Market Features
Season 49
ClipSeason49Episode4936
In 2019, the U.S. ran its first agricultural trade deficit in nearly six decades. Exports were still generally on an upward trend so few expressed concerns that imports had increased even more. But soon it happened twice again: in 2020 and 2023.
ClipSeason49Episode4936
Senate focuses on Biden trade policies as U.S. Trade Representative is called testify in the Senate Finance Committee.
ClipSeason49Episode4935
For nearly a decade, the nation's spotlight has shone squarely on livestock when it comes to concerns about antibiotic resistance. But now the global discussion is slowly bringing pet care into the discussion.
ClipSeason49Episode4935
The Search for Alternative Sources of Natural Rubber
ClipSeason49Episode4934
Analysis of H5N1 avian flu samples have confirmed the infection has passed from birds to dairy cattle for the first time.
ClipSeason49Episode4934
The early April storm was no joke across much of the eastern United States as every state east of I-35 had some type of noteworthy weather report generated this week.
ClipSeason49Episode4934
An expert says the United States took its foot off the gas pedal with the management of wild pigs, which pose a future threat.
ClipSeason49Episode4932
Across South Dakota, rural residents have been able to take advantage of improved broadband and make a business in an isolated rural area viable.
ClipSeason49Episode4932
This week, the House Agriculture Committee held hearings over the potential economic threats on rural America by China.
ClipSeason49Episode4931
March may have come in like a lamb, but it is becoming a lion.
ClipSeason49Episode4931
While many segments of agriculture were having a relatively strong year, the pork industry got pounded in 2023.
ClipSeason49Episode4931
This week, the USDA announced more proposed rules to level the playing field between meat producers and processors.
ClipSeason49Episode4930
Power lines are being blamed for starting the largest wildfire in Texas history.
ClipSeason49Episode4930
This week, the USDA released a new rule for the Packers and Stockyards Act, policies that oversee the meat industry in the United States.
ClipSeason49Episode4929
Seven states are up against the clock to get a water deal reached over the Colorado River and who gets what allotment. As the 2026 deadline approaches, the food versus cities debate simmers over the precious resource. Kathryn Sorensen is the director of the Kyle Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.
ClipSeason49Episode4928
What began as an experiment has turned into a side business for a Minnesota farmer.
ClipSeason49Episode4927
Even as economic reports have kept coming, the pace of government has slowed with few bills headed to open debate on the House or Senate floor.
ClipSeason49Episode4927
Submerged in brackish waters along the Connecticut coastline, newly nested oyster beds are helping restore the environment and protect generations of family tradition in New England aquaculture.
ClipSeason49Episode4926
Farmer protests expanded across the European Union this week. Farmers in Bulgaria and Italy blocked traffic with their tractors in the expanding movement.
ClipSeason49Episode4926
Conversations about money and land can get awkward and heated in short order. Clint Fischer advices clients to assume nothing and work from there when having the talk about farm transitions.
ClipSeason49Episode4926
Weeks of bitter cold weather with sub-zero temperatures have given way to another warm weather week with unseasonably high temperatures.
ClipSeason49Episode4925
Northwest Missouri farmer John Hickman remembers motorists slowing down to stare as they passed his first no-till field in 1983. The practice of leaving crop ground undisturbed until planting was uncommon enough that a lot of rubber-necking took place. Jump ahead 40 years and 74 percent of North Central and Midwest cropland acres are either no-till or reduced till.
ClipSeason49Episode4925
After stalling in the middle portion of 2023, the last six months of land values showed resilience. Farmers National Company attributed the performance to commodity prices and the just how much cash was in farmers' pockets.
ClipSeason49Episode4924
German lawmakers approved cuts to farmers’ fuel subsidies this week stoking the fire already burning between farmgate and the halls of government. Farmers in the Netherlands are expressing their anger over the cuts with their own blockades on the highways between Amsterdam and Brussels.
ClipSeason49Episode4924
Over the past two months, protests by European Union farmers have been staged across Germany, the Netherlands and Romania railing against new EU regulations and cuts to agricultural subsidies.
ClipSeason49Episode4924
The University of Missouri's genetically edited hog herd helped researcher Kiho Lee secure a $3-million grant to help scientists better pinpoint any unintended consequences of their gene work.
ClipSeason49Episode4924
The weather picture changed dramatically as the frigid air moved out, rain moved in - prompting melting in the Grain Belt. Meanwhile in the South, heavy rain lead to flooding.
