How high-tech farming will reshape agriculture

 The Precision Agriculture Revolution  May/June 2015 Issue

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2015-04-20/precision-agriculture-revolution?utm_source=AgFunder+Updates&utm_campaign=197f1fd079-AgFunder_Weekly_Newsletter_May_6_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7b0bb00edf-197f1fd079-97889113 >>

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-feeding-china-hay-20140609-story.html#page=1

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/10/environment-san-diego-megadrought/

Under that clause, he said, regulators could limit the kinds of crops farmers grow, restricting high-water products such as rice, alfalfa and cotton. They could eliminate water subsidies, which allow growers to irrigate at reduced rates.

Hay prices surprisingly stay high levels

July 15, 2014

http://hayandforage.com/marketing/hay-prices-surpisingly-stay-high-levels

Where Next For Hay Prices?

Hay Prices Stand Still In October

USDA reports $177/ton for all hay, $193/ton for alfalfa

Alfalfa brings harvest of environmental benefits

U.S. Hay Stocks Nosedive To Record LowHay stocks were expected to be short, but many market watchers didn’t anticipate levels this low.

Hay Buyers, Sellers Need New Marketing Strategies

Bill Gates finds fertilizer fascinating

May 13, 2013by Ron Smith in Farm Press Blog



Times are good for California agriculture

Apr. 16, 2013

Associated Press

March 28, 2013

Record crop insurance payout stirs subsidy debate

by David Pitt

By: University News Release

U.S. Hay Production and Supplies at Record Low

BLOOMBERG- Feb 14, 2013 2:00 PM MT

STAY CURRENT



UPDATE 1-USDA sees one more boom year for U.S. farmers

Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:57pm EST

Feb 7, 2013 3:14 PM MT

U.S. Soy Supply at 48-Year Low as Brazil Ships Held: Commodities



Drought Still Plagues US: Food Prices 'Going Up'

Published: Friday, 11 Jan 2013



Precision agriculture important for farmers

December 19, 2012



This decade's investment: the agriculture play

By Whitney McFerron - Oct 26, 2012 8:36 AM MT

We keep you informed of news that may affect your investments, as well as economic information from a variety of sources. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-04/food-prices-jump-to-six-month-high-as-dairy-costs-rise.html

 Oct 4, 2012 3:30 AM MT

 Bloomberg News

U.S. Soybean Crop Seen Falling to Nine-Year Low on Drought



• August 9, 2012, 12:31 PM

How to Bet on a Crisis

What would a smart investor have put their money into that day?

Answer: corn for greed, gold for fear.

The two have delivered the equal best total return among major financial assets since August 9^th 2007, according to research by Deutsche Bank, rising by 144%. The need to eat, of course, hasn’t gone away, while weather issues such as this year’s U.S. drought have caused periodic supply concerns.

updated 12:42 PM EDT, Fri August 3, 2012

Record drought is good business for some.

Because if you're a farmer and you have a pivot -- a farming word for irrigation system -- then you're probably not feeling the effects of the drought that is now plaguing more than 60% of the U.S.



Buy farms and food: Grantham

GMO investment veteran sees rising prices, global crisis

July 31, 2012

Among the factors Grantham cites are declines in grain harvests, obstacles to efficient irrigation, bad farming practices that undermine productivity and increasing weather instability including floods, droughts and heat. “The climate is changing,”

“The general assumption is that we need to increase food production by 60% to 100% by 2050 to feed at least a modest sufficiency of calories to all 9 billion+ people plus to deliver much more meat to the rapidly increasing middle classes of the developing world,” Grantham said.

Jeremy Grantham

“I believe that this is substantially optimistic,” he wrote. “Much more likely, we will not come close because there are too many factors that will make growth in food output increasingly difficult.”



Drought of Ideas in Congress Is Worse Than in Farm Belt

Jul 29, 2012

Such a benefit would be on top of existing crop insurance programs, whose total cost this year might amount to as much as $9 billion. This isn’t insurance that compensates farmers for actual losses; it’s a wealth transfer, plain and simple

This was supposed to be the year of farm-bill reform. Congress eliminated the $5 billion in annual direct payments to farmers. But it replaced one indefensible jackpot with another, offering crop insurance that would put at least an additional $3 billion a year into farmers’ pockets, and possibly much more if commodities prices fall.



Drought Worsens for Farmers and Ranchers

“I’ve not got a choice,” Ray Alvis, a farmer, told KY3. “No hay handy, what there is has not got any food value. So, the best thing to do is to sell out and downsize to where I can build back,”

July 19, 2012 6:58 pm

World braced for new food crisis

"The world is facing a new food crisis as the worst US drought in more than 50 years pushes agricultural commodity prices to record highs."



Corn, soybean prices shoot up as drought worsens



GRAINS-Pause after blistering rally, drought still in play

CHICAGO, July 18 (Reuters) - U.S. corn fell on Wednesday in a pause to a 50-percent summer rally sparked by the worst U.S. drought since 1956 as investors cashed out profits, but losses were limited by expectations for the crop to shrink further as the weather remains hot and dry.

A Deshler company is offering free alfalfa seed to farmers in an effort to encourage more to grow the crop used for animal feed.



Worst-In-Generation Drought Dims U.S. Farm Economy Hopes

“It might be a $50 billion event for the economy as it blends into everything over the next four quarters,” said Michael Swanson, agricultural economist at Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) inMinneapolis, the largest commercial agriculture lender. “Instead of retreating from record highs, food prices will advance.”

Corn rockets higher

With low domestic corn inventories and falling expectations for this year's crop, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a research note Monday, "we forecast that high corn prices of $6.90 [a bushel] will be required over the next 12 months to achieve the necessary feed and export demand destruction."

"In particular, further U.S. production losses would require sustained ethanol production cuts, which we estimate takes place with a corn price above $8.00" a bushel, the research note said.



Farmer: Only so much Illinois can do to in response to drought



'We're going to run out of grass. It's shaping up to be scary,' says expert

Ranchers ravaged by fires, drought -- and scarce alfalfa

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/151304/icode/

11 July 2012, Rome - While international agricultural commodity markets appear to have entered calmer conditions after record highs last year, food commodity prices are anticipated to remain on a higher plateau over the next decade, underpinned by firm demand but a slowing growth in global production, according to the latest OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook.