Finding good help on the farm is an age-old problem, but in recent months and years, the difficulty seems to have risen exponentially. Between the struggle of an aging rural workforce, the new pressures introduced by COVID, and the gaps and expenses of federal programs like H-2A, the challenges are piling up, while meaningful solutions remain thin on the ground.

The DTN team is no stranger to this problem, which is why we dedicated a whole series of stories in the summer issue to understanding agriculture’s worker shortage and highlighting how progressive farmers are turning labor struggles into opportunities.

Today, DTN Managing Editor Anthony Greder joins us to discuss these stories. He starts by digging into what the data shows about the true barriers to work on the farm, including why compensation might not be the thing that’s holding farms back. We’ll learn about the current challenges and benefits of the H-2A program, and what tech solutions are becoming increasingly common, thanks to their labor saving benefits.

Finally, we’ll hear about the creative strategies that farmers are turning to — from offering expanded benefits to delivering on a positive workplace culture, in order to attract and keep the employees they need.

The 90-day window that the Trump Administration created in order to negotiate new trade deals with over 200 countries comes to a close on July 9th.

The goal for this time period was to create pressure and opportunities for America’s many and diverse trading partners to come to the table, propose strategies to reduce trade deficits, and offer more favorable treatment for American businesses and products.

So far, the Trump administration has few signed agreements in hand, and seems ready to reimpose drastic tariff costs on those unwilling to meet those demands. As all of this unfolds, American agriculture waits in the wings to see how negotiations fair, bracing for possible retaliation after the dust settles.

Today, Urban Lehner, former DTN editor-in-chief and current author of the Progressive Farmer blog An Urban’s Rural View, joins us to take a deep dive into the current lay of the land in the tariff world, and to offer his perspective on what might be ahead, and which eventualities would prove most lucrative for agriculture.

We’ll dig into the details you might have missed on the current situation with China, hear about the trade deals that have been confirmed, and consider what might be ahead around interest rates, inflation, and other ag policy issues as a quiet three months comes to an end.

Finally, we’ll hear about the potential impacts of the Nippon Steel deal on U.S. agriculture, and learn what other stories Urban is keeping an eye on.

An unprecedented era in U.S. cattle markets continues as what was supposed to be a hot and dry summer looks wetter and more temperate than anyone expected.

In light of that, the idea of record cattle prices is increasingly becoming standard fare, as market fundamentals like herd size remain at historic levels. DTN’s recent Ag Summit Series event on the Future of the Cowherd dug into the weather, the economics, the latest news, and the market reactions to current conditions, and today on the podcast we’re sharing highlights of the event from DTN Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart’s markets outlook.

ShayLe covers a lot of ground today, including taking a deeper look at the current slaughter pace, how it relates to margins for packers, and where the interplay between herd size and carcass weights fits in. She also brings us up-to-date on the latest trade news affecting beef, from declining exports to China in April to the impacts of limited imports of live cattle from Mexico.

Then she’ll dive into the fed cattle and feeder cattle complex, identifying both bearish and bullish factors that are likely to be at play in the weeks and months ahead.

For anyone who’s been hoping for a surprise to boost markets recently, good news came from an unexpected place earlier this month.

After months and months of delay, and multiple anonymous sources suggesting that biofuel levels were set to disappoint the industry, the actual numbers announced by EPA stunned watchers with a proposed 2 billion gallon jump up in the biomass based diesel requirements. And that was just the start of the upside news on renewable fuels.

To help us follow the twists and turns of the latest updates, DTN Staff reporter Todd Neeley joins us today with analysis on the EPA’s proposal, as well as news from the courts, state policy, and beyond. We’ll dig into the RFS ethanol levels as set in the proposal, as well as what still might be ahead this summer for E15, especially with recent positive changes coming out of California. We’ll also get an update on the state of the RINs market and a legal step forward for small refinery waivers.

We’ll also venture beyond the fuels space to hear news about the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, report, and get a breakdown on how ag has and hasn’t been included, and what the next steps may be.

Finally, we’ll hear more on some emerging lawsuits around discrimination, glyphosate liability.

