Commodity Crops
Emily Oberbroeckling says producers in northeast Iowa have made strong planting progress while continuing to monitor moisture conditions.
Texas A&M economist John Robinson says speculative buying helped push ICE cotton futures sharply higher.
For farmers, better data may not solve every local rail problem, but it can make service failures easier to document.
Smaller exporter crops and lower global stocks could keep wheat markets sensitive to weather, trade, and shifts in demand.
At the center of the announcement is the Blue Point Project in Louisiana, a $3.7 billion ammonia facility, USDA says, that will become the world’s largest ammonia plant once completed.
Southern Plains wheat shippers face higher rail fuel surcharges as hard red winter wheat production falls toward a nearly 70-year low.
USDA says both crops remain ahead of the five-year average as farmers continue monitoring dry Corn Belt conditions.
Strong rail and ocean demand support grain movement, but weak barge traffic and high diesel costs keep freight pressure elevated.
Corn exports remained active the week of May 7, but weak soybean, cotton, and sorghum sales kept attention on China and late-year demand.
Cotton growers can use the survey to compare nutrient, herbicide, and pest-management practices against national production benchmarks.