in-depth look at the commodities market on a global scale by analyzing the latest WASDE report – he specifically gives valuable details on the current world wheat market and what that means for us here in the United States. He also provides additional information on the strengthening of the U.S. dollar and the volatility of the current global freight market. 

Risk management economist Jenny Ifft and forage agronomist John Holman of K-State team up to talk about summer annual forage production and managing the risk associated with raising those forage crops: they discuss the agronomic factors at work in planting and growing forage this year, and which of those most greatly impact yield risk and go over the basics of the USDA'S Annual Forage Insurance program and how producers can use that coverage to mitigate that risk.

K-State agricultural economist Robin Reid talks about two topics related to livestock forage availability, both of which she has now highlighted on the AgManager.info web site:  the USDA's Livestock Forage Disaster Program, which provides payments to qualified livestock producers whose forage resources have been decimated by drought...and a new hay inventory calculator tool that she has put together for producers to gauge their expected cow herd forage needs and hay availability.

Three features this week on non-traditional agricultural financing, and its rising prominence in the agricultural lending field.

1) K-State risk management specialist Jenny Ifft and Purdue University agricultural economist Brady Brewer talk about the various sources of non-traditional financing and the degree to which they're claiming a greater share of the agriculture credit market.

2) Based on a series of studies recently conducted by a team of agricultural economists from several leading land-grant universities, K-State risk management specialist Jenny Ifft is joined by agricultural economists Brady Brewer of Purdue and Brian Briggeman of K-State for a look at the likely impact of current economic inflation and rising interest rates on the supply and demand for non-traditional farm loans.

3) The final segment of this week's series on the growth in non-traditional agricultural financing, based on a new report put together by a team of land-grant university agricultural economists:  this time, K-State's Jenny Ifft is joined by Bruce Ahrendsen of the University of Arkansas, as he outlines his study of how non-traditional finance relates to USDA farm loan defaults...and Will Secor of the University of Georgia shares his research on where non-traditional creditors land in the pecking order when it comes to debt repayments in Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy cases.

K-State farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl discusses his new analysis of debt trends on Kansas farms, based on over 45 years of Kansas Farm Management Association data. He compared debt-to-asset ratios over those years to the most recent ratio as an indicator of farm solvency, saying that while most farmers are in good shape right now, any major downturn in farm asset values could quickly become problematic for producers.

00:01:00 – Information on the Prevent Plant Option for Row Crops: Agricultural economist Robin Reid and crop production specialist Lucas Haag of K-State discuss considerations for taking the "prevent plant" option for row crops under crop insurance coverage because of ongoing drought: they talk about the agronomic factors to be weighed, and compare the economics of exercising this option to those of going ahead and planting the crop with the prospect of high market prices ahead.

00:12:00 – K-State Has a Spreadsheet for Running the Numbers on the Prevent Plant Option: Agricultural economist Robin Reid and crop production specialist Lucas Haag of K-State discuss a special K-State spreadsheet producers can use to work up the numbers for their specific crop production situation.

K-State farm management economist Gregg Ibendahl talks about the revision that he has made to his forecast on final Kansas net farm income for 2021, as well as his NFI projection for 2022...both have been adjusted upward because of substantial developments in the grain markets since he first forecasted those numbers back in January.

The senior economist with the IGP Institute at K-State, Guy Allen, provides his monthly update on trends in the international grain markets:  he centers his comments on China's consistent purchases of U.S corn and soybeans, and how the war on Ukraine continues to influence international wheat trade.