ClipSeason49Episode4923
This week, business leaders, top politicians and political activists gathered at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
ClipSeason49Episode4923
Ash trees with thinning, upper canopies, flecked bark damage and shoots of new branches at the trunk have become an all too common site across the country.
ClipSeason49Episode4923
Ice in the West, snow and cold in much of the country in strong winter pattern.
ClipSeason49Episode4921
Iowa has been in some form of drought for more than 4 years - the longest streak since 1958. California ended its extensive drought streak last year at this time - but 2024 is reverting back to the dry times in the Golden State. David Miller reports.
ClipSeason49Episode4921
The help wanted sign is hung in nearly every business’ door. Along rural main streets - the posting may go unanswered for a longer period of time. Some industries and communities have taken creative routes to grow the next set of employees through specialized high school classes. Peter Tubbs has more in our Cover Story.
ClipSeason49Episode4920
More than 500 flights were canceled out of Denver, Colorado as blizzard conditions struck a region accustomed to high snow amounts.
ClipSeason49Episode4920
Major outbreaks in storms, drought and heat headlined the year. So too, was a lack of progress on a Farm Bill among other items on the agenda for Congress.
ClipSeason49Episode4919
Politicians, industry leaders and farmers object to rail closure at U.S. border; Panama Canal shipping, low water on the Mississippi and Red Sea shippers take a new route.
ClipSeason49Episode4919
The 2023 World Food Prize Laureate Heidi Kuhn turned from her career in journalism to replacing land mines with vines in war-torn regions of the world.
ClipSeason49Episode4919
The East Coast led off the week with a wind swept mess that took at least five lives.
ClipSeason49Episode4918
Global trade adds about 11 percent to U.S. GDP. China is a big factor in that number.
ClipSeason49Episode4918
As response plans were being formulated following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Risk Management Agency, the USDA unit that handles crop insurance, announced a plan it hoped would boost production inside the U.S. to offset any losses in the former Soviet Union’s breadbasket.
ClipSeason49Episode4917
If everything goes according to plan, the reduction in GHGs is expected to hold worldwide temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.
ClipSeason49Episode4917
There is a study that suggests lowering the subsidy rate for high income farm operations could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
ClipSeason49Episode4917
Professional loggers would like Midwest farmers to glance up from their fields to what they see as an overlooked resource.
ClipSeason49Episode4916
In a recent decision, a federal circuit court ruled the EPA had invoked an “impermissibly retroactive” standard to hold a group of refineries to the terms of the RFS.
ClipSeason49Episode4916
Producers work to handle recent HPAI outbreaks.
ClipSeason49Episode4916
Water usage rises as alfalfa gains popularity between foreign and domestic land owners. Now policy changes may be coming to know how much water is being pumped from the ground.
ClipSeason49Episode4914
This week, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping got together in California for their first face to face meeting in nearly a year.
ClipSeason49Episode4914
This week, the House voted to keep the United States government open for another nine weeks.
ClipSeason49Episode4914
Several issues overhang trade relations with Mexico, the United States' second largest trading partner.
ClipSeason49Episode4913
A recent trip to India helps provide insight on areas of strength and improvement while providing opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
ClipSeason49Episode4913
In February of last year, High Pathogenic Avian Influenza returned to U.S. commercial flocks after a several year hiatus. Producers in Iowa, one of the country’s top poultry producing states, have seen new cases in just the last few months.
ClipSeason49Episode4912
Many Americans likely missed hearing about the regulatory shift a few years ago inside USDA allowing exemptions or speedier approvals of certain genetically altered plants. Inside a plant science center in St. Louis, however, plant researchers working on teff and other grains absolutely had the new rule on their radar.
ClipSeason49Episode4912
Rural America was the target for at least three cabinet members and the president himself this week.
ClipSeason49Episode4912
Subsidies for crop insurance may be increasing the cost of weather loss, according to an environmental advocacy group.
ClipSeason49Episode4911
The annual event in Iowa brings together big thinkers from various government, foundations and private industries all in an effort to enhance food security.
ClipSeason49Episode4911
On Sunday, a delegation that included China’s Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng, (ZHAY- Fehng), visited the Rick Kimberley farm in Maxwell, Iowa. The farm is the site of the 2012 visit by then Vice President of China Xi Jinping.
ClipSeason49Episode4910
Plans for a multi-state CO2 pipeline project were scrapped Friday. Navigator CO2 Ventures announced they are canceling a bid to transport carbon dioxide from ethanol plants to underground sequestration locations.
