Editorial: Welcome to TheCropSite Newsletter

Last week, I was in Sheffield, England, connecting with my 5m Publishing colleagues and then we took a train up to Inverness, Scotland, to meet up with sister-company colleagues - FAI, RL Consulting and Fish Vet Group. We had a few moments of sunshine last week, but for the most part, it was cool temps with lots of rain. In Manchester, England, I was told they received "a month's worth of rain in one day" late last week.

Unfortunately, I couldn't bring any of the rain back home to the US with me. Looking at the Midwest forecast for this week, cooler temps (75-80° F/24-27º C) are expected early in the week, but temps are set to jump to 100° F (38° C) later in the week. The exceptionally high temps are tough, but the key issue for farmers is, at best, the central Midwest might see an isolated storm.

University agronomists are still saying not to push the panic button just yet, but they may well change their tune after another week of extreme temps topped off with little to no rain.

Purdue University ag economist Chris Hurt estimated that dry conditions may already have trimmed Indiana corn yields by 15 bu/acre, now projecting 151 bushels per acre, down from his estimate of 166 at the start of the growing season. Projected yield losses are beginning to move corn prices upward, and it won't take much "more damage before we see the corn market start to really light up," Hurt said.

Also important… last Thursday, the US Senate voted 64-35 to approve the 2012 Farm Bill. The vote came after three days of Senate debate regarding 70+ amendments, which made changes to eligibility and payments for crop insurance and commodity and conservation programs. The new Farm Bill makes major changes to the farm safety net by ending direct payments and ACRE and replacing them with ARC, the Agriculture Risk Coverage program.

I'm ending on a personal note with a photo from my travels up in Inverness, Scotland - we were boating out on Loch Ness, home to the Loch Ness Monster. Unfortunately, there were no sightings on our trip, but I have to say the Scottish Highlands were absolutely awesome (or ace, as my English colleagues would say)!

Have a great week!