Many midwestern states, like Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, etc., are reliant upon infrastructure to move agricultural and agricultural related commodities to markets. There are thousands of miles of state highways and paved county highways that are integral to the farm and grain handling facilities.
What do rope, shoes, plastics, food and beverages, animal feed, auto parts, fuel, sails, textiles, paper, canvas, building supplies, body lotions and salves have in common? They can all be made with the fiber, seeds or oil of hemp.
Through Decision Innovation Solutions, I provide consulting services on international programs and activities to the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. One of my recent activities involved a trade mission to China and Taiwan.
2019 has been a very busy, productive year for the DIS team. From long-term additions to the team, an intense, short need from six interns and a bit of churn, we have had a great ¾ of 2019. At any one time, the DIS team could be working on 20-25 different projects – some big,…
As in the last article we talked about the common modes of transportation for agricultural commodities in the State of Missouri are truck, rail, ship, and multiple mode, with descending order, which multiple mode is defined as multiple modes and by parcel delivery services, U.S. Postal Service, or couriers by Freight Analysis Framework.
According to the October 28th USDA Crop Progress report, Iowa still only had 26% of corn harvested and 66% of soybeans, which are both well behind the 5-year averages of 53% and 80%, respectively. Last year was an exceptionally wet fall with many rainfall records in September and October across Iowa, but this year has…
Agriculture in Iowa is constantly changing. Every 5 years we get a snapshot of those changes with the Census of Agriculture by USDA. Earlier this year, USDA released the data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Here are 5 insights on Iowa Agriculture from that data.
I recently read an article in Morning AgClips regarding a county in Missouri attaining the designation of “Agri-Ready”. Morning AgClips is a news service that I use to stay informed about agricultural activity in nine states. I also have a long-time connection to Nebraska being born in Wayne County and raised on a farm in…
Milk has been a staple beverage in American diets for decades. But has milk consumption changed in recent years? With the help of technology and automation in the dairy industry, U.S. milk production more than doubled since 1930.
2018 ARC and PLC payments were issued in early October. Very few Iowa counties received any ARC-CO payments again this year. Final 2018/19 MYA prices were $3.61 for corn and $8.48 for soybeans, which resulted in a final 2018 PLC payment rate of $0.09 for corn but $0 for soybeans.