ClipSeason49Episode4910
The vote to find a new Speaker of the House has delayed much of the legislative process in Washington D.C. while also creating uncertainty for key bills close to the finish line.
ClipSeason49Episode4908
Safety is top of mind for fifth generation Nebraska row crop producer Zach Hunnicutt. He was just a child when his grandfather’s brother died in a grain bin accident.
ClipSeason49Episode4908
Two large California producers are suing smaller operators and land owners over the use of water.
ClipSeason49Episode4907
Russia and China caused shock waves on the fertilizer market over the last two years, but those movements have calmed.
ClipSeason49Episode4907
Hearing Held Over Foreign Farmland Ownership
ClipSeason49Episode4906
Another summer of limited rain has greatly impacted shipping along the Mississippi River.
ClipSeason49Episode4906
An online search for: “Who was the first female veterinarian in the United States,” generates top results that are a bit misleading. It wasn’t Dr. Florence Kimbell, nor Dr. Elinor McGrath. The search should have favored a woman who graduated seven years earlier: Dr. Mignon Nicholson.
ClipSeason49Episode4906
During opening debate at the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defended his country’s attempts at maintaining port access to the Black Sea, which allows Ukrainian grain to be exported to global markets.
ClipSeason49Episode4905
For more than a year, a group of landowners and activists have been pushing back against the permitting and construction of the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline. If it gets the greenlight, the project will stretch across 2,000 miles of five Midwestern states.
ClipSeason49Episode4905
The market for sustainable aircraft fuel continues to grow, and the biofuel industry hopes it will replace biofuels usage as vehicles consume smaller volumes in the future.
ClipSeason49Episode4905
Iowa senator sees extension likely in Farm Bill if no deal completed by Christmas.
ClipSeason49Episode4904
Donald Wentzel, a feed mill owner who had worked as a trader at the Chicago Board of Trade, decided in the 1950s that the modest U.S. duck meat industry, then largely centered on New York’s Long Island, was based in the wrong place. He thought it would make more sense to raise the birds on less expensive real estate in a place where the corn and soybeans used in the birds’ feed was grown.
ClipSeason49Episode4904
A section of a proposed CO2 pipeline was rejected this week. The South Dakota Public Utilities Board unanimously voted to deny Navigator CO2 Venture’s application to construct a CO2 pipeline on the basis that it did not satisfy multiple criteria in the application process.
ClipSeason49Episode4904
Weather conditions in the northern hemisphere were hot again in August while corn and soybean conditions drop to their lowest levels since 2012.
ClipSeason49Episode4903
As Congress prepares to return from summer recess, the push to finish a Farm Bill gains strength and observers, including the insurance industry.
ClipSeason49Episode4903
The problem of food insecurity may have another ally - Artificial Intelligence. Once the issue of efficiency is solved then the problem of fairness in distribution comes into play. AI could also assist in making sure food is used and not wasted due to logistical constraints.
ClipSeason49Episode4903
Unpermitted development will be allowed in many wetland areas across the country under details released by the Environmental Protection Agency this week.
ClipSeason49Episode4902
This week, the Iowa Utilities Board began what is expected to be several weeks of evidentiary hearings. When they are finished, the Board will determine if a construction permit will be granted for the controversial Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline.
ClipSeason49Episode4902
For the first time in 84 years, a tropical storm hit the West Coast of the U.S. Meantime, the heat of summer was turned to extreme this week with 126 million Americans in some form of heat advisory.
ClipSeason49Episode4902
Farming is often a balancing act between environmental sustainability and financial viability. On one side, you are out to make money and on the other, you are protecting your most valuable economic resource.
ClipSeason49Episode4901
Victor Tsvyk harvested 170,000 bushels of wheat this month. But after Russia exited a wartime deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain to other parts of the world, he has no idea where his bounty will go or how his farm will survive.
ClipSeason49Episode4901
While the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the global economy, the repercussion carved into rural America was its own animal. Advocates say unemployment, mental health and food security issues hammered many areas already in the midst of long-term decline.
ClipSeason49Episode4901
Mexico and the U.S. have reached an impasse over an import ban on genetically modified corn.
Season 48
ClipSeason48Episode4823
A coalition of 18 farm and industry groups sue the EPA over the new Waters of the United States rule.
