August 21, 2026: Biopesticides on the Rise, New Disease ID Tool, Plus Livestock News

Today on Agnew's Daily, that channel, that YouTube channel playing against the farmers and they got over a million views and then they were able to pick a little bit of that capital and start buying a little bit of farm land, I was like well, this is kind of a, you know, a unique start, how we could start documenting the journey of buying one piece of farm land, two piece of farm land, and growing across. Well, welcome back to the weekly edition of the Agnew's Daily Show. Guilini Hall joined remotely today by Michelle Stingler and Michelle, it is a busy time of year. We've got farm progress show right around the corner and then we've got harvest shortly thereafter. So how are things looking up in your neck of the woods? Good. I know that well, we'll put on it later here in the show is that crop might be a little low this year, but if we're looking at the corn silage season that will be coming up. So here, especially in dairy country, a lot of tall corn and using the full stock of corn. So that will be harvested depending where here shortly, but certainly cool to see how tall torque corn can be, especially when we talk about small stature corn for some states. I've been seeing more and more of that pop up. Actually, I was just, I don't remember, I was at recently and I was driving and I saw quite a bit of corn or short stature corn. So I thought that was super interesting. We're seeing more of that pop up here, and I'm sure that technology will continue to evolve, especially as we think of all things like deret shows and some of the impact that has to the corn and the stock. But let's look at some weather speaking of that. Heavy rains continue to target parts of the Midwest, especially through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, and that central Midwest region, installed weather pattern is pulling moisture north from the Gulf, which is fueling those repeated rounds of heavy rain that we've been seeing. Indiana has certainly taken the brunt of that with some isolated locations, getting up to 17 inches of rain, while 7 to 8 inches has been the more widespread norm from eastern Iowa through central Illinois and much of Indiana. But flooding is also a top concern, as flooded areas saw more heavy rainfall on Wednesday this week, adding to already saturated conditions across parts of those states. More showers, unfortunately, are coming through the weekend with another system possible early to mid next week. And that rain is going to create some more wet conditions and issues for parts of the Midwest that certainly don't need rainfall. And I know the P&W, the plains, high plains areas, those areas could use rainfall, so I wish that we could send it their way. But temperatures will remain mild through the next week with a few days potentially running below normal, which is nice if you are heading to a state fair this time of year. Well, if we look at some crop conditions, the US crop condition ratings mostly slipped over the past week as farmers saw a mix of weather from near-ideal conditions in some areas to dryness and excessive moisture in others. The SDA's rating says 60 percent of the corn crop is good to excellent down 1 percent with 97 percent silking, some is 6 percent in the dosage, 29 percent dented, and 4 percent mature. If we look at those, so you mean there are 61 percent good to excellent USDA reports, also down 1 percent with 96 percent blooming and 85 percent setting pods. Looking at winter wheat harvest, it's 96 percent complete, ahead of the five-year average of 94 percent. Again, spring wheat ratings, though, improve slightly with 52 percent good to excellent up 1 percent, while 41 percent is harvested compared with the five-year average of 34 percent. We'll get that pasture and rage land conditions. They moved lower with 23 percent rated, go to excellent and 48 percent rated poor to very poor. USA's weekly crop progress and condition reports will continue through the end of November and we'll continue to share that year on Agnews Daily. But we'll be back with today's news after this tip with Cortema Agro Science. When we think about nitrogen losses in our in our soil in our environment, 30 percent of those losses occur as that product sits on top of the ground. 70 percent of total nitrogen loss occurs on in ground. Well, when I'm thinking about fall, nothing's going on the ground. We're talking either knifeing in anhydrous ammonia or knifeing in liquid manure. That's what needs to be stabilized because that's a heavy loss. Why that loss occurs? That fall application of nitrogen or manure is heavy with ammonia. Ammonia is a positively charged ion and soil is negative. So it goes on stable, but there's this bacteria, nitrous ammonia's bacteria that breaks that bond, changes ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. We all hear of nitrates in the groundwater, nitrates in the rivers. You never hear ammonia in the water or the river because ammonia is stable. What we're trying to do is to stabilize and keep it in the ammonium form all the way through the winter and well into early spring when most of those losses can occur with the heavy rains in April and May. Stabilizing the fall have more nitrogen for your crop in the summer. Well into early spring when most of those losses can occur with the heavy rains in April and May. Well Michelle, the tack of the town has certainly been the start of the pro farmer crop tour and we were expecting to see some big yields, but with scouts out reporting that maybe wasn't the case in some key areas. Scouts were reporting lower ear counts and some gaps in corn stands across Illinois