May 4, 2024

John Deere Seeks Social Media Expert

John Deere is looking to hire a CTO, aka Chief Tractor Officer, to run its TikTok and other social media accounts. The salary will be $192,000. Read more here.

While John Deere is allowed to do what it wants with its money, I sure hope that in 10 years there are still some kids out there who want to grow up to design or repair machinery and not just make videos about it.

Crop Price Changes for the Week

• May corn +7

• Dec corn +9-2

• May beans +42-2

• Nov beans +26-2

• May wheat +2-6

• July wheat +0-2

Excessive Rain Hampering Brazil’s Soybean Harvest

Torrential rain and flooding in the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil have put up to 5 million tons of soybeans “at risk.”

The region, one of Brazil’s top soybean producers, is currently in harvest season but has about a quarter of its beans left to combine. Read the Full Story here.

Meanwhile in California

California state legislators this week signed into law a bill requiring all birds to start wearing tiny cloth masks over their beaks to help stop the spread of bird flu. Bird union representatives were unavailable for comment.

Used Machinery Prices Soften

After several years of record machinery price increases, Machinery Pete says the used machinery market is pulling back. Lower crop prices the last six months likely have farmers less interested in paying top dollar for used machinery.

As the used market softens, dealers are worried that the widening gap between used prices and still-lofty new prices will make new equipment seem even less attractive. Full story here.

Fed Keeps Interest Rates the Same

The Fed met this week and decided to keep interest rates the same. The sentiment is that rates will stay “higher for longer,” whereas just a couple months ago many were talking about a rate cut as early as this summer and another cut later in the year.

The meeting was unfortunately very brief because Greg from the Audio/Visual department was not able to get the slideshow loaded onto the overhead projector. Attendees left early and headed to Chucky Cheese’s for pizza and games.

Local Critter News

This week, a local squirrel waited patiently for 20 minutes along the side of the road for the perfect moment to run in front of a passing truck.

Solar Nightmare

An Indiana farmer says the solar company he leased his land to said they would minimize disturbance to crop land, but then graded over 400 acres and spread fine sand on top of the topsoil, which is now blowing around and bothering his neighbors. When he complained to the solar company, they said they would review any remediation plans at the end of the lease in 2073 (if they’re not out of business by then). Full story at Reuters.

Ken Ferrie is Concerned About the Quality of Corn Seed

Ken Ferrie, agronomist and expert archer, is concerned about the quality of corn seed being planted this year. His team is seeing low quality scores and specifically a higher than normal incidence of damage to the pericarp, which could leave seeds vulnerable to salt burn from starter fertilizer.

Ferrie speculates that the lower seed quality could be due to last year’s drought stress during the growing season. Keep an eye on emergence and stand establishment, as that will be the first clue if there is a problem. Read more here.

New Custom Rates Published for Dandelion Mitigation

Based on my extensive research, the current wage to get kids or grandkids to pick dandelions in your front yard is 5 cents per dandelion, plus 1 popsicle.

A note from the author

If you enjoyed this, please subscribe for free so you don’t miss next week’s issue.