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Preparing to Meet with Your Ag Lender

February 17, 2020

The slidedeck presented by the Center’s Michael Langemeier during the farm finance presentation at our Crop Marketing & Farm Finance Workshops. The session explored the use of enterprise budgets to evaluate long-term enterprise profitability, and whole-farm financial projections to evaluate profitability and repayment capacity for the upcoming year.

Improving Your Crop Marketing Skills

February 17, 2020

The slidedeck presented by the Center’s James Mintert and Nathan Thompson during the crop marketing presentation at our Crop Marketing & Farm Finance Workshops. The session focus was on learning about your local basis patterns and how you can take advantage of that knowledge to improve profitability on your farming operation and reduce risk.

Prospects for Swine Feed Costs in 2020

February 6, 2020

Recent trends in feed costs for farrow-to-finish and swine finishing enterprises, and projections for 2020. Feed costs are expected to be similar to that experienced in 2019. However, current projections have a wide band around them.

Making Your Farm Bill Decisions in 2020

February 6, 2020

The Farm Bill Decision Making Workshop slidedeck presentation by Michael Langemeier and James Mintert.

2018 Farm Bill ARC/PLC Provisions 2019-2023

February 5, 2020

The Farm Bill Decision Making Workshop slidedeck presentation by Kaitlin Myers, State Agricultural Program Specialist from USDA’s Indiana Farm Service Agency.

Is USDA’s ARC-IC Program A Good Fit For You?

February 3, 2020

Recorded January 31, 2020 | Purdue ag economists Michael Langemeier and James Mintert focus just on the ARC-IC 2018 Farm Bill program to help clarify where it fits best.

Cattle Finishing Net Return Prospects for 2020

January 28, 2020

At the end of 2019, fed cattle prices were $122.00. This increase in fed cattle prices had a large impact on cattle finishing profitability in the fourth quarter of 2019. Moreover, fed cattle prices are predicted to remain strong through at least the second quarter of 2020.

Swine Finishing Feed Cost Prospects

January 27, 2020

Corn prices have been quite volatile in 2019. Corn prices in Indiana were approximately $3.70 per bushel in April, $4.55 in July, and $3.90 in December. Given the uncertainty regarding what gets planted to large amount of acres that were not planted in 2019 (i.e., prevent plant acres), corn prices are likely to also be volatile in 2020.

Trends in the Soybean to Corn Price Ratio

January 27, 2020

Using Indiana cash prices reported by USDA-NASS, the soybean to corn price ratio was quite variable in 2019 ranging from 1.93 in July to 2.37 in January. This leads to two important questions. How common or uncommon is it for this ratio to be substantially above or below the long-run average? Does a low or high ratio signal a change in the relative profitability between corn and soybeans?