It will be a challenge to continue to maintain the two bushel per acre yield growth that the state's corn crop has averaged over the past 40 years, Hicks said. Some producers, like Iowan Francis Childs, have been able to maximize corn yields on isolated plots, but there's no recipe for increasing field yields on a consistent basis, Hicks said. Weather has played a major role in increasing corn yields, particularly over the past decade. This year looks to be another terrific year for corn...

Farmers elsewhere in Kentucky also benefited from rains that could prop up yields in the autumn and possibly rejuvenate stagnant pastureland and hay fields to feed hungry cattle. For western Kentucky grain farmer Bill Clift, last week's heavy rains came just in time for his drought-stressed corn crop. Clift said he'll need everything he can get out of his crops to keep ahead of high production costs, which are due largely to the high prices of fuel and fertilizer. Now, he estimated that...

Soil scientists Ardell Halvorson and Arvin Mosier measured trace gases being emitted from conventional and no-till corn systems in an attempt to determine the impact of tilling on global warming. The scientists also studied the effects of nitrogen application on both conventional and no-till irrigated continuous corn yields. Reduced tillage can bring up levels of soil carbon, they found, and no-till soils sequestered significantly more carbon than conventionally tilled soils. However, ARS...

Unless there is a change in the forecast, which we saw over the weekend, it will be very hard to rally the corn market, especially with beans moving lower. On the bull side of the corn market, export inspections were much better than expected and we did see some commercial buying come into the trading pits on the limit down move. Jul 17 2007 09:07 am The Linn Group, Inc The corn market closed limit down as the weather forecast changed over the weekend and the professional traders decided...

NEW YORK -- Commodities prices declined broadly Tuesday as the oil market relinquished its early gains and the weakness spilled into the precious metals market. A barrel of crude oil briefly reached an 11-month high on Tuesday, then retreated as some traders collected profits and gasoline futures fell back. Lead surged nearly 4 percent on the LME to another record high after the world's second-largest lead refiner, Doe Run co., announced sharp production cutbacks at a Missouri refinery...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Commodities prices declined broadly Tuesday as the oil market relinquished its early gains and the weakness spilled into the precious metals market. A barrel of crude oil briefly reached an 11-month high on Tuesday, then retreated as some traders collected profits and gasoline futures fell back. Lead surged nearly 4 percent on the LME to another record high after the world's second-largest lead refiner, Doe Run co., announced sharp production cutbacks at a Missouri...