July 31, 2026: USDA Prepares to Reopen Border to Mexican Cattle, Corteva's Media Day Recap

Today on Ag News Daily, we're able to predict the onset of disease. When you get into the fungicide timing solution, we're really trying to help growers understand when and where to spray. And it's a little bit different than what they're used to. There's a lot of things that they got to think about, right? And there's the uncertainty of disease. Well, welcome back to the weekly edition of the Ag News Daily Show. Josie, it feels good to be back in the studio. We've had a really long day today, though. We were at the Corteva Media Days. Yeah, it's been good. It's been good. But again, glad to be back in person. What did you learn at the event today? There was a ton, whether it be Corteva's 100 years or anything about fungicide, herbicide, it's been good. Well, it was a nice day weather-wise, and certainly the forecasts are offering a little bit of relief for the Corn Belt. DTN says showers, thunderstorms, and cooler temperatures are expected to move across the Midwest through the weekend. With corn and soybean entering some key grain-filling stages, that rain is going to come at an important time as we head into the August growing season. Forecasters are saying the widespread rain should provide some much-needed relief, but areas that receive less precipitation could continue to seek crop stress as corn and soybeans move through grain fill. Meanwhile, areas of the Plains are expected to see scattered rainfall through southern areas, though southern areas may remain warm and dry as the growing season continues. Looking at the latest USDA crop progress report, it shows that the nation's corn and soybean crops remain in generally good condition as they move through camp. In addition, the state of California's corn and soybean crops remain in the low to mid-20s, but they are still in the low to mid-20s. Nationally, 63 percent of the corn crop is rated good to excellent, down one point from last week, while 66 percent has reached the dough stage, keeping development close to the five-year average. Soybeans also declined slightly, with 63 percent blooming, 39 percent setting pods, and 63 percent rated good to excellent, down one point from the previous week. As crops head into August, weather will remain the key factor. Widespread rainfall in the forecast should help many areas maintain yield potential while producers continue to watch crop conditions closely during grain fill. We'll be back with more news after this week's Tips with Corteva AgriScience. Begin looking at soybeans during that flowering period and early reproductive phase for soybean leaf aphids. As we walk a field, we really encourage a W-shaped pattern. If you have any questions about soybean leaf aphids, let us know in the comments. levels of infestation more in that 15% range in terms of yield loss. Over time of treating for soybean leaf aphids, we've used a lot of group three mode of action for this specific pest. And over time, we've gotten a lot more pyrethroid resistance, which is kind of that group three mode of action platform. And we've brought in Ridgeback insecticide, which actually has two modes of action. It does have that group three bifenthrin component in it for aphids. We also bring in another key component, the isoclass active ingredient, also known as sulfoxamines. They're very effective on controlling that population that might be less susceptible to that bifenthrin or that pyrethroid in the application. So we really have a one-two punch there for soybean leaf aphids with Ridgeback. Visit corteva.us backslash Ridgeback to learn more. Well, Josie, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is moving forward with a phased reopening of the southern border to Mexican cattle imports, which will begin on August 24th at the Douglas, Arizona port of entry. The border has been closed for several years because, of course, the concerns over new world screwworm. And the reopening is welcome news for some, but imports will resume very slowly under strict inspection protocols designed to protect the U.S. herd. Texas Cattle Feeders Association chairman, Leif Leroux, says the closure created significant challenges for feed yards that rely on Mexican feeder cattle. In the association's region, roughly 15 percent of feed yard inventories typically come from Mexico, with some individual operations depending on imports for more than half of their cattle supply. Leroux says reopening the border should help businesses gradually return to normal, but producers shouldn't expect an immediate increase in cattle supplies or matriarchy. He says markets may react to the announcement in the short term, but long-term fundamentals will continue to drive the cattle market moving forward. Looking into some crop disease news, as of Monday, University of Nebraska Extension entomologists were urging corn and dry bean growers to scout fields for western bean cutworm, saying this year's accelerated crop development has pushed many fields into their most vulnerable stages earlier than normal. Extension officials said the crop development has been improving over the past year, but there's still a lot of work to be done. Extension specialists recommended checking upper leaves for egg masses and young larvae before populations reach treatment thresholds. 