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Tariffs Deny SD Farmers Chance to Unload Bumper Soybean Crop in China

The good news from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Northern Plains Region office in Sioux Falls is that South Dakota farmers may harvest more soybeans this year than ever before:

Soybean production is forecast at record high 277 million bushels, up 15.0 percent from last year. Acres for harvest, at 5.66 million acres, is up 1 percent from 2017. Yield is forecast at 49 bushels per acre, up 6 bushels from last year [USDA NASS, “South Dakota Crop Production Report,” 2018.09.12].

The bad news: since Donald Trump has cut off market access to 1.4 billion protein-hungry Chinese, South Dakota farmers will be stuck with paltry welfare payments instead of the better market prices free trade would get them for their productivity. Get ready for lots of soy nuts in your school lunches

USDA says South Dakota corn production will also hit a record high—839 million bushels statewide, at 173 bushels per acre, a 19% better per-acre yield than last year. Sorghum production will be up 49% from last year, while dry edible pea production will be down 9%.

68 Comments

  1. Porter Lansing 2018-09-13 13:15

    The “tempeh for school lunch” movement is pleased. :0)

  2. jerry 2018-09-13 13:21

    Russia has increased Soybean production by 8% at least as has other bean producers. The markets that were there, are all now in question for the future. Sick of republican meddling, vote Democratic. Toss the nuances to the curb along with the rest of the refuse.

  3. Porter Lansing 2018-09-13 13:33

    Right, Jerry. Trump’s “tariff-estation” of China has also led to joint military exercises of China with Russia. He’s such a putz. Who can go bankrupt in a state regulated casino? Numerous times? Someone who gambles without caring about the risk.

  4. jerry 2018-09-13 14:31

    My Gwaaad chris, terrible news. No matter how you slice this, our farmers are gonna get crushed. Some say it is there own fault for voting for this Russian traitor. I disagree, I can only feel that their pain is my pain, this is not pleasant.

    I don’t know how storage can be accommodated for these bumper crops and then what about next year? If farmers have to let their lands be let to fallow, maybe they could get a price for soil bank to get it back under some kind of cost control that they can make an actual profit for the produce they grow. What a mess the republicans have put us in, a state and national tragedy once again.

  5. jerry 2018-09-13 14:44

    Ag producers, just so you know, Wall Street does not give a damn about your plight either. The only ones that do give a care about you and your operation are Democrats. They will do what needs to be done to give you the access needed to steward your crops and production into a much better place, count on it.

  6. mike from iowa 2018-09-13 15:13

    There are many acres of bean replants that aren’t anywhere close to handling a hard frost. Some are as green as the last day they came up.

    Corn crops are all over the place as far as being ready to harvest or even chop for silage.

    Any harvest guesstimates are purely speculative and drive the fall crop prices down at harvest time. That should not be allowed.

  7. happy camper 2018-09-13 15:52

    Funny how Trump hating brings out the free market guy from the Socialists. This just popped into my inbox from the USDA Farm Service Agency they aren’t holding back: “Market Facilitation Program – Are you a farmer or rancher whose commodities have been directly impacted by unjustified foreign retaliatory tariffs, resulting in the loss of traditional export markets?”
    https://www.farmers.gov/manage/mfp

  8. mike from iowa 2018-09-13 17:05

    Well hc, these moronic trade wars weren’t necessary and are being forced on Americans by a guy that has no idea what kind of misery he is wreaking on America and citizens of other nations.

    When I say he has no clue, I mean he is an absolute Gomer of a negotiator and leader. Which might endear him to other Gomers.

  9. jerry 2018-09-13 17:37

    I think he does have a clue mfi, and that clue is to once again help Russia. America now leads the world in oil production and yet look at the price. The price remains high to help Russia. Make no mistake on that, Washington and the conspiring elected republican party, are accomplices in the great Russian giveaway as an annex to the Kremlin.

