With some USDA employees furloughed and offices closed, several regular statistical and market reports affecting hay and forage producers have been cancelled or delayed. Here’s an update on what we know.

Now that the baleage is made, take some time to inventory the forage in your baleage and decide how to use it to its best benefit.

This year “blockchain” moved from a little-known buzzword to a commonly used phrase in agriculture. If you missed it, blockchain is a distributed ledger accounting tool that promises better record keeping and reduced transaction costs.

La Crosse Seed has acquired the inventory and brands of Heritage Seed Co. and has also agreed to take over the service and support of Heritage customers.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers' (AEM) November U.S. Ag Tractor and Combine Report shows overall sales remained positive year-to-date.

It’s the time of year when all three spirits of the hay year come into view: past (production), present (stocks) and future (markets). For now, it’s the export market that’s likely causing the most sleepless nights.

Competition is dialing into the export hay market, said U.S. Forage Export Council (USFEC) Director John Szczepanski at the California Alfalfa and Forage Association Symposium in Reno, Nevada.

“The good news is that prices were up on Supreme and Premium quality alfalfa [in early 2018],” said Seth Hoyt as he reported on the state of the Western alfalfa and hay markets at the annual California Forage and Alfalfa Symposium in Reno, Nevada. “The bad news is that prices flipped from May to October.” Hoyt noted the decline in hay prices due to depressed milk prices and struggling dairies, as well as the tariff impact from the trade wars with China as affecting overall prices.

Government policies on both sides of the globe have altered the U.S. hay export picture. But despite the substantial decline in alfalfa hay shipments to China, September exports were the highest since June, totaling more than 229,250 metric tons (MT).

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today issued the following statement regarding the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend the registration of dicamba for two years. The extension is for “over-the-top” use to control weeds in fields for cotton and soybean plants genetically engineered to resist dicamba.