New data points to a coming cooling period for earth.
Tag / agriculture
Indiana Agriculture Next Big Threat: Wild Pigs
State DNR officials and hunters are starting to get louder in the growing population of wild pigs in the state.
Urban Sprawl Myth: Americans Have Only Developed About 6% Of Land
As President Trump undoes the federal land grab by the Obama Administration, the environmentalists and left are screaming “Urban Sprawl”. Continue reading →
Indiana dairy boom
Indiana produces A LOT of milk. Continue reading →
USDA: 97% of Farms Owned by Families
USDA came out with some new numbers on who owns farms in America:
About 2.1 million farms in the U.S., 97 percent are what the report calls “family farms,”according to the the USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture Farm Typology.
Other key facts included in the report stated that 88 percent of those 2.1 million farms are classified as “small family farms” — operations with a gross cash farm income (GCFI) of less than $350,000 per year. Those small family farms contribute nearly 60 percent of all direct sales of product from farms to consumers.
Rise of the Pork
Hoosier Ag reporter Cayla McLeland is reporting pork will be on the rise in the near future for the consumer.
Purdue Extension Ag Economist, Dr. Chris Hurt, says expansion could reach seven percent higher by the end of this year.
“Breeding herd has grown by over 212,000 animals over the last year and that’s mostly in the center of the country. The western corn belt breeding herd increased by 105,000 head with Missouri rising by 55,000 animals. Iowa by 40,000 and Minnesota by 10,000 head. The second-largest growth region was down in the southern plains and they’re still recovering, of course, from the long-term drought. Both Texas and Oklahoma have added 20,000 animals to the breeding herd over the last year.”
Consumers faced higher prices a few years back due to farmers thinning herds from the drought and the the PED virus hitting hard last winter.
Read the rest of the article here.
Farmers Buying Most of the Farmland for Sale in 2014
Stumbled upon some interesting data about buyers of farmland while researching farmland value. This comes from AgriNews:
One thing they have noticed, Aupperle said, is that more farmers are purchasing the land. During the first nine months of the year, 71 percent of the land was purchased by farmers or their families.
“Farming community has really stepped up, while outside investors seem to be waiting to see if a correction comes,” Aupperle said. “The farming community has a lot of money from remaining steady for two years and when investors come back, an upward trend should continue.
Hoosier Econ 