  10. OldSarg 2018-09-13 17:47

    These trade renegotiations are necessary. For too many years we have had people who had no background in business, farming or even working for non-government organizations determining trade. For the first time in many years professional business men and women are now working to, not take advantage, but to get “fair” trade. Farmers are not the only people who may temporarily suffer. Manufacturing, Walmart workers and even farmers may suffer short periods of fluctuating prices and work but no more than is normal in our present poor trade position. The United State is the largest importing nation in the world with 13.4% of all imports. Behind us is China at 10.2% of all imports. the Unites States has 350,000,000 people. China has 1,390,000,000! The United States is only 25% the size of China yet we import more? These same numbers are consistent across the world. For too long the people of the United States have been transferring their manufacturing out of our country and into other countries that simply ship it back to us and keep the profits for themselves. We are the world’s piggy bank. We donate more, give more and support more economies around the world. I the trade was rebalanced the United States could better afford health care for all Americans because those items built and sold from the United States would generate even more tax dollars to help the people who need it the most. To argue against renegotiate is arguing against better benefits for the Americans in the most need and legal immigrants who we need for workers. Forbes study of trade determined that every billion dollars of exports for the United States means 6,000 American jobs. In 2017 the trade unbalance was $566 Billion. if we had just “even” trade that would mean 3,396,000 more American jobs. In turn these job openings would put pressure on the employers for higher wages to attract new employees. There is no loss for American to conduct “Fair” trade negotiations. There is only winning.

  11. owen reitzel 2018-09-13 18:58

    And you hear nothing from the far right on these tariffs and the orange moron that put them on. However, the same far right screams about collecting “new” taxes and blaming it on Democrats and RINOS.
    They might be right but you can see where their priorities lie. Farmers get screwed and not a sound. But try to level the playing for small business they go nuts.
    Thanks very little

  12. Rorschach 2018-09-13 19:25

    What is a tariff? A tariff is a tax paid by the importer of a product. When the US imposes a tariff on a Chinese product, the Chinese company doesn’t pay one penny. Not one penny. Whoever imports that Chinese product into the US pays the tariff – the the US government. Either the US company importing the Chinese product pays the tariff (tax) out of its profits, or it passes the tariff (tax) on to the US consumer who buys the imported Chinese product. The bottom line is that a tariff imposed by the US is actually a domestic sales tax imposed on US purchasers of the tariffed products. Trump has raised your taxes and you don’t even know it.

  13. OldSarg 2018-09-13 20:01

    Owen their is no “far right”. There is Constitutionalist and socialist/communist. That is the choice. The rest are just labels used to divide us.

  14. owen reitzel 2018-09-13 20:17

    so there is no far left. Right OS?

  15. Greg 2018-09-13 21:03

    Rorschach, farmers finally got the tax cut Trump promised and more. With his trade war he virtually took away most if not all federal income owed by farmers. Like Trump has said we will get tired of winning. Anyone believe this BS anymore.

  16. jerry 2018-09-13 21:30

    HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET? VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

  17. jerry 2018-09-13 21:33

    “If the Republicans had a compelling economic story to tell, they’d be telling it,” Garin told Harwood. “It’s not because they haven’t thought of it. It’s because it doesn’t work.”
    Vote Democratic, sweep the lying liars out.

  18. grudznick 2018-09-13 21:52

    Mr. reitzel, there is an alt-left that is way out there in the bushes. Mr. H, himself, is starting to snoop around those bushes, but there are fellows and ladies who are far more alt-left than most.

  19. Debbo 2018-09-13 22:17

    Jerry, Pootiepublican political ads by Lyin Ryan’s PAC are massive personal attacking lies because they have no policy successes to run on. Imagine that. 2 years of owning the federal government, every bit of it, and they couldn’t accomplish a damn thing to appeal to the voters.

    Tax cut for the rich? Doesn’t help. Trade wars? Hurts ag voters and everyone else.

