Ag Chat with Bob Bosold

By the first part of next month, farmers should know exactly how much money they're going to get in the second and final round of payments from the Trump Administration. That money, totaling $4.7 billion, is supposed to help make up for lost market share around the world for American farm products because of the president's tariffs. Any farmer who applied and qualified for the first round of payments will automatically be eligible for the second set of payments. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue also said there will probably not be any such payments made in 2019.

For most people, one day in court is too many. But Bayer Ag, which bought Monsanto and all its product line, like Glyphosate herbicide, the courtroom is going to be their second home. At the end of October the number of cases filed against Bayer by people claiming health problems from their use of RoundUp herbicide was up to 9,300. That's up about 600 cases from the end of August. Bayer officials claim the number of lawsuits has jumped so much because of media advertising done by lawyers who want to represent people who feel they have a claim against the company. Those company officials also say they expect the number of cases to keep increasing.

This week's Crop Progress Report shows 88% of the soybeans around the country are now in the bin-about 5% behind the normal progress for this time in November. States like Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas are having trouble harvesting beans of all the rains this fall. The corn harvest is now 84% finished-slightly behind both last year and the 5 year average. Major corn growing states like Iowa and Nebraska are behind normal because of excessive rains this fall also.

In Wisconsin, 69% of the corn for grain has been harvested-a little ahead of both last year and our 5 year average. Farmers also reported the corn came off last week at 19% moisture. State farmers have also combined 85% of their soybeans-about a week behind normal. And they've also finished 44% of their fall tillage and planted 99% of their winter wheat with 80% of the crop now emerged. This week's report again rates topsoil moisture going into the winter freeze up at 100% adequate to surplus.