Sarah Heinrich

May 22, 2024 | kfgo.com | Sarah Heinrich

Milk production in the 24 major milk-producing states during April reached 18.3 billion pounds, down 0.2 percent from April 2023. March’s revised milk production, at 18.9 billion pounds, was down 0.5 percent from March 2023. The March revision represented an increase of 78 million pounds, or 0.4 percent, from last month’s preliminary production estimate. Production per cow in the 24 major states averaged 2,064 pounds for April, eight pounds higher than April 2023.

May 22, 2024 | kfgo.com | Sarah Heinrich

Export markets are an important sales outlet for American food and agricultural production. Since 2008, an average of 20 percent of the value of all U.S. agricultural output has been shipped to destinations in other countries. The export market is a growing one for U.S. non-manufactured products, a group that includes commodities like grains, oilseeds, and produce. In the last decade, the exports of these commodities have increased as a percent of production at a rate of 1.4 percent annually.

May 19, 2024 | kfgo.com | Sarah Heinrich

Tractor Supply Company, in partnership with the National 4-H Council, announced that its Paper Clover Campaign raised over $1.3 million for 4-H youth nationwide, moving the fundraiser’s grand total to over $20 million. “We are filled with gratitude and admiration for how our local communities have shown up to help so many young people across America access 4-H programming,” says John Ordus, chief stores officer at Tractor Supply and a member of the National Council of 4-H board of trustees.

May 19, 2024 | 740thefan.com | Sarah Heinrich

The Economic Research Service reports that the cost of soybean seeds per acre has risen more than 260 percent since 1997, while total soybean production costs have risen 157 percent. “In 1997, U.S. farmers spent an average of $19.72 per acre on soybean seeds,” the ERS report says.

May 19, 2024 | kfgo.com | Sarah Heinrich

The Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour wrapped up last week after three days of scouting 449 fields in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Great American Crop Dot Com says the total weighted average yield for hard winter wheat was estimated at 46.5 bushels per acre. That’s over a 50 percent increase from 2023. Last year’s tour estimate was an even 30 bushels per acre. The official tour projection for total wheat production to get harvested in Kansas is 290.4 million bushels.