We're tracking increased input costs, another round of spring precipitation and watching for a Fed rate decision during the week of April 26.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins used a roundtable with farmers in Missouri on Friday to announce a top-up payment for disaster losses in 2023 and 2024 that should double the amount of aid farmers receive. Rollins also talked about the Trump administration's plans to boost domestic fertilizer production.
Alberta's wintry spring snowstorms have made calving season difficult for Cross Cattle Company. Protecting newborn calves and managing the land are important for the ranchers.
Iowa will become the hub for a new USDA food safety center while members of the department's economic team will also move more jobs to Missouri locations. The moves will likely lead some more experienced staff and leadership at USDA agencies to find employment elsewhere but also create hundreds of job opportunities for younger people leaving college who want to live in the Midwest or other locations in USDA's reorganization announcements.
USDA signed a $300 million deal with Palantir Technologies to modernize farm services, streamline paperwork and implement its "One Farmer, One File" initiative.
All eight major fertilizers were higher for the second week of April 2026 compared to a month earlier. Six fertilizers were significantly more expensive, which DTN designates as anything 5% or more. Four fertilizers saw double-digit price increases compared to last month.
Corn was 11% planted, soybeans were 12% planted and winter wheat was rated 30% good to excellent as of Sunday, April 19, according to USDA NASS' weekly Crop Progress report released on Monday.
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.6 million head on April 1, 2026. The inventory was 1% below April 1, 2025, USDA NASS reported on Friday.
In this equipment roundup, DTN/Progressive Farmer looks at high diesel costs hitting returns; March equipment sales down; reports that Cat buys Monarch technology; Fieldwork Robotics readying an autonomous picker; new equipment from KIOTI and Loftness; and Kubota offering $50,000 grants.
New research from Cornell University indicates the nutrients in animal and human waste could reduce U.S. farmers reliance on synthetic fertilizer use. This waste could meet 102% of nitrogen and 50% of phosphorus needs for U.S. agriculture. A major challenge remains a mismatch between the location of the waste and agricultural regions with the highest fertilizer needs, according to the study.
