In today’s roundup, get caught up on the latest news about the 2022 planting outlook, national egg supply, and organic dairy production.
Planting Outlook
The 2022 crop mix is shaping up to be a wild ride as farmers try to adjust cropping practices with soaring input prices and volatile crop prices, says Kevin McNew, chief economist at Farmers Business Network (FBN).
FBN unveiled its 2022 Plantings Report on March 29. The results and McNew’s insights can be read in the link below.
On March 31, the USDA will release its Prospective Planting Report. Prior to its release, Kluis Commodity Advisors and Successful Farming wanted to find out what your planting intentions are for 2022, so we teamed up to conduct our own acreage survey.
The results show that corn is still king. Read about the planting intentions below.
Analyst Terry Roggensack writes, “Soybean planting is difficult to predict this year, and several factors are in play. The soybean/corn ratio is currently favoring corn plantings, but it’s hard to keep up with the inputs as fertilizer prices surge to all-time highs.”
Livestock
Due to the rapidly rising numbers of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), consumers may be looking at a shortage of eggs this Easter.
Egg production has not fully recovered from disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the supply has stabilized, it is still well below pre-pandemic numbers.
More than 11 million layer hens have been lost to HPAI since the outbreak started on February 8, with individual operations losing up to 5.3 million birds.
After years of lobbying by organic farmers, the Agriculture Department tightened its rules on how dairy animals — cattle, goats, and sheep — enter organic production, in the name of fairness to farmers and consumers.
The new “origin of livestock” rule would end the practice of cycling dairy animals between organic production and feeding on lower-cost, non-organic rations.
“Now, all organic livestock producers will have the confidence and certainty they are operating in a fair and competitive marketplace,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
A new study published by Kansas State University says it may be beneficial to feed your herd industrial hemp.
Michael Kleinhenz, assistant professor of beef production medicine at Kansas State University and author of this study, says the hemp not only may decrease stress indicators, but it also encourages animals to lie down, which helps cattle ruminate and produce saliva.
