Financial liabilities are a present obligation arising from past decisions. While some operators can operate without borrowing, many farm operations cannot operate with the use of borrowed capital. This article considers the structure of average debt obligations on the balance…

The market impact of small refinery exemptions (SREs) granted under the RFS remains a highly contentious issue. From a regulatory standpoint, there is no doubt that SREs opened a backdoor mechanism for the EPA to reduce the statutorily-mandated RFS volumes.…

As discussed previously, the 2018 Farm Bill’s inclusion of an escalator provision for PLC alters that program and would likely have increased PLC payments if it had been in operation during the 2008 to 2017 crop years. The forecast for…

Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) was created after the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill.  Before 2019, most farmers in the Midwest could not use SCO because SCO is only available if Price Loss Coverage (PLC) is selected as the method…

Hog prices have been struggling so far this year. USDA reports that live prices in January and February have averaged below $40 for the first time in over a decade. In February, USDA estimated live prices were $39.04 per hundredweight,…

A recent farmdoc daily article examined the prospects for cattle finishing net returns in 2019 (here). This article elaborates on the factors impacting feeding cost of gain and cattle finishing net returns. After dropping below $75 per cwt in May…