    Pootiepublicans are so completely inept and corrupt, the only thing they’ve accomplished is deeply downgrading this nation’s worldwide standing. Oh, and exploding the national debt. They’re a bunch of incompetent, sociopathic traitors.

  20. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-09-13 22:39

    Chris, interesting North Dakota article. No bids for soybeans? What happens—the farmers just sit on those beans, waiting for magic buyers or impeachment? How long can beans sit in storage?

    But wait: if farmers have to store their beans, they’ll need more bins, and tariffs mean those metal structures cost more.

  21. Jason 2018-09-14 00:16

    Cory,

    Do you understand supply and demand?

    Record supplies means lower prices unless the demand increases.

    Are you saying the demand was going to increase before the tariffs Cory?

  22. Jason 2018-09-14 00:18

    Cory,

    Why would American farmers buy chinese steel?

  23. Rorschach 2018-09-14 07:11

    Yes Greg, tariffs are a tax on consumers of the country that imposes tariffs. But the flip side is that tariffs stifle demand for the products upon which they are imposed. That’s because the new tax increases the cost of said products and thus decreases the demand.

    Jason, you’re either ignorant or disingenuous. The forecast of bumper corn and soybean crops would have lowered prices for those crops naturally because with more supply and level demand prices will decline. What Trump did is doubled that pain for farmers by changing level demand for their crops to lower demand for their crops. Prompting China to impose retaliatory tariffs, Trump took away the Chinese market by making American soybeans non-competitive with prices of soybeans from everywhere else in the world – thus creating the perfect storm to batter farmers’ bottom lines. Don’t worry, farmers. Trump is there to throw you a roll of paper towels to fix everything.

  24. Jason 2018-09-14 07:54

    Rorschach,

    Where have I ever said the Chinese tariffs didn’t lower the prices? I’m glad you understand supply and demand, because Cory doesn’t.’

    China is going to lose the war and the US taxpayers are going to help the farmers combat China’s war on US farmers.

    China chose to target farmers, not Trump.

  25. mike from iowa 2018-09-14 08:03

    Jason, explain the reason(s) China chose to target Farmers in retaliation for Drumpf’s insane trade war.

  26. Roger Hofer 2018-09-14 09:32

    Cory I sold new beans for 945 cash. The cash price now is 714. The farmer has to be smart about marketing his crop.

  27. happy camper 2018-09-14 09:56

    If Obama called for tariffs and framed the argument you’d be supporting them. What are FSA subsidies but a tax it’s always money and power excessive greed is just our nature bubble after bubble after bubble anything to get rich and back in power ain’t never gonna change.

  28. Greg 2018-09-14 10:32

    Roger, selling ahead for $9.45 sure looks good now. Did you sell 100% of that crop for that. Did you sell early those years when beans hit $16.00. If you did sell 100% of your 2018 production will you sign up for Trump’s $.85 cent pmt.

  29. happy camper 2018-09-14 11:34

    As Roger said farmers have commodities contracts they never sell at posted prices or so I was told and for that matter markets are global if China won’t buy someone else will tell me I’m wrong. After a bumper crop it’s very hard to figure the tariff impact if any. It’s just politics. Like China plays fair? Our technology stolen and sold back to us, Walmart insisting products be made there, we demand the cheapest products, we get what we deserve to a large extent cause we’re lazy, greedy, fearful, markets swing ….. that’s the truth even if it don’t sound nice.

  30. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-09-14 12:20

    I agree that every businessperson has to make smart decisions. The President of the United States should also make smart decisions that don’t make it even harder for smart farmers and businesspeople to stay in the black. We don’t get to excuse a stupid President by demanding that farmers make even smarter decisions.

  31. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-09-14 12:23

    It’s like defensive driving: everyone should drive defensively, but we should expect good defensive drivers to be able to execute professional stunt driver-level maneuvers to avoid drunken idiots. The drunken idiots (in this analogy, that’s Donald Trump) still have an obligation not to get drunk or to stay the heck off the road.

