INDUSTRY NEWS

Where does your state rank in national hay prices?

With U.S. average hay prices ending 2016 at 70-month lows, presumably there was nowhere to go but up. However, it took until spring for prices to thaw out.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the Equipment Dealers Association (EDA) announced a new industry commitment to provide a comprehensive set of service information tools for tractors and combines put into service by model year 2021.

It’s that time of year when growers start looking at what fuel prices are going to do for the coming year. And according to Tina Hampton of RE Powell, one of the largest fuel distributors in the Pacific Northwest, prices are expected to be higher this year.

A new year brings new opportunity, and for those in the forage exports market, that global opportunity looks fairly optimistic.

Growing-season drought in some major hay-producing states, increased hay exports and large numbers of forage-consuming cattle in the nation’s beef and dairy herds resulted in the smallest on-farm hay inventories entering winter since 2012, according to the USDA’s Crop Production report, released Jan. 12.

Northwest alfalfa and timothy producers should remain slightly profitable in 2018, according to the latest Northwest Farm Credit Services’ Hay Market Snapshot report. Exports favor strong alfalfa sales, but low dairy profitability will provide sturdy headwinds.