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Three years of national survey results have now been collected on farmers who no-till. No-Till farming magazine recently shared these 2nd half results. Farmers use a lot of different equipment, different brands, and different sizes. A major change has been the switch to larger corn planters. No-till and probably most farmers are switching to 16-row (40 foot) corn planters 31.2% up 3.9%, 24-row (18.2%) while 12 row planters have fallen from 28.4% to 23.7%. While farmers have less money to invest due to lower prices and weather concerns, equipment is always a major expense on every crop farm.  On no-till planter attachments, farmers use coulters out front (38.4%), row cleaners (67.6%), closing wheels (86.5%), seed firmer (64.2%), down pressure systems (57.5%), pop-up fertilizer applicators (31.5%), and 2” X 2” fertilizer placement (34.7%). On soybeans, narrow row (7-10” row spacing) are common in the East but less common in the South and West. About 54.2% of farmers use 15-inch rows...

      Three years of national survey results have now been collected on farmers who no-till and use cover crops. No-Till Farming magazine shared these results recently. Around 80.5% of all no-till farmers use cover crops, which has been steady, although slightly less than the peak in 2023 at 83.2%. Weather—especially dry weather in the fall—and getting a crop established could be part of the reason for a slight decrease in cover crop acres. Also, as finances get tight, sometimes cover crop acres are easy to cut. Why do farmers use cover crops? The number one reason is still erosion control or prevention, followed by better soil biology and higher soil organic matter accumulation. The top three maximum benefits are still erosion prevention, followed by improved rainfall infiltration and then better soil biological activity. Higher yields and/or lower crop inputs were not in the top three, but often occur after numerous years of using no-till plus cover crops continuously. ...

  Last week, I presented some free Van Trump report information. Here’s a quick summary. Van Trump thinks interest rates, and the US Dollar will decline which should eventually help US commodity exports. Stock market: short-term unsteady, long-term Van Trump is bullish. On inflation, as energy production increases, expect both fuel prices and inflation to decline. Fuel and freight costs are around 25% of most cost of goods.  Van Trump offered some insight on the Generation Z. Most like to travel, like really good healthy food and they are willing to pay for it. Many do not want to buy a house and would rather rent to be free to travel. They tend to want the best of everything now, so many are broke. They like to work from home and do not want to physically go to work but overall; their job satisfaction tends to be low. They are not learning from their co-workers. That hurts productivity.   Van Trump expects that very soon artificial intelligence (AI) will take over m...

  Many farmers subscribe to the (Kevin) Van Trump Report. Last week, Kevin and I were in Peoria, Illinois, speaking. Here’s a free summary of Kevin’s thoughts on the farm economy. First, Kevin came from a small Missouri farming community. He worked as an NFL football assistant coach. He’s a big (large) man with a huge personality! He’s fun and mostly optimistic about agriculture. Then he started working at the Chicago Board of Trade buying and selling commodities. He was successful. Why? One, he is easy to see and notice (large frame, booming voice). Two, his colleagues said he had an unfair advantage. Since he came from a farming community, he knew how farmers thought and had many farming friends. However, he also knew many capital investors (NFL owners, coaches, doctors, lawyers, bankers, etc.). He knew how to trade both sides. The following is what Kevin Van Trump thinks, good or bad. On tariffs , there are tons of unknowns, but he thinks something needs to be done. Too many...