Greetings from the Upper Midwest. Spring is definitely starting to make an appearance with several days in the 60s & 70s, along with some badly needed moisture. It’s the second year in a row for us with very little snow to help replenish our moisture deficit.
It was great to see many of you at our national convention. We had some excellent speakers, and I hope everyone appreciated their insight on various topics that affect the daily decisions producers make on their livestock, grain and dairy operations.
A huge thank you to everyone that helped make our annual convention possible and run so smoothly. A special thanks to Perry Garner, who is the driving force behind this huge effort every year.
As May arrives, seemingly each day brings new and evolving talk of tariffs. It’s hard to know when we may have a better feel for where everything will shake out for agriculture. As of today, I am not going to predict what effect all of these changes could have for our farming operations, time will tell.
We often think of Spring as the season of hope. We all hope for good planting weather to get a new crop in the ground, but with that said, we need the right soil conditions and timely rains to get the crop off to a good start.
With one eye to the sky and the weather, the other eye is on markets and what they will do. Right now, grain producers are hoping for something to trigger higher farm gate prices. Today’s grain prices are simply not sustainable.
Cow-calf producers are hoping for a healthy new crop of calves. We can only hope the market holds up as those calves grow into feeder cattle. The only way that anyone finishing these cattle can make a buck is off the back of the producers that raise the corn and soybeans.
Dairy farmers are rapidly going backwards with Class III prices retreating to the $17.00-$18.00 range.
The old saying at NFO has always been about cost of production-plus a reasonable profit. Every farmer and rancher, no matter their location or what they produce, should be entitled to that.
We all need hope, but we also need producers working together in the marketplace to raise the general price level for all commodities and be on a level playing field.
Our nation’s economy still depends a lot on how our farmers and ranchers are doing financially. We are beginning to hear increaslingly about layoffs in the farm equipment sector across the farm belt. This should be very concerning to everyone.
I would like to close with an old quote I used at our national convention, because it bears repeating: ”Sometimes in life you may need a doctor, a lawyer, a preacher, or even a fireman, but you need a farmer three times a day—365 days a year.”
Until next time, stay safe and may God bless.
