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Add protection against rising input costs by adding Margin Protection coverage to your 2022 crop insurance plan.
Right now there is a lot of volatility in both the grain and input markets. 2022 corn and soybean market prices are currently at prices that allow most producers to operate at a profitable level, but rising fuel and input costs may change that picture. A Margin Protection Plan allows you to set a 2022 price of $5.06 for corn and $12.56 for soybeans now. Margin Protection is an area-based insurance plan that provides coverage against an unexpected decrease in operation margin caused by reduced county yields, reduced grain prices, increased prices of certain inputs, or any combination of these events.
Margin Protection Features
Coverage up to 95% of the trend-adjusted county yield and revenue.
Protection factors up to 1.2.– MP can pay up to $1.20 for every dollar of loss.
Highly subsidized to keep farmer premiums at a low level.
A premium credit is applied to MP when purchased with an underlying policy such [ … ]
Logistics Whipsaw
The Logistics Whipsaw for US Agriculture
US ag is getting a logistical whipsaw from international shipping companies due to the Wuhan China Coronavirus pandemic. Ports are experiencing unprecedented shipping delays due to a shortage of dock workers who are out due to either illness from the virus, or being quarantined from getting exposure to an infected person. Here is a link to a video that the U.S. Coast Guard made of the ships that are waiting to unload off one California port.: https://s29755.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/DOD_108183439-1024×576-1769k-6025cee060084-1.mp4 As you can see, there are thousands of containers that are backed up on the dock as well as dozens of ships at sea waiting to unload. The US ag chemical industry relies on many products which are produced in Asian countries, and many of those delayed containers are full of the active ingredients which need to be shipped to US formulation plants and converted into crop protection [ … ]
Mid Winter Update-ExactApply
The days are starting to get longer and we are all beginning to enjoy a little more sunshine as the winter fades into spring of 2021. This is the time of year many enjoy vacations to warm destinations or the many activities in our wonderful outdoors here in the Midwest. I particularly enjoy ice fishing with friends from the warmth of an insulated hut. It is a good time to reflect on past results and make plans for the future before the busyness of Spring rolls around. 2021 marks Quality Ag’s 25th year in business and we are kicking it off with a very important investment for you, our customers.
Your fields will be sprayed a little differently by us here in 2021 than in previous years. In the same way that GPS guidance has essential eliminated foam markers for sprayer navigation, you will now be seeing the newest innovation in [ … ]
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas 2020 from all of us here at Quality Ag. Thank you very much to all of our customers, vendors, and associates of all sorts. I’d like to take “Merry Christmas” to a little deeper level today. Obviously we are celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world. God has become man-incarnate. This has happened because of the Lord’s love for us, and because of one woman’s “yes”. Mary is the mother of Jesus, the mother of God, and also our mother. She told God “yes” and it was done according to God’s word. We all have an earthly mother and through the incarnation-the birth-of Jesus, we now also have a heavenly mother with Mary.
This Christmas season of 2020, we will have many opportunities to both be thankful and helpful and charitable, as well of plenty of things to complain about. The world has not been in [ … ]
Pearl Harbor Day
Thanks and blessings to all who have served our country today. Here’s a bit of history if you did not already know it:
It was Sunday, December 7th, 1941–Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington, DC. He was paged to the phone and it was president Roosevelt. He told Admiral Nimitz what had happened at Pearl Harbor and that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.
Admiral Nimitz made arrangements and flew immediately to Hawaii. When he landed at Pearl Harbor, there was such a spirit of despair, dejection, and defeat that you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.
Admiral Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere he looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, “Well [ … ]
2021 Crop Expenses
2021 Crop Expenses and Breakevens- a Planning Discussion
By Joe Sinclair. November 11, 2020
We are only 5 months away from beginning to plant our 2021 crop, so now is the time to start planning for it. It may seem like an undesirable exercise to begin so soon after the current crop has been harvested, but it still needs to be done. This blog post is NOT intended to be a “down to the penny” analysis for your crop expenses, but will serve as a beginning to your planning where you can put in the expenses for YOUR own enterprise-which will be different than any other enterprise on the planet.
To begin, our commodity prices are higher, so we can raise our yield goals if our costs are not raised significantly. As always, our number one cost is our land cost. Some farms are too high at free rent and others are cheap [ … ]
Mid-Harvest 2020 Yields Report
Mid-Harvest 2020 Yields Report
Our 2020 harvest is underway, and results are mixed. We can however, make a few generalizations about how 2020 turned out. Here’s a link to the current Midwest drought map:
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?Midwest
As you can see, we are in a drought. Droughts take extended time to develop, but we can get a flood in one night.
As the drought developed, our earliest corn was not hurt as badly as our later corn- so our early maturing corn which was planted early has been yielding over 200 bushels in most soils with a CSR over 65. The lighter ground is still good -160 plus. The later (replant) corn was flowering during the July/August heat and wind. It is 30-40% behind our early corn.
In Southern Iowa, we need August rain to get good soybean yields. We didn’t get it. Especially damaged by the drought were our earliest varieties which were planted early-the 2.8-3.0’s. [ … ]
Right Now Mineral
Grass changes with the season.
Shouldn’t your mineral?
Right Now® Mineral
This program means improved weaning rates, heavier calves, and reduced feed costs. Each color-coded product is a special formula, because beef cow nutrition is not a black-and-white issue. The four formulas meet the everchanging health and breeding requirements of specific herds. We even balance our macro and trace minerals by region to supplement available forage at different times of the year. And with our color-coding, a quick glance in your mineral feeder tells you if you’re feeding the right formula. Ask your Cargill® Animal Nutrition consultant how Right Now® Mineral can help. You’ll get answers that go far beyond black and white.
Currently in Southern Iowa it is “Bronze” season.
High nutrient density to supplement mature, dormant pastures
Levels of phosphorus, copper, and most other minerals decrease in forage as it matures.
Forage intake parallels this decline. The high nutrient density of the Bronze formula
provides the [ … ]