The June WASDE dropped Thursday, June 12, in the midst of a wild period of domestic and global news about everything from newly released biofuel commitments to the latest on the emerging conflict in the Middle East. There’s a lot to keep track of as the USDA aims to evaluate the old and new crops in the U.S. and around the world, and give producers a thoughtful look at what might come next — over a summer that meteorologists still predict will be hot and dry.

To help us sort the signal from the noise, we’re joined today by DTN Lead Analyst Rhett Montgomery. Rhett takes us beat by beat through the expectations going into the report and the market moves that we’ve seen since this new data was released, providing insight on which information is proving most important to traders and analysts alike. Then he’ll walk us through the balance sheets for the major grains, helping us put USDA’s global and domestic updates into perspective and think through what the latest numbers might mean for the year ahead.

Finally, we’ll take a look ahead at the weather picture for the summer, and hear what Rhett will be looking for in the next batch of USDA reports, due out June 30th.

Whether you’re thinking about weather, markets, trade or farm bill policy, the last several months have been characterized by one thing — chaos. It seems to be impossible to stay up with the sheer quantity of news, updates, and announcements coming from every direction, which are continuously changing the outlook for the year ahead.

Today, we wanted to take some time to talk through some time-tested strategies to deal with uncertainty in farm businesses, and DTN Farm Business Editor Katie Dehlinger joins us to talk us through. First, we’ll back up a little, and talk about her recent reporting on the recent dust storm in Chicago, its causes, impacts, and possible liability for farmers. Then, we’ll get into the discussion she recently had with ag business experts about how farmers can be thinking, and rethinking, about the fundamentals of their operation in these uncertain times. We’ll talk about cash rent, equipment, yield goals, and crop insurance, and hear insight on creative uses of these and other tools to help buffer the business from a hectic marketplace.

Finally, we’ll get an update on the land markets, with some specific analysis about where purchases are slowing down, and where, despite everything, they seem to be heating up.

Plus, we’ll hear a preview about what’s on the agenda and how to register for the upcoming Ag Summit Series event on the Cattle Sector.

Link to register: https://dtn.link/AgSummitSeries-Summer2025

Just a few months ago, meteorologists at DTN and beyond were expressing concern about wide swaths of drought across key U.S. growing reasons, and the likelihood of a hot and dry summer set to exacerbate the situation. Now, after an unexpectedly wet and temperate start to the season, substantial drought is largely gone and conditions look good for the summer. But changes may still be on the horizon, and DTN’s Ag Meteorologist John Baranick joins us today with the latest on what could still be a tough rest of the year.

Today, we’ll start with a look back over Spring conditions, how they varied from region to region, and why they were so unexpected given global conditions. Then, we’ll dive into the current forecast, what farmers across the country can expect for the rest of June, and dig into the likely conditions in the heart of summer. We’ll expand our focus beyond the corn belt and plains, taking a closer look at the Canadian prairies, the East and West Coasts, and of course, the Southeast– which is emerging from an unusually chaotic period of severe storms right into hurricane season. Then we’ll look beyond the North American forecast for insights on weather conditions around the world that might still throw a monkey wrench into key markets.

Finally, we’ll take a first look at the long range outlook for late summer and early fall to get a taste at what harvest might have in store.

Every year for more than six decades, the Wheat Quality Council has sponsored a Winter Wheat Tour that criss-crosses the state of Kansas to get a mid-season update on what conditions look like in the field and what farmers, millers, and everyone in between might be able to expect from the annual crop. This year was no exception, and DTN Crops Editor Jason Jenkins is just back from three high impact days on the Southern Plains.

Today, Jason will help us dig into the results of the tour, taking us day by day through regional conditions that vary from parched and uneven to world class. We’ll talk about what he saw as far as both pests and disease for the winter crop, and what he thinks the presence or absence of either might mean for final yield figures later this year. We’ll also hear who else was on the tour, and what perspectives those from across the industry shared about this year’s numbers, and how they compare to those of the recent past. Finally, we’ll dive into how the tour figures compare to current USDA expectations, and what still might be on the docket in the season ahead.

Then we’ll take a broader view of crop issues that Jason is following as we head out of planting and towards an uncertain summer.