  32. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-09-14 12:27

    Jason, do you understand the concept of cumulative effects?

    Supply and demand affect prices.

    Tariffs affect prices by affecting demand.

    Farmers faced with bumper crop supply will still get better prices than farmers faced with bumper crop supply and tariffs cutting them off from foreign buyers (demand).

    On steel: asked and answered:

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-steel-agriculture/trade-war-backfire-steel-tariff-shrapnel-hits-u-s-farmers-idUSKBN1HK0GV

    https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/trump-s-tariffs-on-foreign-steel-aluminum-feared-costly-for/article_77065f61-cc43-598a-a945-eeb98982a8c8.html

    http://www.westfargopioneer.com/news/4479289-local-grain-bin-dealer-says-customers-feeling-tariff-squeeze

  33. mike from iowa 2018-09-14 12:43

    So Drumpf and happy camper are willing to sacrifice a million American farms to teach China a lesson they won’t pay any attention to?

    Collateral damage is acceptable to Drumpf as long as his businesses overseas aren’t subjected to tariffs.

  34. mike from iowa 2018-09-14 12:44

    Drumpf just dropped another 200 billion in tariffs on China. Which country will suffer the most?

  35. happy camper 2018-09-14 21:07

    Yeah Mike ya drama queen like I want to lose money on my own farm? I’m trying to look at this realistically not politically Trump is trying to do a reset which should be better in the long run. There are other pressures besides the tariffs: “Soybean futures flirted with contract lows this past week as ongoing pressure continues to come from expected large U.S. yields. August weather has been near perfect across the Midwest for this soybean crop. News on the trade front with China is non-existent as most of the focus is on renegotiating the NAFTA deal at the moment. November soybeans got within 3 cents of the contract lows we saw on July 16, which also happen to be 10-year lows. Soybean prices are at levels that should be desirable to the global community. Time will tell how much demand is out there in the global community for U.S. soybeans now that China is mostly out of the U.S. market place.”
    http://www.agweek.com/opinion/columns/4493275-crops-are-testing-contract-lows

  36. OldSarg 2018-09-14 21:31

    If the present trade agreements are not renegotiated to a fair level our workers will see no wage increases, farmers will be dependent on government handouts and we will all be stuck in simple service jobs. Let us have fair trade and let the productivity of the American trade on an equal field. Those that argue and fight against fair trade are either anti-American or idiots.

  37. Rorschach 2018-09-14 21:32

    Speaking of rolls of paper towels, is Trump going to the Carolinas to throw paper towel rolls to the folks with the beach houses or was that just his special middle finger to the people of Puerto Rico?

  38. Porter Lansing 2018-09-14 21:34

    That’s pretty good. Someone with the limited experience and intelligence as this guy lecturing on trade.

  39. happy camper 2018-09-15 06:48

    What do farmers not Progressive bloggers think?
    “I support doing what we need to do to get trade fair across the world. I think it needs to be done,” Smith said about Trump enacting tariffs on Chinese goods as punishment for what are viewed as unfair trade practices. China has responded in kind with tariffs on American goods, including soybeans.“This is not doom and gloom,” DeLoach said. “We’re used to stuff like this. A drought could be worse. For farmers, the two most important factors are weather and the global economy, and we can control neither one of them. You get used to fighting those battles.”
    https://www.shelbycountyreporter.com/2018/09/14/farmers-unfazed-by-low-soybean-prices-as-harvest-begins/

  40. happy camper 2018-09-15 07:20

    More from farmers who aren’t just Trump bashing for their own political purposes:

    Farmers are willing to let the tariffs dispute play out, said Boerboom, the hog farmer near Marshall. If Trump’s combative approach to international trade results in better trade deals for the U.S. — no more Chinese steel dumping or theft of American intellectual property — then the short-term pain for farmers will have been worth it, he said.

