09/14/26 Daily Farm Brief

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello, farmers. Good morning, and welcome to the almost daily farm brief from Farm Tales Unplugged. Current events, trends, a visit to the almanac, and a funny story. About five or six minutes. I think you'll find it useful. I'll try to do it every day. I might miss a couple. It's me here. And I'm like the writer and the editor. So my name is Rick Portanova, and I will be your host for the next five minutes. But stay in touch because every seven to ten days, we're doing a full-blown 30 to 45 minute interview with farmers, people out in the field, uh, and uh egg tech professionals uh looking for a story and identifying problems and then seeing what uh they would uh do if they could solve them. Now, see, I told my iPad not to interrupt me, and I'm not going back to remove that edit. So here we go. Thank you, World TradeX, for being our sponsor, the future of food. It's kind of important. It's Monday, September 14th, 2026. Today, why grain to market is suddenly costing a lot more, a major soybean sale to China, what USDA's latest numbers mean for corn, and later why one Kentucky farm has about 400 ostriches. And yes, I know we talked about ostriches yesterday too. Here's what farmers need to know, and a few things they probably didn't expect. Farm story number one. First up, getting grain to market is getting more expensive. Railroad fuel surcharges on U.S. grain shipments have jumped dramatically over the past year. USDA data reported by Reuters shows those surcharges have increased about a hundred and fifty-three percent, reaching roughly 48 cents per mile per rail car. And the timing couldn't be much worse. Corn and soybean harvest is getting underway just as farmers are already dealing with higher production costs and expensive diesel. Why does this matter to the farmer? Because transportation costs eventually have to be paid by somebody. And in many grain-producing areas, part of that cost can work its way back into the local basis, meaning the price a farmer actually receives can suffer even when the futures market looks pretty good. So this harvest, don't just watch Chicago. Keep an eye on your local basis, transportation cost, and where your grain is actually headed. Here's some additional news. Now, some potentially encouraging news for soybean growers. Chinese buyers have reportedly purchased roughly one million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this week. That is a significant amount of beans, and it matters because China remains one of the most important buyers in the global soybean market. For American farmers, strong export demand can help support prices at exactly the time producers are moving into harvest and deciding whether to sell, store, or wait. It also comes during a period when U.S. soybeans have been competing aggressively with South American supplies. So while one large sale does not guarantee higher prices, it is the kind of demand signal soybean producers want to see. And it is another reminder that sometimes the biggest thing affecting the price of beans in Iowa, Illinois, or Indiana is a purchasing decision made thousands of miles away in China. It's time for the farm business minute. Now let's talk crops. Corn and soybean futures were relatively quiet as traders continued digesting USDA's latest supply and demand numbers. USDA reduced its outlook for both the 2026 corn yield and total corn production. That tightens the corn picture somewhat heading into harvest. The market didn't exactly explode higher on the news, but it gives producers another reason to pay close attention to marketing opportunities as combines begin moving. And this is where today's soybean story becomes even more interesting. When you combine changing U.S. crop expectations with stronger export demand, markets can move quickly, which means this is probably not the time of year to stop watching your bids. Time for the almanac check. All right, today's almanac check. Traditional farmers' almanac guidance considers September 14th a favorable day for starting seed beds and planting appropriate above-ground crops, particularly leafy vegetables. And according to its traditional best days calendar, today is also supposedly a good day to uh cut firewood, dig holes. That was on yesterday's uh list too. Mow the lawn if you want to uh encourage growth, and cut your hair if you want it to grow faster. Now I'm comfortable telling you what USDA thinks corn production is gonna be. Whether getting a haircut today actually causes it to grow faster, I'm gonna leave that decision between you, your barber, and the moon. And finally, today's You Don't Hear That Every Day, a Kentucky operation called Alpha Roost Farms has built a flock of roughly 400 ostriches. Part of the idea began after one of the founders developed Alpha Gal Center, an allergy associated with tick bites that can cause people to react to mammalian meat that led to an unusual agricultural idea: ostrich meat. Ostriches are birds, but their meat is red and can fill a completely different niche than traditional poultry. And the operation reportedly wants to expand to about 700 birds. So somewhere in Kentucky, somebody apparently looked around. They looked around the farm and said, you know what we need? 300 more ostriches. And somehow that may actually be a pretty good business plan. Two stories farmers need to know: a look at the business of agriculture, a little wisdom from the almanac, and a story that reminds us why agriculture is never boring. I'm Rick Portonova. FarmTales Unplugged is brought to you by World TradeX, the future of food. Have a great Monday. We'll see you tomorrow.