Michigan May Agricultural Prices

Jul 01, 2016

Prices received by Michigan farmers for the full month of May 2016 are listed in the table below.

Some Michigan highlights were: May corn, at $3.75 per bushel, increased $0.04 from April and increased $0.17 from last year; May soybeans, at $9.72 per bushel, increased $0.60 from last month and i ncreased $0.11 from last year; May wheat, at $5.53 per bushel, increased $0.26 from April and decreased $0.36 from last year; May milk, at $13.50 per cwt., decreased $0.50 from last month, and decreased $2.50 from last year. The May Prices Received Index (Agricultural Production), at 94.9, increased 2.0 percent from April 2016. At 90.7, the Crop Production Index increased 5.0 percent. The Livestock Production Index, at 97.9, increased 0.1 percent.

Producers received higher prices for hogs, broilers, dry be ans, and lettuce but lower prices for cattle, milk, strawberries, and market eggs. Compared with a year earlier, the Prices Received Index is down 12 percent, the Crop Production Index up 0.4 percent, and the Livestock Production Index down 20 percent. In addition to prices, the indexes are influenced by the monthly mix of commodities producers market. Increased monthly movement of cattle, hay, sweet corn, and broilers offset the decreased marketing of soybeans, dry beans, calves, and hogs. The Food Commodi ties Index, at 99.0, increased 2.4 percent from the previous month but is down 14 percent from May 2015.

Source:usda.gov

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.