ClipSeason48Episode4823
Another round of atmospheric river of moisture flows out to California helping ease drought, but cause several problems in the wake of the system.
ClipSeason48Episode4821
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule last week that reverts the definition of “Waters of the United States” to its Reagan-era origins.
ClipSeason48Episode4821
Maple Leaf Farms, along with Culver Duck, a nearby competitor, have helped push Indiana to the number one spot in the nation when it comes to raising duck, selling 14.5 million, almost 60 percent of the nation’s total.
ClipSeason48Episode4821
Coastal California dealt several rounds of wind and water while the Southeast is hit with massive rain storms and severe weather.
ClipSeason48Episode4820
Weather and policy stories are constant each year. Themes emerged in 2022 of higher land, fertilizer and commodity prices. But what fell, or didn’t fall is what made headlines this year. This look back is our Cover Story.
ClipSeason48Episode4820
Weather swings continue to whipsaw everyone as the switch flips from subzero to spring-like conditions across the country. While next week is predicted to be a bit milder, the past week was a wake-up call that it’s still winter.
ClipSeason48Episode4819
Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig was inspired from her short time in Europe before returning stateside in work for NASA. Framework started in her graduate studies have served as roadmaps for the United Nations and the formation of AgMIP.
ClipSeason48Episode4819
Farmland values in Iowa saw huge increases in value, mimicking increases in national farmland values.
ClipSeason48Episode4818
The water level of the Mississippi River has improved in recent weeks, but the river remains too low for normal shipping volumes.
ClipSeason48Episode4818
Backups at ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have left cargo ships stacked up waiting to unload creating headaches for businesses wanting to get their goods in or out of the U.S. interior, and they're looking for other options.
ClipSeason48Episode4817
The Rocky Mountains make a picturesque backdrop for the daily routine of Nick Trainor, a fifth generation cattle rancher based in Watkins, Colorado.
ClipSeason48Episode4814
The insects traveling during this drone launch by M3 Agriculture Technologies are codling moths, the bane of existence for many pear and apple orchard owners.
ClipSeason48Episode4814
Biden and Xi meet to talk issues. Former Ambassador Branstad adds his take on the meeting.
ClipSeason48Episode4813
The look forward comes in the form of elections and is less concrete just days after the polls closed. A few races are still too close to call and keep in doubt who moves into majority or minority positions. Peter Tubbs has our election wrap up.
ClipSeason48Episode4813
China, Mexico, Japan and Colombia all took more than 1 billion bushels of U.S. corn in 2021. The number two destination upheld a change in the type of yellow corn they’ll let in the country. David Miller reports.
ClipSeason48Episode4813
New outbreaks of HPAI were reported this week in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, Washington and Pennsylvania. Nearly every state has dealt with infections this time, but many things have been learned since the last big outbreak eight years ago. Colleen Bradford Krantz reports in our Cover Story.
ClipSeason48Episode4812
As American's cast their vote on Tuesday, who wins will greatly impact details of the rewrite of the next Farm Bill.
ClipSeason48Episode4812
Last year we all heard about big logistical challenges at ports of call in the U.S.. Now the transportation challenge involving boats and water is an inland one along the Mississippi River.
ClipSeason48Episode4812
This week, the administration made good on its promise and announced the release of more than $223 million in grants and loans to help small and mid-sized processing plants expand or come back online.
ClipSeason48Episode4811
Continued shorter rain fall has limited flow eventually into the Mississippi River prompting lesser loads of goods in both directions.
ClipSeason48Episode4811
Ten years ago this week, Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast. It increased the volume of the calls to address global climate change. Today, the same pleas are being made and not much has changed in that timeframe. Peter Tubbs looks at the reports issued this week.
ClipSeason48Episode4811
The fall foliage in Northwest Connecticut provides an idyllic backdrop for Freund’s Farms, a dairy operation where the management practices are designed to ensure the family farm’s future.
ClipSeason48Episode4810
The last five years have proven expensive in storm damage. Totals from NOAA cite a winter storm, four wildfires and two hurricanes as the most expensive period ever, totaling $765 billion in damage.
Pagination
Season 47
ClipSeason47Episode4752
During the megadrought, Colorado and Nebraska fight over water rights.
ClipSeason47Episode4752
When is a recession a recession - The chair of the Chicago Fed speaks.
ClipSeason47Episode52
As years-long arid conditions grip the western U.S., producers in Europe are enduring their continent’s worst drought in decades.
ClipSeason47Episode4751
Several thousand residents are still waiting for power and drinking water to be restored.
