WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Farm loan delinquencies rose to a record high in June at Wisconsin’s community banks, data showed on Thursday, a sign President Donald Trump’s trade conflicts with China and other countries are hitting farmers hard in a state that could be crucial for his chances of re-election in 2020. The share of farm […] Read more
Stories by P.J. Huffstutter
U.S. corn yields improving as crop tour reaches west-central Iowa
NEW HAMPTON, Iowa, (Reuters) – Corn yield potential showed signs of improvement across west-central Iowa, scouts on an annual crop tour said on Thursday, but the area was still expected to produce a below-average sized crop after extreme weather delayed planting this past spring. Soybeans were also looking better on the fourth and final day […] Read more
Farmer’s threat prompts USDA to pull staff from crop tour
HENRY COUNTY, Ill./CHICAGO, Aug 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it had pulled all staff from an annual crop tour after an employee was threatened, and three sources said the threat came over the phone from an angry farmer. Farmers have complained this month that a government crop report did not […] Read more
North-Central Indiana could face smaller corn yields
DE WITT COUNTY, Ill., (Reuters) – Corn farmers in north-central Indiana could be facing smaller corn yield potential this year, after extreme weather and heavy rains delayed plantings across wide swaths of the U.S. Midwest, scouts on an annual tour said Tuesday. Many of the soy fields surveyed in Indiana on the second day of […] Read more
U.S. Midwest bankers see farm loan repayment problems hit 20-year high
CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Midwest bankers reported that the percentage of farm loans their customers are having problems repaying hit a 20-year high in the second quarter this year, according to a survey released on Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Farm incomes also dropped for the period, as record floods devastated a wide […] Read more
U.S. Midwest farm incomes fall in second quarter in wake of record floods
CHICAGO, (Reuters) – U.S. farm incomes in the Midwest declined yet again in the second quarter of 2019, as record floods devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt, according to a banker survey released on Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Nearly two-thirds of the bankers surveyed said a majority of […] Read more
Oink, moo and brrr: Polar vortex strikes U.S. farm belt
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Farmers from North Dakota to Iowa buckled down for some of the coldest weather in a generation on Wednesday, throwing extra rations to pigs or building igloos for chickens in the teeth of sub-zero temperatures and bone-chilling winds. Some, like Kurt Line in Indiana, joked about the forecast. Line said he was […] Read more
Canada to U.S. — Explain that $30 billion farm spending war chest
CHICAGO/GENEVA (Reuters) — Canada wants the United States to explain why its lawmakers have made an additional $30 billion available to support U.S. farmers hit by trade woes, and how Washington might distribute the money, according to a document published by the World Trade Organization May 31. The questions come amid growing trade tensions between […] Read more
China trade row sows confusion in farmer planting plans
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Tom Giessel is cutting back on plantings this year on his farm in central Kansas as he reckons with a drought, a glut in global grains supply and trade tensions between the United States and China. About 200 miles away in the northwestern part of the state, farmer Janet Bear swapped the […] Read more
Cargill has ‘significant concerns’ over U.S.-China trade strategy
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Cargill Inc. is concerned the White House’s strategy to address unfair trade practices with China will not work and could lead to an escalating trade war, according to prepared comments the global grain merchant sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The five-page letter, submitted on Friday and made public on Monday, […] Read more
