Tariffs have now been a topic of US debate for nearly 10 years. The debate has many compartments, but assistance for US manufacturing has been a consistent theme. This article proposes that parallels exist between the creation of a US farm safety net and the current debate, suggesting tariffs could be emerging as the cornerstone of a US manufacturing safety net.

Average per acre returns to soybean production have exceeded those for corn production in 10 out of the 13 crop years from 2013 to 2025. The opposite was true over…

The US has entered one of its reoccurring eras of concern over concentrated markets and what economists call monopoly pricing. Three intertwined lessons from the long history of market concentration and monopoly pricing in public policy and economic thought are discussed: (1) monopoly pricing depends on barriers to market entry not number and size of firms, (2) entry barriers come in many forms, and (3) reducing monopoly pricing can lead to higher prices and less production.

Farm growth expectations vary among U.S. farms, and those expectations appear to be linked to how producers view their financial position, investment opportunities, and the broader outlook for agriculture.  Results…

Conservation practices operate within dynamic biological, operational, and economic systems shaped heavily by weather variability. Previous articles in this series explored how spring planting windows and fieldwork conditions may alter risks associated with timing-sensitive conservation practices such as cover crops. This article extends that discussion by comparing those potential risks with conservation incentive payments.

The Clean Fuel Production Credit, enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act and often referred to simply as “45Z,” remains the subject of much attention. For farmers, interest has centered on the possibility that “low carbon” grain could receive price premiums if biofuel producers begin to place greater value on feedstocks with lower carbon intensity scores. This article begins a discussion of the 45Z tax credit with particular attention to potential impacts for Midwest corn and soybean farmers.