2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour: Kansas

Jul 06, 2015

Fifth state in a 12-state tour

Farms.com’s Risk Management team, led by Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino, are on a 12-state tour along the US Corn Belt. So far they’ve visited Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. The fifth state to be visited was Kansas.

Throughout the previous four states, excessive moisture seemed to be a significant contributor to crops being behind schedule and not performing as well as anticipated.

In Kansas, it appears to be the opposite where the farmers in the state need some moisture to keep their yields up.

“In the month of June, this state hasn’t gotten as much rain as some of those other states,” said Agostino in front of a corn field near Melvern, Kansas. “If they can get the rain in the next couple months, I think they have a really good crop in the making but it’s a hit and miss. If they don’t get the rain, you’re going to shave some of the top end on yield.”

“As long as we get the rain here in the next week or two to help fill it, we’ll be alright,” said a farmer from Kansas as he held an ear of corn. “It depends on July and August moisture for us. We have to get the rain”

The soybean fields in Kansas appear to be struggling with the inconsistent weather.

“The beans are short, they should be knee-high,” Agostino said. “They were planted late and they’re just barely out of the ground. In Kansas there’s 530,000 acres of beans left to be planted.”

Be sure to follow the 2015 US Crop Tour on Twitter using the hashtag #CornBelt15. The tour’s next state stop will be Nebraska.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.