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 Enlist Herbicide 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 mix options, and neighbor-friendly applications, all without the need to jump through hoops. See what you'll gain with America's most trusted herbicide system, protecting your Enlist E3 soybean fields at Enlist.com. While changing consumer habits are continuing to impact the agricultural markets, and the dairy industry is no exception. Consumer demand is shifting as the growing use of GLP-1 weight loss medication changes the way people eat. Market analyst Sean Hackett says while these medications often reduce overall weight loss, it's also a good time to reduce overall weight loss. They also increase the need for protein to help users maintain muscle mass. As a result, processors are investing more heavily in high-protein dairy products like milk and yogurt to meet that rising demand. Hackett says that shift could create new opportunities for dairy producers. He says farms that can produce milk with higher protein components will be better positioned to supply processors making these premium products and could see stronger milk production. While adapting feeding programs and production does take time, Hackett says producers who make those changes sooner may be in a better position to capitalize on one of the dairy industry's fastest-growing market trends. What an interesting, I'm trying to think, there was a statistic I read and I don't want to misquote it, but it was something like one in four people are on a GLP-1 Josie. Always interesting to hear, but as producers keep an eye on hog prices this summer, strong export demand continues to provide another outlet for U.S. pork. Through May, exports to Japan were up nearly 20 percent from a year ago, reaching more than 160,000 metric tons, valued at $614 million. Japan remains one of the largest and most valuable markets for U.S. pork. The U.S. Meat Export Federation says that demand has remained strong despite economic headwinds, while African swine fever restrictions on Spanish pork have created additional opportunities for U.S. pork exports. Continued access to key export markets will be important as the industry looks to maintain demand heading into the second half of the year. Well, Josie, in other USDA headlines, several important program deadlines are approaching, and many producers who may qualify for financial assistance are encouraged to start gathering their paperwork now. The Farm Service Agency says applications for the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers program are due August 7th, followed by the Supply and Disaster Relief Program on August 12th. Eligible landowners also have until August 31st to review potential base acre increases under the ARC Agriculture Risk Coverage and PLC Price Loss Coverage programs. The USDA says it's the first opportunity to update base acres since 2002, making it a significant decision for many operations. Well, Delaney, we had an opportunity to attend Corteva's Media Day this week, so let's get into that coverage right now. Well, we have been at the Corteva Media Days this week in Johnston, Iowa, at the headquarters of Corteva, hearing from folks on the Corteva side, from the range and pasture side, and of course, from the Pioneer side. They're celebrating 100 years of history this year, and we got to catch up with Dave Bubeck, who speaks about some of that history, both from the traits and the genetic side, and also just some about the history of Corteva and Pioneer as well. Catching up with David Bubeck at the Pioneer Media Days this year in Johnston, Iowa, and Pioneer is celebrating 100 years this year, Dave, which is so exciting, and there's so much rich history behind us that you've talked about here today. I would love to talk more about that, but before we do, your history with Pioneer goes back maybe not quite 100 years. Don't want to age you, but you have been with Pioneer for a long time, so tell us a little bit more about the iteration and the involvement you've had over the last couple of decades. Yeah, good. So I've been with Pioneer for a long time, and I've been with with pain. hybrid, 28 years, going back to 1998. I came in to Pioneer as a corn breeder. And one thing that's really cool for me about the 100-year story, so I'm a quarter-life of Pioneer, a little more than a quarter-life. I've worked with people that are actually known people that are the full-time with Pioneer. So I actually mentioned during the lineup here that I had the opportunity to meet Raymond Baker, who was the first corn breeder with Pioneer, with Henry Wallace in the 1920s. So that's pretty cool. The multi-generational overlaps are really cool about our 100-year story. You know, we've all overlapped with multiple generations. And I think passing along that 100-year story to the next generation of plant breeders is really an important one. In my early days, about the first third of my career, I was a corn breeder. For in the industry, but a little bit of time with Pioneer. Then I was a research director. The next third, a little more than a third of my career, I was a research director leading different parts of the corn breeding organization in the United States and Southern Europe. And then the last third, I've been doing a variety of things, but mostly supporting the plant breeding process at Pioneer. So 100 years of history looking at the different iterations of corn is really what you walked us through here today. And I was taking some extensive notes, but I'd love if you could just give us an overview of a little bit about what you shared here as we've seen every evolution of that next generation of corn here that Pioneer