and Iowa. Illinois corn yield estimates came in in about 184 bushels per acre, which is the lowest since 2019 while western Iowa's corn estimate ran below last year as well, closer to that three-year average. Nebraska also fell short with a 163 just over bushel estimate down nearly 9% from 2025 and almost 6% below the five-year average. Scouts went into ear counts, tip back and wind damage as crop development issues are limiting yield potential in those key states. So it means generally looked stronger with Illinois scouts counting more than 1400 pods in the 3x3 square. About 3% below 2025, but 3% above the three-year average. Western Iowa's pod counts were below last year, but well above the three-year average and Nebraska's were about in line with where we see for the three-year average. Scouts also reported relatively low disease and weed pressure in Nebraska and Iowa, although wind damage in Indiana could create some harvest challenges. And the remaining Iowa and Minnesota's will share a next week's show. We're recording just a little bit early here on this Thursday afternoon before final results are in, but I think the sentiment will likely continue across those two states as well. Well, looking at some technology and talk about crop production tools, a new digital platform, which is shared here in late July, could give farmers another tool to make fungicide timing decisions in corn and soybeans. Crop boys, whole farm is what it's called. It uses artificial intelligence to monitor environmental conditions and detect plant responses to infection. Interplants says its technology can identify specific gene activity and detect optical signals from plants weeks before farmers can see disease symptoms. I'll be interested if this is the next step to artificial intelligence. Beginning in 2027, farmers will have year-round access to a live dashboard with fields by field disease risk information throughout the growing season. The goal here is to help farmers identify when infections occur and to make more informed decisions about protecting that yield. Well, Michelle, the global biopesticides market could nearly double by 2030 as growers and crop protection companies are responding to tighter pesticide regulations and demand for more sustainable production according to a report released late last Friday. Michelle, that report projects that the market will grow from about 8.9 billion in 2025 to nearly double to about 17 and a half billion by 2030 or about a 14.6 annual growth rate. Biological products are gaining ground as growers look to reduce pesticide residues, manage resistance, and complement integrated pest management programs. Sea treatments are expected to also be the fastest growing application of biologicals and bio-pesticides, while cereals and grains are protected or excuse me, are projected to account for a significant share of demand as well. Advances in microbial products, biochemical ingredients and formulations are improving product shelf life and field performance, and for U.S. growers, that growth could bring more biological crop protection options that work alongside conventional products and precision agriculture. It's interesting as we think about the adoption of that. A lot of times I've seen farmers will, you know, adapt maybe five or 10% of their acres to using those products, so it'll be interesting to see not only the rate at which these products are coming to market, but also the adoption on the farm gate level at how quickly farmers are adapting these products on their acres. I'll look more into this specialty crop sector, rising labor, input, and regulatory causes are making it harder for U.S. fruit and vegetable growers to stay competitive. Since 2010, to give some data, US fruit production has fallen 32%. A vegetable production has declined 10%. At the same time, fresh fruit and vegetable imports have each increased about 70%, helping fill seasonal gaps and provide consumers with year-round supplies. But, larger import volumes during the US harvest season can put additional price pressure on domestic growers, particularly for highly perishable crops that cannot be stored while waiting for better prices. The impact is showing up in markets, including lettuce, cabbage, blueberry strawberries, and tomatoes. The trend also raises broader concerns about food security, as the US becomes more dependent on foreign grown produce. And the lettuce certainly made the news in the last few weeks will certainly be in the watch of what that means for specialty growers. Yeah, we won't go into the details of the lettuce. Everyone knows what's going on. The USDA trimmed its US wheat production forecast by about 6 million bushels this month, tightening the balance sheet, and with no changes to export or other use forecasts, sending stocks are now projected. At about 717 million bushels down, about 203 million from last year. USDA says this decline reflects a historically small US wheat crop. But the US is not alone in seeing their production fall. The USDA also cut its European Union wheat production forecast by about 1.8 million metric tons. Hot dry weather across the EU during the wheat grain-filling period reduced yield potential this year. And the new estimate puts EU production about 11 million tons below last year. So that could be a potential market mover here for some of our wheat complex, but we'll be back with more news after this short break. Farming comes with trade-offs. An extra pass means dinner in the cab, an early morning becomes a late night. Unnecessary restrictions turn into headaches. But when you make and list herbicides the foundation of your herbicide program, the trade-offs will be in your favor. Effective