    “The farm community is still supporting Trump’s policy,” Boerboom said. “But there’s going to be a period of time when that trust and support runs out.”

    https://globegazette.com/business/farmers-consider-asking-for-government-help-as-trade-war-worsens/article_45dac886-690e-53a9-b9cd-12979a5f7880.html

  41. mike from iowa 2018-09-15 08:19

    HC- you and yer fellows don’t get “it”, do you. Drumpf is not doing a damn thing for you. The only person he cares about is himself.

    If you survive this disasterous stoopidity of an unnecessary trade war, it would take years to get back to where you are today, if you were still farming.

    You have a problem with a neighbor do you start throwing bombs at him and whining when he throws back?

    Your hero Drumpf knows nothing about negotiating trade deals and proved it by choosing inexperienced wingnuts to do this.

    Yer buddy Drumpf and you are drama queens.

  42. happy camper 2018-09-15 08:42

    No, you don’t get it Mike. I didn’t vote him, I don’t like him, but he’s there so we have to look objectively at what he’s doing and if something good can come from this and how actual farmers think and feel not those who hate him so much they can’t think straight and are politically driven to malign anything Trump. I’m worried about it, don’t like the situation, but to some extent at least farmers understand our trade deals have been unfair which is why I am referencing those interviews and think it’s important to understand more of the issue, like futures contracts and many farmers will make more than today’s market value, will wait to enter a new contract hoping prices increase, so the story is a bit more complicated it would be interesting to hear from more local area farmers remember commodity prices were way down before the tariffs. Obviously being part of farming I don’t want millions of farmers to go out of business your rhetoric is highly dramatic.

  43. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 09:15

    It’s Happy Campster who “doesn’t get it”. Consumers, farmers and manufacturers in China believed the trade deals were unfair in USA’s favor. Both sides thought the same and that’s why they worked. We’re you going to lose the farm if things had stayed the same? Trump’s overinflated ego is what caused these tariffs not unfair trade deals.

  44. jerry 2018-09-15 09:32

    China, Japan and South Korea, look like they will move on and leave us in isolation. That should help the trade deals.

    “”The leaders of China and Japan declared ties recovered from a 2012 diplomatic freeze Wednesday, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying they discussed his first bilateral visit to Beijing as soon as next month.

    Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first meeting in 10 months on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, as the two countries try to move past the territorial disputes that strained ties. The 40th anniversary next month of a friendship treaty between the former foes would provide a symbolic occasion for Abe to visit China, which would make him the first Japanese leader to do so in seven years.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/japan-s-abe-says-xi-agreed-to-work-toward-china-visit-next-month

    By golly, all we need to do now is start those printing presses on a 24/7 basis and add a couple of more.

  45. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 09:39

    @Jerry … That’s macro economics 101. Tariffs cause isolation. Isolation causes inflation. We’re old enough to remember when the biggest problem in USA was inflation. It was debilitating. Only a turd like Trump could bring it back after forty years of stability.

  46. happy camper 2018-09-15 09:41

    It’s nearly impossible to say “this trade deal is fair” with everyone nodding in agreement everyone has their own perspective but look with scrutiny at China they ain’t lookin out for our interests the theft of intellectual property alone leaves one highly distrustful, and how about building those little islands so they can claim more territory. China is not to be trusted.

    If Trump doesn’t negotiate a good deal and resolve the farmer issue he will be voted out which would be fine with me though I am not convinced we would like Mike Pence any better if he is impeached. A recent poll showed forty-seven percent of the public want that but be careful what you wish for.

  47. jerry 2018-09-15 09:41

    Strange that our competitors are working on trade and we are working to destroy it. Hmmm, interesting to see the incompetence up close. We usually do not get to see that until late in the game, now, in real time. Keep in mind that Japan and China make up the 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world, so that seems like something.

