McLean County Farm Bureau

FarmDoc Daily

• The Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit (45Z); Introductory Discussion
  The Clean Fuel Production Credit, enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act and often referred to simply as "45Z," remains the subject of much attention. For farmers, interest has centered on the possibility that “low carbon” grain could receive price premiums if biofuel producers begin to place greater value on feedstocks with lower carbon intensity scores. […]
• Consolidation Trends in the U.S. Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry
  The conflict with Iran has renewed interest in the U.S. fertilizer industry and the impacts on pricing associated with increased consolidation. Domestic fertilizer production is controlled by a relatively small number of manufacturers such that current Department of Justice guidelines would classify the U.S. fertilizer sector as highly concentrated. We examine how consolidation among manufacturers […]
• A Tough Nut to Crack: When Do Weekly USDA Crop Condition Reports Become Reliable for Predicting Peanut Yields?
  Peanuts are a privately traded commodity with limited published yield-forecasting research, despite being the seventh most valuable U.S. field crop (USDA NASS 1999). For peanut stakeholders, a critical question is how early these weekly USDA snapshots can reliably predict what will eventually arrive at the buy points and shellers. This work extends to peanuts the […]