Food Price Inflation – Trends and Implications for U.S. and Global Consumers

By Will Snell | Extension Professor
Published on Apr. 28, 2022

Inflation dominates today’s conversation among the media, politicians, and everyone impacted–i.e., all of us as consumers.

Grain Profitability Outlook 2022

By Greg Halich | Associate Extension Professor
Published on Mar. 31, 2022

The grain markets had already been climbing before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th.  Since then, prices have been on a tear, particularly for wheat and corn.  Current prices for 2022 new-crop delivery are around $6.50/bu for corn, $15/bu for soybeans, and $10/bu for wheat in Kentucky (3/25/22).  This is an increase of around $2.25/bu for

Summer Stocker Outlook for 2022

By Greg Halich | Associate Extension Professor and Kenny Burdine | Extension Professor
Published on Mar. 31, 2022

Driving through the Commonwealth it is clear that spring has arrived and we are seeing signs of pastures growing.  Stocker operators are starting to place calves on pasture, which typically pushes calf prices to their seasonal highs.  As of late March, calf prices have increased by more than $20 per cwt from their lows last fall.

Maximizing Value: 2022 Spring Application of Broiler Litter for Grain Crop Production

By Jordan Shockley | Associate Extension Professor
Published on Mar. 31, 2022

Spring is here and grain producers across the state are gearing up for planting.  One of the many decisions producers have to make before planting is in regard to their nutrient management plan.  Broiler litter provides a great opportunity as a complete fertilizer and is being produced and used throughout the state in grain production.  However,

Pre and Post-COVID Analysis of Select Spring Crops at the Auction

By Savannah Columbia | Extension Associate
Published on Mar. 31, 2022

Spring is on the horizon in Kentucky. Many specialty crop growers have already begun thinking about which fruits and vegetables to cultivate and the ideal market channels in which to sell. There are many market channels available to producers – an important market channel for both Kentucky and many of our growers is the produce auction.

Cow-Calf Profitability Estimates for 2021 and 2022 (Spring Calving Herd)

By Greg Halich | Associate Extension Professor, Jonathan Shepherd | Extension Specialist, and Kenny Burdine | Extension Professor
Published on Feb. 28, 2022

The purpose of this article is to examine cow-calf profitability for a spring calving herd that sold weaned calves in the fall of 2021 and provide an estimate of profitability for the upcoming year.  Table 1 summarizes estimated costs for a well-managed spring-calving cowherd for 2021.  Every operation is different, so producers should evaluate

Reducing Your Dependency on Commercial Fertilizers Strategies for Cattle Farms in 2022 and Beyond

By Greg Halich | Associate Extension Professor
Published on Feb. 28, 2022

Fertilizer prices have risen to all-time high levels in the last few months.  Table 1 shows these increases over the last year for the most common commercial fertilizer sources used by cattle farmers.  Nitrogen and potassium fertilizers have both more than doubled over the last year.   

2022 Tobacco Budgets

By Will Snell | Extension Professor
Published on Feb. 28, 2022

The 2022 Kentucky-Tennessee tobacco budgets for burley, dark air-cured, dark fire-cured, cigar wrapper tobaccos are now available for download on our 

Impact of Government Payments

By Jerry Pierce | KFBM Program Coordinator
Published on Feb. 28, 2022

How important is a new farm bill? That depends on a number of factors like what you grow, where you farm, and what happens during a year to trigger payment to you. What impact have farm bills and other government programs had on Kentucky farms in terms of profitability over the last decade? They appear to have had a considerable effect.

Beef Cattle Numbers Continue to Decline

By Kenny Burdine | Extension Professor
Published on Feb. 22, 2022

USDA-NASS released their January 1, 2022 cattle inventory estimates on January 31st. Beef cow slaughter was significantly higher in 2021, so expectations were for continued contraction of cattle inventory. The USDA report confirmed that and provided some perspective on the magnitude of these decreases.