    “”Xi told Abe that Sino-Japanese ties “face an important opportunity for improvement. Under the new circumstances, we should continue to meet each other halfway, maintain the positive momentum and promote the stable development of China-Japan relations to attain even greater expansion (of ties),” according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

    Japanese and Chinese officials have been discussing private sector cooperation in third countries, with China believed eager for Japanese firms to take part in its Belt and Road Initiative of infrastructure and trade links between China and Eurasia.” Reuters 09/11/2018

  48. mike from iowa 2018-09-15 09:47

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    China is targeting our farmers, who they know I love & respect, as a way of getting me to continue allowing them to take advantage of the U.S. They are being vicious in what will be their failed attempt. We were being nice – until now! China made $517 Billion on us last year.
    6:20 AM – Jul 25, 2018

    HC, if you could spread this much BS on yer fields you could grow even bumpier crops to lose money on.

    How long could you last with a subsidy of less than 200K for the year? Except you won’t get 200k. You aren’t one of the biggest farms.

    How long has Drumpf’s war with Mexico gone on? The one where Mexico pays for Drumpf’s wall? Can you survive years of stubborn ness from a fool who doesn’t believe in diplomacy and can’t negotiate?

    The only happy campers I can see are the truly wealthy farmers looking to buy up scads of farmland from destroyed Drumpf-antics ruined, salt of the earth farmers who bet on the wrong horse at the wrong time.

  49. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 09:55

    Happy Camper suffers from tunnel vision; seeing only USA’s side. Insight (the ability to see things how your customer or competition sees things) and an open mind will expose this fact. Theft of intellectual property is the price manufacturers pay to pollute China with our factories instead of polluting USA’s air and water. The pollution in China caused by USA factories is killing people. If intellectual property theft was unmanageable, our corporations would’ve left China 30 years ago.

  50. happy camper 2018-09-15 10:06

    I hate to say it but consolidations are only expected to continue regardless of this tariff (which will get resolved) it’s a hugely competitive changing business the cost of inputs is very high, like $450 an acre, put some blame there. Farmers with no land expense (paid for not renting) are only making about $150 an acre I’m told we’re at a down in the cycle because of commodity prices which again were low before these tariffs. This link shows the soybean prices long before the tariffs so you can’t objectively blame only Trump. Facts are pesky little things aren’t they: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Agricultural_Prices/pricesb.php

  51. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 10:14

    Facts can be pesky especially when you don’t show them all. HC, if bean prices were low why did you plant them? Because you made money, that’s why. Put up the chart of producer’s profits off beans. It’s profit percentage that matters, more than price per bushel. TrumpTariffs dropped the per bushel price when overhead had already been spent. That eliminated 25% of the profits in the center of a crop cycle. Had Trump said, “Be warned. I’m going to put big tariffs on China in 2019 so plant at your own risk.” Then the objectively based criticism of Trump’s business skills would have been mitigated.

  52. happy camper 2018-09-15 10:48

    I’m not asking you to like Trump, in fact the Republicans I know don’t like him, his manner, his behavior, his tweeting, etc, but they look at individual policy decisions like we all must do and occasionally see something they can agree weren’t you just saying we should look at other people’s perspectives Porter?

    A large portion of my modest income is farm based so I am a stakeholder in getting this resolved as much as anyone, but Trump is there because of the terrible candidate Hillary and the DNC so let’s put the blame where it belongs thus far I can’t see the Democrats have learned anything.

  53. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 11:02

    Wrong!! Trump is President because he cheated. He worked with Russia and WikiLeaks to hack the DNC and probably some voting machines in the four states it took to win. Asking anyone to like Trump is like asking them to like venereal disease.

  54. jerry 2018-09-15 11:07

    Germany is now open for trade with China, interesting on how this is all playing out.