weed control that's ready to work when you are. Flexible tank makes options and neighbor-friendly applications, all without the need to jump through hooves. See what you'll gain with America's most trusted herbicide system protecting your enlist E3 soybean fields at enlist.com. Well, field days are wrapping up and starting some of the bigger shows in the upcoming few weeks including Husker Harvest days. Old W.A. new egg tech pavilion coming September 15th through the 17th in Grand Island Nebraska where that show is giving the farmers a closer look at emergent technology and the companies developing it. The pavilion presented by farm progress in partnership with the Combine and the University of Nebraska will cover precision agriculture, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, data management, connectivity and equipment. Farmers can also take in daily 30-minute panels and expert presentations focused on practical technology applications, including autonomous equipment and eye irrigation efficiency, robotics, return on investment and drones for crop scouting and livestock management. The goal is to give producers a closer look at innovations they can put to work on their operations. Certainly, I'll hear some presentations and farm progress show as well, certainly a lot of different topics on that AI and precision technology that we can use throughout farms across the nation. Well, Michelle, at the Iowa State Fair last week, I caught up with Mitchell Hora of Continuum Ag. Do you get just a brief update on 45Z? Of course, he's keeping close tabs on that conversation as it continues to develop so let's hear his quick take. So the USDA finally wrote their rule at the end of June. So now we've got some guidance as to how the farmers can actually quantify their carbon intensity, how they can verify their data, and now we know that's mass balance, which means that your data and your crop state, so 45Z, your low carbon crop, has to be delivered to the ethanol plant. So you have to have kind of some quasi-traceability essentially. So booking claim is where we would have decoupled the data and the crop, but now the data and the crop stay together. But for farmers that have delivered or could deliver their crop to the ethanol plant or to a crusher, or if you're participating with an elevator who is selling to them, this is a huge deal. There's a couple ethanol plants that have started to roll out some programs, started to put out some premiums and stuff, but I do think that there will be some money moving later this year. Maybe for your 2025 corn, that's been utilized for biofuel in 2026. I do think that there'll be some money moving later this year, but we still are, we're still waiting for the Department of Energy and we're still waiting for Treasury to finalize components of the rules on their side. So it's a little slow right now, but it looks good that those things will be done and things are going to be full speed ahead. 45Z is currently in law till 2029, and it's got good bipartisan support. So I'm not super worried about it going away because the midterm elections or elections in the future, I think I think will be okay, but the midterm election actually is incentivizing this administration to get the rules done before the midterms. So that's part of the push to be able to actually get this thing done, get it across the finish line before November. While Michelle, U.S. Agricultural Equipment Sales slowed once again in July with tractor sales down nearly 11% from a year ago and combine sales, falling more than five percent according to the latest report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. AEM says software commodity prices, input costs, interest rates, and broader economic uncertainty are weighing on farmers' capital, equipment purchases, much of the same sentiment that we've been hearing throughout this year. While equipment prices have risen, AEM says today's machinery also offers greater productivity, technology, and fuel efficiency compared to equipment from decades prior, and that's how a lot of them are maybe justifying or signaling that price increase. This slowdown is also putting pressure on manufacturers and local equipment dealers, however, which often rank among the largest employers in rural communities. AEM says managing equipment inventories is critical as dealers face interest costs on unsold machinery. Looking ahead, the group is pushing for policies that increase demand for farm products, including biofuels, year-round E-15, free trade, and rural infrastructure. We're talking about trade and a lot of conversations with Canada this week. Canada, though, has temporarily avoided a 50% U.S. tear-off this week after reaching a last-minute agreement with the President Trump and his administration just hours before the higher duties were set to take effect. President Donald Trump said Tuesday night he was pausing the tariffs for three days, while the two countries finalized the agreement. The proposed tariffs would have affected about $20 billion in Canadian goods, adding another layer of uncertainty for businesses on both sides of the border. