The two biggest U.S. competitors for soybean sales on the world market, Brazil and Argentina, are making inroads in the corn market.

The government will write $25.6 billion in farm-support checks for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 crops, and 55% of the money will go to corn and soybean growers, says the Congressional Budget Office. The payments are far larger than expected when the 2014 farm law was written and reflect the prolonged slump in commodity prices. 

The big plunge is over for farm income, which may slip by 2% or 3% this year. That is mild compared with the cumulative 56% drop in 2014 and 2015. USDA forecasts net farm income (a measure of wealth) at $54.8 billion this year. It would be the lowest income figure since 2002.

One of the largest US food companies, General Mills, said it will begin labeling foods that contain genetically modified ingredients.

If crop insurance is a target, no one in Washington has figured out how to hit it, nor is anyone likely to stop trying.

This week, the USDA held its annual Ag Outlook Forum in Arlington, Virginia and released its first crop balance sheet projections for 2016. What did the USDA's data say? More corn than ever, lower farm exports, low crop prices, and potential for consolidat

The third year in a row of low farm income will intensify financial strain on producers and could lead to some agricultural consolidation, said economist Nathan Kauffman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. "2016 is a critical year," he said, for opera

WASHINGTON - U.S. farmers will harvest 13.825 billion bushels of corn and 3.810 billion bushels of soybeans - the third-largest crops ever for corn and soybeans - pushing U.S. supplies to record levels and continuing the decline in commodity prices for a fourth year, said the Agriculture Department on Friday. 

The corn crop would be 2 percent larger than last year and soybeans 3 percent smaller.

U.S. farmers will grow their second-largest corn crop and the third-largest soybean crop ever and see the lowest corn, soybean and wheat prices in a decade when they market them, the Agriculture Department projected at its annual Outlook Forum.

U.S. farm exports will tumble to $125 billion this year, down 10% from 2015 and the lowest sales total since 2010, USDA said in an updated forecast. Smaller sales to China accounts for one-third of the estimated decline of $14.7 billion in U.S. exports fro