has helped to work on. Yeah, so it's really interesting to note the really revolutionary moments of corn breeding time for the last 100 years. And in the early days, I think it was statistics and being able to measure everything that we do, data, data-driven, that has been prevalent from the very, very beginning of time of corn breeding. So collecting data, breeders having instruments, machinery, analytics that allow you to differentiate the best genetics from genetics that we don't want to sell. So we discard most of what we create. Only less than 1% of what we generate for genetics actually gets commercialized. So a very, very small percentage. It's pretty amazing. And, you know, to the, to the left of us here is really that quantitative era where we were selecting based off of the data and the numbers. From this point forward, we're, we're selecting on, on really two major revolutionary moments of GMO times. So we're standing right at the beginning of, of the GMO development. So foreign, foreign DNA, not native in, in corn. So we've got the corn genome. So everything from this point forward to, to, to today contains GMO traits. But the other notable thing around this same time was the intense impact of genomic knowledge, DNA-based knowledge from the, from the native or the, the, the natural genome within corn to, to select for the best traits. So we talked a little bit about all the way down at the end, we haven't even commercialized. Mm-hmm. Multiple disease resistance yet. And, and we're gonna do that in the next few years. And that, that is all native gene based. So it's all genome edited native genes within the corn genome. And the, the future of that is extremely bright. You know, we're, we're gonna do a lot of things with genome editing that are gonna deliver traits that we haven't been able to do as efficiently or as quickly as we've done in corn breeding in the past years. So as we think, okay, so just the early iterations, right? We had the same plant for a long time before Pioneer stepped in and started looking at how to improve. Uh, was it really the genomic mapping or the genomic understanding that helped us accelerate the commercialization process? well it it did two things it it helped us identify genomic selection and sometimes we call it whole genome selection it helped us um speed things up so it helped us go faster the the other thing it did is it i i talked about we only advanced to commercial less than one percent of everything we create but when we start bringing it to the field for testing everything costs more money so if we can be more effective more efficient of what we bring to the field in our early generation your early years of testing and we we lift we essentially lift the performance of everything we bring to the field at once so it's faster but it's also we we bring to the field and ultimately we bring the farmers and customers the the better the better things that that we we want to commercialize so it it really enriches the whole process of what we do looking at the history too the yield bumps from year to year some of the um milestones that you've mapped out here in the field that was the other thing i found really intriguing was just how accelerated when we look maybe here and beyond yield really is from from iteration to iteration talk to us a little bit about how pioneer has approached that over the years yeah i you know i think um it it's for the farmer it's always and competitively you know that there's a lot to do with our competitors we we always want to advance you know the absolute best material um the guys under the tent here talked about yield limiting factors like the biological biological discussion is there there are both biotic and abiotic so biology related negative effects on grain yield and there's abiotic effects that are not biologically related so you know there's a lot to do with that but there's a lot of things that we can do that are not biologically related and that's what we're trying to do and i think that's what we're trying to do and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go and i think that's where we're trying to go to what we're doing here is addressing you know moisture stress heat stress as environments as as climate change everybody likes to talk about climate change but but the climate changes every year and and so but these general trends to more extreme climate situations you know we're we're actually as as plant breeders and seed product developers we're in a really good position because we test every year everywhere around the world so we're really trying to you know i i'm actually wearing an old hat today so on the back of this it says right product for the right acre we don't use that tagline as much today as some of us old-timers still do but it's still true today because we test everywhere that we're going to commercialize and and that genotype by environment by management factor is so important to where we place products so it is the right product for the right acre with the farmer and knowing their management situation on their farm on their land is really important to that product placement well certainly what's coming down the pipeline is also exciting as we think about the next iteration of pioneer a lot of exciting future innovations that we you talked through today you know yields stability insect traits talk to us a little bit about what's next yeah i i think we we will continue to maintain um gmo traits for insect control leveraging herbicide traits to make weed