Pivotal Issues Blog

By Mike McGinnis Within a week, the U.S. corn and soybean harvests could be all over, according to the USDA. Meanwhile, winter wheat crops are over three-quarters emerged.As of Sunday, 91% of the U.S. corn was picked vs. a 80% five-year average. In Illinois, 95% of the crop has been harvested. The USDA rated the […]

By Bob Linneman In a typical year, the November and December USDA Supply and Demand reports do not warrant high levels of uncertainty. That is, traders have a good idea of what will be said regarding U.S production estimates up to that point. However, 2019 could easily be an exception. Traders are generally expecting to […]

By Megan Schilling “Farmland is all we do every day, all day,” says Carter Malloy, CEO of AcreTrader. Malloy founded the company in 2018 after he and a neighbor realized there was no easy way to invest in farmland online. Not only does AcreTrader fill the gap between investment capital looking for a home, it […]

By Steve Bruere As fall begins and the bustle of farmland auctions grip the Midwest, the farmland market seems to have moved toward an advantage for sellers. The year of 2020 depicts many similarities to the combination of economic factors observed in 2012 after experiencing several years of diminishing commodity prices. Strong grain prices, increased […]

By Jodi Henke Cover crops are one way to control weeds after harvest and into early spring prior to planting. The physical barrier of cover crop residue on the soil surface helps suppress weed growth by changing the soil dynamics, growing quicker than weeds, and smothering weed seedlings. Bob Hartzler is an extension weed specialist […]

By Mitch Kezar Lance Vilhauer pops open a fence gate and strides through dew-laden grass into a pasture. He checks his cows and calves as the sun crests over a slough filled with cattails and raucous ducks. He examines grazed grass stalks, rolling them through his fingers. “What really turned me onto rotational grazing was […]

By: Paula Barbour Checking the internet, Kevin Storms was surprised that no one had ever posted the type of conversion he was thinking about for his farm truck endgate. Factory-made models he found did not retain the original stake pocket look. To get what he wanted, “it was kind of engineer on the fly,” he […]

By: Jolene Brown Several years ago, my parents decided to diversify the farm operation and invested in a livestock enterprise. Since my dad had an almost full-time job away from the farm, my parents (and the banker) asked me, and I agreed, to learn to manage that part of the farm business. It’s a good […]

By: Jodi Henke Farmers are discovering the benefits of organizing their farms as a limited liability company, or LLC. It’s suitable for any size and type of farm enterprise, and offers many benefits that a sole proprietorship doesn’t have. John Schwarz is a third-generation farmer and the owner of Schwarz Law Firm in Hudson, Indiana. […]

By: Debra Prinzing What happens when an architect and a former Walt Disney imagineer start farming? If they’re Andrea and Lou Gagnon, they can’t help but make art – even in the fields. When the couple returned to the family farm to raise their children and establish a new way of life on 10 acres […]