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says the two countries have made substantial progress toward a trade deal, although more work remains. Trump also suggested the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline could potentially be revived, but offered few details or confirmed whether it was tied to the tear-off agreement. The three-day reprieve gives farmers rangers and other industry professionals more information as we continue to watch this here on Agnews daily, certainly. The U.S. MCA trade agreement is something we're continuing to watch and what trade will look like here in the upcoming few weeks. Well, the U.S. pork industry is looking for a more coordinated approach to major swine health challenges with researchers, funding organizations, and industry leaders meeting to identify research gaps in future priorities under the National Swine Health Strategy this month. The group highlighted opportunities to improve vaccines, diagnostics, and tools for diseases, including PET and PERS, while also focusing on practical ways to limit disease spread through stronger biosecurity, transportation, sanitation, and proven on farm practices. For foreign and emerging diseases, participants emphasized better surveillance, traceability, and preparedness. The National Board says coordinating research around producer-driven priorities could help turn research investments into practical tools that improve herd health and reduce disease risks. While there is two big pieces of news, especially in the Livestock packaging industry this week, workers at Cargill's Fort, Morgan Colorado beef plant have approved a 5-year labor agreements this week ending in the 89-day lockouts and clearing the way for the plant to resume processing. Employees are expected to begin returning August 24th with processing starts to restart the week of September 7th. The facility can process about 4,700 head of cattle per day. Livestock economist David Anderson with Texas Annam University says reopening the plant is good news for cattle producers, because it adds another buyer to the market and increases competition for available cattle. However, Anderson says the reopening does not offset the recent closure that Selena will talk about here in a minute in Jocelyn, Illinois. That shutdown has concentrated more cattle processing capacity in the plains and could force producers in that Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana area to haul a cattle farther to packing plants. He says longer transportation distances could increase costs and puts downward pressure on regional prices for feeder cattle, calves and fed cattle. Cargill says it will take a phase approach to restarting Fort Morgan focusing on employees safety, food safety, and operational readiness. Wise UT's Michelle Tyson Foods is closing its jozzlin Illinois beef packing plant as tighter cattle supplies continue to reshape the packing industry, which was announced earlier this week. The shutdown will eliminate roughly 3,000 head of daily slaughter capacity in about 2,500 local jobs. Oklahoma State Livestock Economist Darrell Peele says Tyson is focusing on his three largest plants now in Dakota City, Nebraska, Holcomtansis, Holcomt Kansas, and Amarillo, Texas. Tyson says it could sell its Pasco Washington facility as well. Peele says the industry still has more processing capacity than the current cattle supply can support, meaning additional adjustments still remain very possible. Her producers who relied on jozzlin, the closure means finding other markets for their cattle, with many loads likely moving to Tyson's Dakota City plant. This could increase transportation costs and put additional pressure on regional cattle prices. Tyson says it could eventually restart a second shift in Amarillo, which would replace much of the slaughter capacity lost at jozzlin and keep the company's overall processing volume relatively stable. The National Grain and Feed Association is marking its six annual harvest safety week this week, August 18 through the 22nd, with a focus on keeping farmers and agricultural workers safe during harvest this year. This year's theme, Safety First, Harvest Ready, highlights new resources covering grain storage files, moon vehicles, extreme weather, and worker fatigue. The NGFA says the resources are designed to give farmers and agricultural workers practical safety information they can use during this busy harvest season. All this one runs for one week, the organization emphasized that safety needs to remain a year-round priority. The organization's safety resources are available online and can be shared with farmers, employees, customers, and suppliers. The goal is to strengthen safety awareness and encourage practices to help everyone make it home safely at the end of the day. Michelle, for this week's interview, I caught up with Grant Hilbert, a farmer here in the state of Iowa, and he talks about how he had an interesting path that led him to starting Hilbert farms along with his brother. You can find Hilbert farms on social media to follow along with their operation, but let's get into that interview now. I'm catching up with Grant Holbert at the Iowa State fair this year. At the farm polluances event at the fair grant, it's great to hear you speak on the Barn Talk podcast earlier. I'm excited to bring your story to the Agnes Daily News as well, so thanks for being on the podcast. Yeah, thanks for having me on here. I love the story that you and your brother were sharing. It's very unique. Your first generation farmers, you didn't grow up on a farm, but you have a really cool and unorthodox way that you got onto the farm, so tell us a little bit about that story. Yeah, so it kind of starts in 2014, was a sophomore in high school and got a little bit of vision to start creating YouTube videos. And a game called, I played a bunch of different games, Geek Club Plums, and some of their took off, and started in, you know, a thousand, two thousand, three thousand views per video. And from there in 2016, I graduated high school. I was like, boy, we got a little bit of traction. We could really start going after this. And so I just posted a video every day for four years, and then that, that channel, that YouTube channel