    “Under pressure from President Trump’s tariff war, China has embarked on a charm offensive on the diplomatic circuit, smoothing over old disputes and courting partners who could help Beijing weather the storm with Washington. Germany, which perennially harangued Beijing over market access restrictions, recently let Chinese investors hold bigger shares in joint ventures in a significant concession. South Korea, the target of withering Chinese boycotts last year over its deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, is seeing Chinese tourism revenue and automobile sales return.” Washington Post 09/14/2018

    China moves on, and with her move, more obstacles are falling. It almost seems like they know how trade works in the big scheme of things. Imagine that Marco Polo. So now, what do we do with our soybeans?

  55. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 11:17

    @Jerry … I read the LATimes and China and California are also forging agreements to trade directly with each other (overriding the tariffs). CA is also launching a satellite to monitor pollution increases that will affect their state’s agriculture. Once we take Congress and Trump can’t stop them, California will be the outright leader in American/World trade and climate.

  56. jerry 2018-09-15 11:30

    Ag producers just want to trade on the markets to get the best deals they can on what they produce. They may need to form a real organization that has their best interests in play instead of what they have now, which is nothing but a name. Good for California as that state has surpassed the entire United Kingdom with its economy. They are like the 5th economy in the world. Add that to China at number 2 and you have some real punch. Maybe we should here be more like California. Dump the republicans and get people who know how to do business.

    “U.S. ethanol producers continue to face strong headwinds as the summer winds down that are negatively impacting their operating environment. The price of producers’ primary feedstock, corn, has fallen further (see figure) since the beginning of Q3 as harvest expectations have remained high despite the presence of drought conditions across much of the western Corn Belt. This positive impact has been more than offset by a larger decline to the price of gasoline over the same period. Fuel ethanol is an important substitute for gasoline, with the former being blended into the latter at a roughly 10 vol% share in the U.S., and the presence of cheaper gasoline has pushed the price of ethanol lower in response. U.S. ethanol producers continue to experience margin compression despite their reduced feedstock costs as a result.” https://seekingalpha.com/article/4202269-ethanol-headwinds-persisting-q3

    Clearly, what we have going ain’t workin. Had Enough Yet? Vote Democratic!

  57. Porter Lansing 2018-09-15 11:36

    Mr. Camper … I see where you are coming from and respect your unique perspective. Everyone wants what’s best for your farm and you. It’s a pleasure to discuss this stuff with ‘ya, man. Best of luck this harvest. :0)

  58. mike from iowa 2018-09-15 13:01

    Drove into Sutherland, iowa an hour or so ago. One guy had started combining beans while liquid manure from hog confinements is being applied where the beans were. Two money losing products in the same field.

    Hey Debbo, this is Glen and Elaine’s 80 acres North of town on M-12. I hope for their sakes they cash rented the ground instead of share cropping.

  59. Debbo 2018-09-15 14:00

    Eeuuwwwww. Yeah, I agree, cash rent. Used to always be shares back in the day, but I think cash is most common now.

  60. jerry 2018-09-25 12:00

    China has refused a port of call to the US Navy, and a major one at that. In the trump regime, everyone suffers the scam and con of tariffs…except trump and his kid and the rest of the accomplices in on the art of the steal.

    ““The Chinese government did not approve a request for a port visit to Hong Kong by the USS Wasp. We have a long track record of successful port visits to Hong Kong, and we expect that to continue,” the consulate said.

    The amphibious assault ship had been due to stop in Hong Kong next month, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US military officials.

    The Chinese foreign ministry declined to comment on the refusal, saying only that China approved port visits on a case-by-case basis.”

  61. jerry 2018-10-13 14:34

    North Dakota soybean’s ““What does a farmer do to respond to that when we’re in the middle of a growing season? We can’t just go out and rip up the crop and find something else to sell,” Peterson said. “It’s not like we’re creating widgets here. You can’t just speed up or slow down the production line.”

    Nancy Johnson, executive director of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association, put the number of “orphan soybeans” at 236 million bushels.” Washington Post 10/13/2018

    I dunno how that election is gonna turn out in the senate race. But it looks like racism may win out and a dummy like Kramer (sic) will get in.

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