control more um easy for farmers for for controlling weeds we'll continue to address those areas i think the long-term way to address them is through gmo traits and we cycle through those over time so insects do establish resistance to our traits and so we're trying to develop in the future traits we're trying to develop more durable products so that product may that gmo delivery might last 40 years instead of 10 or 12 and and so we're trying to make that stable as we look through future technology opportunities and then the other one um you know continuing the the course of better resolution of the biology and through through things like whole genome selection that that has taken a real foothold in our global product development for all the 10 crops that we breed in field crops we breed not just corn so those technologies are applied to all the all the plant crop plants that we we breed with and then the last one that i think that the the the uh outcome is still rather unclear but i think we're we're headed to a truly post-genomic era where we're leveraging the genome at will and we're going to utilize tools like you know genome editing to to leverage those genes um the the inevitable outcome of selecting for less than one percent that actually goes to commercial is your genetics tends to get narrower and narrower so we need tools to counterbalance that inevitable selection for narrowness we want to continue making genetic gain for yield and then they talked about the ncga yield contest not every acre is going to be that high but someday i mean who thought that we would break 200 bushel average yields in iowa and illinois for five years in a row And so someday we will consistently break 300 bushel, 350. What's the maximum possible? So you want the capacity of the technology that we're using to always advance the yield benefit for farmers. Fantastic, David. Well, I certainly appreciate your rich history with the company and what you've shared with us today on the podcast. Very good. Thank you. Well, one of my favorite things being here at the Corteva Media Days has been hearing about some of the different technology that, of course, the Corteva system uses. We caught up with Trent Brisby to talk about some of those innovations that they're using in the field today. Well, at the Corteva Media Days this week, we saw some really interesting technology that Corteva talked about, which I didn't realize existed. The disease modeling technology to look at how disease impacts from year to year. Chatting today with Trent Brisby, the agronomy innovation marketer. He's also the marketing manager here with Corteva, a pioneer, I should say. Trent, thanks for joining us on the podcast. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. So you mentioned you're located here, right here in Johnston, Iowa. Tell us a little bit more about some of the day-to-day of your role. Yeah. So as the marketing manager, I get to work with our sales reps, our employee teams, making sure they've got all the right agronomic information. All of our crop focuses, crop insights. We're able to put on webinars for our internal teams as well as our growers. We have our forward-thinking farming webinar series. And then had a really cool opportunity this year to roll out our brand new fun site timing solution. So you get to see a lot of the cool tools you're training and doing a lot of the education. So you're the guy to talk to about some of the cool tools. One of. Yeah. Well, this tool, the disease modeling technology, I thought was super intriguing. They shared a handout with all of the reporters here today to look at some of the different diseases such as southern rust and tar spot. Tell me a little bit more about the modeling technology. How long has this been around? Yeah. So we've been working on this. We've been doing this for seven plus years, so pretty awesome that we've taken a very, I don't want to say a very integral approach of ensuring that anything that we roll out is innovative, but also working the way we want it to work. We were able to launch it this last year at Commodity Classic. And so for what you were talking about is our disease risk maps, I'd tell you, it's kind of like the top of funnel as part of this solution, where we're able to predict the onset of disease. When you get into the fun site timing solution, we're really trying to help growers understand when and where to spray. There's a lot of things that they've got to think about, right? Twenty twenty five was definitely a lot different than what we're seeing in twenty twenty six. And so when we rolled out the fun side timing solution, we wanted to help growers know when and where to spray. And there's a few things that go into that. And as a part of that, you know, the traditional rule of thumb has been about 50 percent brown silk. Maybe you heard from one of your local retailers or a pioneer sales representative, or maybe you got a publication from a university. And so what we had found is with all the research that we've done is that timing really does matter. So we're trying to predict the onset of disease, and that's pretty key in what we're doing. So those disease risk maps are starting to show you what's coming in. What we've been able to do with the tool is we're combining pioneer corn, the fun side timing tool, and I'll dive into that in a second and forcivo fungicide as a full solution, help manage that. Those products. So just to make sure I'm understanding the iteration correctly here, the disease modeling technology