Hongxia Jiao

Nov 25, 2024 | farmdocdaily.illinois.edu | Hongxia Jiao |Steve Sonka

Last Monday’s farmdoc daily article reviewed the path of precision agriculture over the last three decades (Sonka). It was the first of three articles. Today’s article speculates about the future path of technologies and their effects. The third article in this set, The Confluence of Societal Interests and Precision Ag, is set for next Monday. That practical philosopher, Yogi Berra, has been quoted as saying, “It’s difficult to make predictions, particularly about the future” (Laidler).

Nov 18, 2024 | farmdocdaily.illinois.edu | Hongxia Jiao |Steve Sonka

For someone interested in how farmers and agribusiness managers make decisions, the past few decades have been particularly intriguing. As a young faculty member in the 1980s, I was among a group of faculty who successfully lobbied the Dean of the then College of Agriculture to buy Apple II and IBM PC microcomputers to use with students in the classroom. The course instituted at that time continues today, however, the content and the technology have markedly changed.

Nov 4, 2024 | farmdocdaily.illinois.edu | Hongxia Jiao |Jonathan Coppess |Gary Schnitkey |Carl Zulauf

Since the tariff and trade conflicts that began in 2018, through the pandemic relief assistance efforts in 2020, American farmers have received an unusual amount of ad hoc and supplemental or emergency assistance (see e.g., farmdoc daily, April 18, 2018; July 31, 2018; August 16, 2018; August 28, 2018; May 22, 2020; July 10, 2020; September 3, 2020; June 6, 2022; April 5, 2023).

Oct 4, 2024 | farmdocdaily.illinois.edu | Hongxia Jiao |Michael Langemeier |Michael Boehlje

Midwest crop producers have experienced a significant downturn in corn, soybean, and wheat prices since the beginning of the year and farm incomes are expected to be much lower in 2024 than they have been the last three to four years. Moreover, current expectations are that prices will continue to remain at or below the cost of production for at least a couple more years. Consequently, a key question being asked is as follows: “who is the most vulnerable financially during this downturn”?

Sep 9, 2024 | farmdocdaily.illinois.edu | Hongxia Jiao |Joe Janzen

In the summer of 2024, two big price changes occurred in corn and soybean markets. First, price levels declined, beginning in June and continuing to the present. Figure 1 shows new-crop corn and soybean futures for delivery during the upcoming fall harvest period (the December 2024 corn and November 2024 soybean contracts) both fell by about 20% between the last week of May and late August.