ClipSeason47Episode4751
Duluth and Cleveland ports are both now handling dedicated container ships, hoping to help ease congestion elsewhere.
ClipSeason47Episode4750
After rallying in vain against the Dakota Access Pipeline, activists in Iowa brought reinforcements to push back on a new proposal to transport a different hazardous material beneath the state’s fertile landscapes.
ClipSeason47Episode4750
Monday, the House Ag Committee held its fourth listening session of the year in Rice County, Minnesota. The previous session had occurred in the Western United States, and speakers there focused on water issues.
ClipSeason47Episode4749
The 2021 growing season offered a challenging dry-weather test for many sunflower-growing regions, and some may struggle this year as well.
ClipSeason47Episode4749
This week, the House Ag Committee held a hearing on possible changes to the crop insurance system that subsidizes the prices farmers pay to insure their crops against weather loss.
ClipSeason47Episode4749
Culling the herd to stay above water.
ClipSeason47Episode4748
Harvest is underway in Ukraine despite nearby fields being on fire and the need to avoid shell holes or unexploded ordnance.
ClipSeason47Episode4748
Iowa is a leader in several farm commodities, but collateral damage – in the form of runoff-impaired waterways – has spurred legal actions designed to thwart pollution linked to agriculture. While ultimately dismissed, those moves may have helped cultivate renewed interest in farm conservation.
ClipSeason47Episode4748
Owners of small and medium size meat processors gather to examine what the future might hold for their industry.
ClipSeason47Episode4747
New rules for drones may help agriculture.
ClipSeason47Episode4747
A derecho damaged crops in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.
ClipSeason47Episode4747
Holiday week is a good time for a crop progress report with two producers we spoke to in the spring. Here's Paul Thomas and Cameron Peirce.
ClipSeason47Episode4746
Sec. Tom Vilsack announces new initiatives in a trip to the Midwest.
ClipSeason47Episode4746
The R-CALF challenge to the constitutionality of the Beef Checkoff was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
ClipSeason47Episode4746
Shawn Tiffany was recently in front of the Senate Agriculture committee testifying on a litany of bills aimed at the livestock industry. As an independent owner/operator, the story is personal to his family and community.
ClipSeason47Episode4745
Senate Ag Committee opens a gate for cattle producers
ClipSeason47Episode4745
Less than 10 years ago, casinos, local business and governments parlayed their influence into a deal with the Iowa legislature – to phase-out millions in state gaming subsidies which had kept tracks afloat even as dog racing declined nationwide. This year the well ran dry.
ClipSeason47Episode4745
The Supreme Court of the United States rejected an appeal from Bayer AG to shut down thousands of lawsuits over the safety of glyphosate.
ClipSeason47Episode4744
Historic flooding in Yellowstone National Park will likely close parts of the destination for months. Much of the U.S. also baked under 100 degree temps as summer is just beginning.
ClipSeason47Episode4744
The WTO chief insisted that trade has lifted 1 billion people out of poverty, but poorer countries – and poor people in richer ones – are often left behind.
ClipSeason47Episode4744
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the deepening drought in the western U.S.
ClipSeason47Episode4743
California producer Joe Del Bosque is entering another year of growing several crops with less water from the sky and his allotment. Our conversation looks his farm, water story and hopes for the pending harvest.
ClipSeason47Episode4743
The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to California's Prop 12 this fall.
ClipSeason47Episode4743
On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight and Department Operations invited witnesses to discuss the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP and the Farm Safety Net.
ClipSeason47Episode4742
The USDA announced funds for a series of projects intending to make the U.S. food system more resilient.
ClipSeason47Episode4742
In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic triggered economic fallout leading to job losses for tens of millions in the U.S. alone. For one recent college graduate, being laid-off was the final nudge he needed to branch-out - by returning to his roots.
ClipSeason47Episode4741
The Russian blockade of Ukraine may keep millions of tons of grain off of global markets, would could lead to famine in dozens of countries.
About the Show
For more than four decades, Market to Market has covered the issues affecting the more than $1 trillion business of agriculture. Whether it’s global trade conflicts, environmental controversies, changing technologies or emerging enterprises, our reporters make it their business to explain the issues faced by the nearly 60 million people who live and work in rural America. And Market to Market’s team of experienced analysts has a long history of providing expert analysis of the major commodity markets and delivering insight into trends and strategies that help producers and processors cope with changing times.