playing a game called, so they got over a million views, and then was able to take a little bit of that capital and start buying a little bit of farm land. I was like, well, this is kind of a, you know, a unique start. I'm like, you can start documenting the journey of buying one piece of farm land, two pieces of farm land, and growing a crop, and literally going from nothing where I didn't have any physical background experience of actual farming. And so kind of the key thing that hit me when I got to the farm and was, boy, I got out there, I bought a plan or a buy tractor. How do I set this? Like, how do I do that? So I was calling neighbors, first day of planting, trying to kind of figure out all that. And that's kind of where I am now. And so, you have a brother, we farm about 500 acres in central Iowa. And we call it kind of weekend warrior, where we're farming on the weekends, and then weekdays, I'm working on the YouTube channel, or 2020 started a software company, where we created a mobile farming game called American Farming. So, math, the math in the game, is based out of a central Iowa, very Iowa and Midwest focused game. That's quite the origin story, so just to make sure I got that right, you just started playing farming simulator randomly, and you decided to start a YouTube channel. And then that YouTube channel, that's a point where you thought, hey, I can actually leverage this to buy a farm. Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly. It was able to basically just take it and plant three different farms, not your plant, plant, and square 80s and show that central Iowa, very rough with timbers, five acre patches, and kind of clean them off a little bit, and then I got my start that way. That's awesome. I think that's really rewarding to hear, because, you know, getting into agriculture and farming, like you said, is very capital intensive, and you and your brother have created this pathway that shows other young people who might be interested, hey, you can do things differently, and then still make it work. So, talk to me a little bit about the software company, too. You mentioned you have a farming video game, which, on a side note, it's like a mom and dad, you thought video games were bad for us, and here's a great example of how it can be helpful in your career in your life. For sure, yeah, yeah. And one thing with mom and dad, my parents were very, from the start of YouTube, they're like, oh, that's, that's a waste of time, you should be doing this. It worked like that, and they were very like, oh, that's pretty cool, like, to make it a little bit of money, just as you would as a high school kid. That's pretty cool, you should go after it. So, very supportive there. We had the game that's called, so American Farm, and we released it in November of 2023, and then we've been building American Farm in two, just a sequel of it, that's going to release here, August 24th. And so, basically, you started on a six-hour acre, six-hour acre map, six-hour acre farm, and American Farm in one, we took, we made the map out of Grundy County, Iowa, it was some of the best farmland in Iowa, and made it very realistic to Iowa with. You could start with a very small, favorite of Finnish hog farm, work your way up, or you could go with a giant grain farm. So, like all sorts of options, and try to make it realistic to, it's kind of Iowa there. So, to now have a lot of success, and then we got a bunch of brands like this in there, like KSH, New Holland, Agco, probably 2030, of other brands in the game, so. Honestly, too, as you're describing that grant, I feel like there's probably a cool element for education in the classroom, because, again, I don't have that background in farming. The game you're creating, it sounds like you're kind of giving them a way to simulate that before they were to take that on that risk themselves. Yeah, if you're playing the game and you're, you start on like a small hog farm, you mentally have to think through the best way to do this stuff, because you got to pie your nitrogen, you got to pie your P&K, and then there's a synergy when you have both nitrogen and P&K together, we got hot manure, hot manure on there, and then you got time to grain markets perfectly. One thing we don't have that we're going to add to, yeah, helicopters, grant, fungicides, stuff like that, so you have your different kinds of products, you can spray, but if you're trying to look at it economically, like what season should I make, what farm, what farm lunch I purchased in game, how do I sell and market my crop? It's very much realistic to that, so if you got to eat 10, 12-year-old good playing, like we're getting a little experience right away off of that, so. Absolutely, and what has the audience been like on this, because you assume right farm kids are interested in farming, but you weren't a farm kid and you started playing games like this. Yeah, I would say our average user's probably 15, 18 years old, but we know a lot of people that are 50, 60, 70 that play the game and love it, because it gives that challenging economics experience, you got to think about your economics with it, and then we also have younger kids to 8, 10, 12 years old playing the game, so all sorts of issues. So I know you and your brother are doing this stuff jointly, but you have a lot of irons and the buyers and manage all of that, so how do you guys share responsibilities? Yeah, so how it works like is he runs all the media side, so when it comes to all the YouTube side, he's editing all the videos, because we have real-life channels also, two individual real-life channels that document the journey in the farm, he manages all that, and that's