To plant or not to plant? Americans farmers across the nation have had to decide whether the cost of planting outweighs potential remuneration, when yields may dwindle and there just may not be enough days for plants to mature before a hard frost. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that domestic plantings were at 92 percent of farmers’ total intended acreage, the slowest pace in more than 40 years. Last week, the USDA lowered the projected total yield to 13.68 billion bushels (last year’s corn yield was 14.3 billion bushels). And as of Monday, in anticipation of an impending shortage, corn futures continued to trade at their highest level since June 2014. (The Washington Post)