Increasingly bullish economic data and recent comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have quashed market hopes for an interest rate cut sometime this year. A shifting view on the direction of the Federal Reserve s benchmark interest rate has roiled the commodities markets this week. Now, fears that the Fed won t cut rates or may raise them have pressured the commodities markets, and gold in particular. Crude oil prices shed more than $1, agriculture futures traded lower and most of the...

The futures soybean market is supported, though, because traders are thinking more soybean acres are needed in South America. With strong corn prices, the market wants to be certain that South America plants enough soybean acres to keep global supplies well stocked. McDaniel thinks the United States will need to raise at least an additional 3-5 million acres of corn in 2008 to meet the increasing demand of corn for ethanol. That's because there is a strong local market for corn, while...

Although it's early in the season, reports from the field indicate that the season is shaping up to be a good one for field crops in the county. Growing degree days, or heat units, are measured with a mathematical formula that adds the day's high temperature to the day's low temperature, divides that number by 2 to get the average temperature, and then subtracts 50, which is the minimum growing temperature. Vegetable and fruit crops may face some difficulties, but it is still too early in...

Action Points Explain to interested patients that adding soy to the diet to replace some of the protein may be particularly beneficial for hypertensive postmenopausal women. In a prospective trial, replacing 25 grams of protein with half a cup of soy nuts (dry-roasted soybeans) lowered systolic blood pressure 9. Caution interested patients that the blood pressure effects found in the study were found using whole soybeans and previous studies have failed to find a similar benefit for...

The market is disregarding historically high planting progress and crop ratings, looking more on long-range concerns amid outlooks for shrinking inventories in the 2007-08 marketing year. However, overbought market conditions may produce some profit-taking if the market fails to attract follow-through buying. Department of Agriculture's global ending stock levels for the four main vegoils-palm oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil {also known as canola), and sunflower seed oil-have fallen for the...

The Rhoads ask them to sign a guest book, then walk them out to the huge wind turbine 700 feet behind their old farmhouse. Elmer Rhoads, 69, has testified about the benefits of wind power before zoning commissions and county boards throughout central Illinois. It is the first commercial wind farm in Illinois, producing enough electricity to power 13,000 homes. The turbines, which stand about 300 feet to the tip of the blade, dominate the landscape along U. Elmer Rhoads was born in the...