INDUSTRY NEWS

Hay inventories stored on farms as of May 1 were the second-lowest total for that date in the past decade, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Crop Production report, released May 10. 

Northwest U.S. alfalfa and timothy producers will remain slightly profitable over the next 12 months, according to the latest Northwest Farm Credit Services’ Hay Market Snapshot report. Exports should boost alfalfa sales, while low dairy profitability will provide demand headwinds.

Facebook's recent privacy breach has made me wonder whether these same missteps could happen to an ag tech provider. I think the answer is most-assuredly yes. An ag tech provider could carelessly walk into the same trap that caught Facebook. What should we learn from what happened?

131 million – that’s 131 million tons. And that’s roughly the weight of 4,367 school buses, which is how much dry hay was harvested in the U.S. in 2017. Add to that corn silage and greenchop, and the forage total would reach the weight of over 8,392 school buses (at 30,000 pounds apiece).

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today issued a statement providing clarification on the USDA’s oversight of plants produced through innovative new breeding techniques, which include techniques called genome editing.

Alfalfa is the third most valuable field crop produced in the U.S., valued at over $9.3 billion, $1.2 billion more than wheat, according to 2017 figures recently released by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). “Alfalfa needs to take its rightful position alongside corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and rice, which are often referred to as the “big five,” said Beth Nelson, president of the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA).