Top Farmer Conference: January 10, 2025

As one of the most successful and longest-running management programs specifically crafted for farmers, the Purdue Top Farmer Conference is a one-day event for agricultural producers and agribusiness professionals looking to navigate the complexities of today's agricultural landscape. Participants will have the opportunity to network with peers and hear from farm management experts and agricultural economists from Purdue, Farm Credit Services of America, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Acres, a land value data analytics company.

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Livestock

Long-Term Trends in Pigs per Litter

Pigs per litter has increased at a rate of 0.107 pigs per year since 1994. Another way of stating the same thing, the annual growth rate of pigs per litter in the U.S. was 1.1 percent from 1994 to 2023. Continued improvements in production performance will help ensure the U.S. swine industry remains competitive.

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Prospects for Swine Feed Costs in 2024

Indiana corn prices have dropped sharply since September. The most recent WASDE report indicates that corn prices could remain low for the foreseeable future. Obviously, lower expected corn prices will translate into lower expected feed costs during the first part of 2024. What trends in feed costs will we see for 2024? And what’s the impact of corn and soybean meal prices on feed costs for farrow-to-finish and swine finishing operations?

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Trend in Breakeven Prices for Cattle Finishing

Fed cattle prices have strengthened the last few months. At the same time, due to lower corn prices, feeding cost of gain has also declined. Partially in response to these two phenomena, feeder prices and breakeven prices have increased substantially.

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Impact of Lower Corn Prices On Feeding Cost of Gain for Cattle Finishing

Corn prices have declined substantially since the first half of this year. This article examined the impact of higher corn prices on feeding cost of gain for cattle finishing.

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Impact of Lower Corn Prices on Swine Feed Costs

Indiana corn prices during the first quarter of this year were on average approximately $6.60 per bushel. The most recent WASDE report indicates that corn prices could be substantially lower for the upcoming crop.

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Social Media Risk Management & Contingency Planning

Farms and agribusinesses are confronted by many different types of risk in today’s market, including social media. In this third episode in the Farm Risk Management podcast series, Purdue University’s Jenna Nees, Renee Wiatt and Ariana Torres join Brady Brewer to discuss social media’s impact on businesses and how to build a contingency plan to protect your farm.

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Cattle Finishing Net Returns Prospects for 2023

This article discussed recent trends in feeding cost of gain, the feeder to fed cattle price ratio, breakeven prices, and cattle finishing net returns. Average cattle finishing losses in 2022 were estimated to be approximately $70 per head.

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Production Risk Management & Contingency Planning

In this second episode of a new series on Farm Risk Management, Jenna Nees, Ed Farris, and Michael Langemeier join Brady Brewer to discuss contingency planning for production risk. Minimizing risk through management practices, reducing production variability, and managing ways to transfer some of the production risk should be reevaluated every year. Implementing diversification, flexibility,…

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Feed Cost Indices for Laying Hens in 2023

This article discussed recent trends in feed costs for laying hens.  Current projections suggest that feed costs for 2023 will be slightly lower than those experienced in 2022.

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Prospects for Swine Feed Costs in 2023

Corn prices are 25% higher and soybean meal prices are 1% higher. Given that many of the supply and demand factors impacting the 2022 crop are going to persist way into 2023, what are the prospects for feed costs for farrow-to-finish and swine finishing production in the upcoming year?

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