kind of a thing, built a great job on it. I have originally started on YouTube, and then he kind of got into it two, three years after, and I'm like, so you do, you're more in depth on it, you do a way better job than me, you're more detailed, you're viewed, you're videos people are views, you need to be around this thing, I need back away from this thing, and so I just kind of focus a little bit more on a software company, a little bit of the farming, the physical farm inside, and then the virtual YouTube gaming channel that we have, so it's work, right? I sent them the podcast up there like it can be kind of dangerous for friends, brothers, brothers, but if we get in a fight, it's, it's a hand-matting for 20 minutes, we totally forget about it, and that happens once or twice a year, so it's really, really a great relationship today. As you guys think about the future, you've got your video game releasing, I have any other big dreams for both our things you're working for? Honestly, nothing major right now, the number one thing is grow the software company, grow the mobile game, and maybe you take it a step further away into the future, that's that's kind of number one mission, and then same with the farming operation. Don't need to grow and see me quick, if we pick up a little bit of rented acres every once in a while, if we buy a little bit of our own ground, it'd be great, but don't want to get crazy baked where it takes a lot of time and you're really stressed out. I really enjoy the lifestyle of farming now, it's great, gives a lot of time, allows you to do do other things and uh but still the same time we live up forward to plant that crop harvest unit spraying throughout the season and both playing I'll call it the game of farming with the weather stresses that come down right we got 10 inches of rain in July it sucks but when you look back at it all of your career you'll be like man that was hard time and it really challenges you throughout the year so excited for it. I think it's exciting too that you and your brother really kind of represent maybe the next generation of what agriculture and young farmers look like but grant before I let you go we got to plug your socials your game give us a like channel. Yeah yeah so on real life youtube channel you can find me at Grant Hilbert on YouTube if you're into gaming the gaming channel is called the squad on instagram it's uh Grant Hilbert and then uh Facebook we have Hilbert Farms and Instagram we have Hilbert Farms also. So well thanks for sharing your story it was great to have you on the podcast. Yes thank you for having me on. Looking at a fertilizer update some recent reports throughout the last week fertilizer prices are expected to remain elevated through twenty twenty eight as global conflicts types supplies and disruptions in the Middle East continue to pressure the market. Cobank economist Jackie Fatka says prices have come down from the sharp increases seen earlier this year but producers should still prepare for higher cost into twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight farmers are increasingly using soil testing precision nutrient management and variable rate applications to control costs with some cutting loss rates and potash applications by ten percent to fifteen. She says knowing your costs of production will be critical when deciding where to cut back and where to continue investing and fertility. When looking at fuel markets they're also facing potential pressure heading into harvest with with global inventories at historically low levels. The ongoing conflict involving our land disruptions around the street that will remove has complicated that global oil flows while some producers in the region are using alternative shipping methods to move supplies. Far marketing's Dave chatter tin says farm diesel prices could face additional pressure as seasonal demand increases. He recommends producers without on farm storage or forward contract secure their fuel they need as opportunities arise. But Zaline what's happening in markets this week. When Michelle of course last week was the West airport we've got the pro farmer crop tour this week so risk buying is supporting grain markets as analysts are now lowering their US crop protections based on some of those results we've seen from the pro farmer crop tour showing weaker corn yields and sharply lower soybean pod counts as well. Demand remains a key source of support here as China continues booking soybeans with another 136,000 metric tons of new crop soybeans getting them closer to that commitment they have made here and corn demand has slowed but still remains above USDA expectation. On the livestock side of things the cattle markets remain mixed this week with light cash trade forcing packers to complete to compete for supplies supporting live cattle prices but bids have been softer than previous weeks and in wheat declining global production estimates that we talked about earlier in the show in geopolitical risks are supporting wheat prices right now but wheat harvest is in full swing and that could continue to be a countervailing point there as we see that fight out against the production estimates. So the bulls and the bear is fighting out there we'll see who wins that one in the wheat complex but that's a quick look at markets for this week will be again at the farm progress show here in just a few short weeks so if you'll be around shoot us a note at Agnews daily on all the major social media platforms and we can connect in person maybe grab a quick interview with you for the podcast otherwise just stop and say hi. But Michelle what do you say for today? We'll let the people go. Let's let them go!