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Quick farm headlines, just the essentials. One acre, roughly 1.7 million heads of lettuce a year. Farm Progress reports a Florida family's greenhouse is doing exactly that. And with fertilizer bills squeezing margins, Egg Web examines whether precise placement can improve returns while protecting long-term soil fertility. Now, today's main stories. Good morning, Farm Nation, and Hello Truck City. This is FarmTale's unplugged daily farm brief for Tuesday, November 3rd. Brought to you by World TradeX empowering farmers. I'm Rick Portanova. China's farm buying pledge is under scrutiny. We'll look at the promise, the purchases, and why farmers are watching. Then a worker cleaning gutter spots a clue to buried gold and silver. We've also got Laser Scarecrows, a Montana family farm trusting customers around the park, and wild turkeys heading upstairs for the night. We'll finish with grain cattle and dairy markets. So grab your coffee, fire up whatever you're driving, and let's find out what was happening while you were busy actually working. A trade promise doesn't empty a grain bin. Buyers do. Back in May, the White House announced that China would buy at least $7 billion a year in American agricultural products through 2028. That was in addition to an earlier soybean commitment. The 2026 amount was to be adjusted for a partial year. Now Reuters' November 2nd analysis finds Chinese purchases of U.S. farm goods other than soybeans heading toward a seven-year low. Those purchases totaled $7.2 billion from January through September. Soybeans are a different story. Reuters says China is on track to meet that separate target. So has China broken the broader agreement? That hasn't been established. The starting date for this year's buying commitment remains unclear. For farmers, there are two separate things to separate: what a government promises to buy and what customers actually purchase. An export announcement can raise expectations. Orders and shipments are what turn those expectations into business. That's why this deserves watching beyond the handshake. Most gutter cleaning jobs end with wet leaves. This one helped uncover a treasure. Eggweb reports that a couple bought a farmhouse in southern Middle Tennessee. Later, a worker on a ladder noticed sunlight reflecting near a stone wall. Rain had exposed metal jar lids. They dug out five quart-sized mason jars packed with gold and silver coins. This happened in 2018. It is just surfacing on the web. Nashville dealer Kyle Dunmar bought the collection for an undisclosed sum. Who buried it remains uncertain. And his advice to anyone finding old coins resist the urge to polish them. Cleaning can damage their collector value. Apparently, that farmhouse came with a savings account nobody mentioned. High tech moment. Birds don't need a whole season to ruin corn. A flock can damage ears just as they're ready to sell. University of Rhode Island researcher Rebecca Brown has spent years testing a different kind of scarecrow, a moving green laser. Her research device sweeps light across the corn tassels, discouraging birds from settling down to feed. It works quietly without the boom of a propane cannon. The important part is keeping that light moving and reaching the crop. Rolling ground or blocked views can leave gaps. Later research involving starlings also found reduced damage, but results varied with conditions and distance. So this isn't a guarantee of bird-free fields, and it isn't a brand new invention. It's a developing tool with real trials behind it. Your old scarecrow stood there hoping to look scary. This one keeps moving. There isn't one. A MultiA's Dairy Honor System Stand is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers choose their produce, add up the total, and pay with cash, Venmo, or a contactless card payment. The shelves carry vegetables and other goods, including carrots, beets, greens, and cheese. The family has operated the dairy since 2000 and expanded into vegetables about 15 years ago. Vegetable grower Nate Brown told Montana Egg Network the stand has exceeded expectations since opening in May. More customers have meant more trips to restock. That's useful for people whose schedules don't fit a farmer's market and another way for the farm to sell its harvest nearby. One customer said supporting her neighbors was part of the appeal. An old-fashioned honor system with a modern way to tap your card. Farm folklore, turkeys in the treetops. If a wild turkey disappears from the pasture around sunset, look up before you assume it walked away. Turkeys can fly, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes their evening routine. Fly to a lower tree limb, then work upward from branch to branch to a high sleeping spot. Those big birds often roost together. Getting above ground helps protect them from predators. But their nests are down on the ground. A sleeping place and a place to lay eggs are different things. That gives you something to watch along a wooded field edge near dusk. Birds gathering below, then lifting into the branches. Watch quietly from a distance so you don't scare them. A turkey may spend its day walking around like it owns the pasture. At night, it takes the upstairs room. Now, Monday's market closed for November 2nd. December corn finished at 448.25 a bushel up half a cent. January soybeans closed at 12.16 and three quarters a bushel, down 17.5 cents. December Chicago wheat settled at 6.06.5 a bushel, up three cents. December Live Cattle closed at $219.70 per 100 weight down 125. January feeder cattle settled at 332.68 per 100 weight up 90 cents. And December Class 3 milk was last quoted at 17.07 per hundredweight up 33 cents. And if you'd like more information about any of the topics we've covered, there's a matching expanded blog for every episode we release. You'll find it on our website, farmtailsunplugged.com. And there you have it. That's your FarmTales Unplugged daily farm brief for Tuesday, November 3rd. Brought to you by World TradeX empowering farmers. I'm Rick Portanova, and I'll see you tomorrow morning.