helps you understand when that disease may be coming in. But then the fungicide timing tool is actually going to say, not only do we see that this disease is coming, here's when we need to make sure we're spraying for the best. I'd look at it all as one, right? The tool itself, fungicide timing tool is a when and where we have we have a dashboard, if you will. And so we're doing this at the field level. Okay, we're taking a look at things as pioneer disease trait scores are built in. We're looking at your management practices. So when did you plant? What tillage do you have? Are you under irrigation? How much nitrogen did you put on? We're also taking a look at your localized weather, what's happened today in the past, but also what's in the future. And then we also have a leaf wetness component to this, and it's pretty key in how all this works. And like I said, what we're trying to do is predict the onset of disease. Because once you see it, it's already been infected for approximately two weeks. So we're doing this at the field level with growers. So our pioneer sales reps are able to go down, have those conversations. And once we get done planning, we upload all this information and then we're kind of in this monitoring state. So this year, we've been seeing a lot of field monitoring. We're actually in the heart of spraying season right now. Like I said, last year versus this year, I think the agronomist said about three weeks difference in what we're seeing in disease. And so we've got some corn that's probably, you know, in an R1, R2 stage. And guys are asking like, hey, what's going on? Like, are we going to see disease or what's the tool saying? We're getting a lot of those phone calls. Like I said, we want to predict the onset. So we go through all that. And then in our dashboard, you can see monitoring, spray soon, which basically is we're telling you, you have about a seven to 14 day window that your field's probably going to get ready to spray. So we're able to be more proactive. And then once we're in that spray now, you have that five, seven day window to go spray. What we're providing for growers is a five bushel yield advantage. Year over year. Through all of our trials, showcasing that just by adjusting the timing. So for people that like to spray, we're just adjusting the timing, five bushel yield advantage. For those that are typically not spraying year over year, there's been about a 10 bushel yield advantage. - And it makes sense because if we think about other factors on the farm, commodity markets, we get alerts to say, hey, now is a good time to sell your grain. With all the data and artificial intelligence that's out there, this makes sense as another evolution of how farmers are approaching their production. What has the reaction been from farmers? Because I'm sure there's a little bit of skepticism, right, that the tool is telling me when I should spray. And in the past, I think there's been a lot of history, tacit knowledge that we see from farmers. What's the reaction been? - Yeah, it's about everything you just said. I'll share a story. One of our customers came out to Commodity Classic with us. And last year we were calling for what we'd consider an early spray call, so pre-tassel. And they went out and walked the fields and didn't see really any disease. So they kind of had some questions. Should I or should I not? They decided to go ahead and spray that field. They also looked at some other fields, wasn't seeing any disease. They left that field alone, came back two weeks later. The field that they hadn't sprayed was riddled with disease. So that kind of was that instant, like, you know what, maybe we are. And again, it goes back to, if you understand the disease triangle and the cycle of what we're dealing with, once that plant's infected, 10 to 14 days, you start seeing lesions, kind of holds true with what we were seeing there. Again, we don't want to see a lesion. We want to be very proactive about that. I've had some of our reps call me this year and said, I'm not seeing anything. I'm like, perfect. I don't want you to. But in the next week, it's telling you, you probably need to spray, right? Yep. OK, let's go do it. So if growers listening or watching are interested in learning more about the tool for themselves, what's the best place to go to get more information? Absolutely. So one, they can always reach out to the local Pioneer sales representative, their local agronomist, or they can go to pioneer.com in our agronomy section. We've got a whole web page dedicated towards the fun site timing solution. Awesome, Trent. Well, thank you so much for sharing this with us. I appreciate you bringing the solution to our listeners. Absolutely. Well, there's a lot to hear from the Corteva Media Day, but looking at fertilizer prices, they continue to move lower as growers look ahead to fall application season. DTN reports retail fertilizer prices have now declined for the seventh consecutive week. Prices for the liquid nitrogen fertilizer are down 14% over the past month, making it one of four major nutrients to post significant price declines. The continued drop in fertilizer costs could provide some relief for producers planning fall nutrient applications. While prices remain above historical average for some products, the recent trend gives growers additional opportunities to evaluate input purchases and lock in costs ahead of the 2027 growing season. So, Delaney, what's happening in the markets this week? Well, Josie, globally, the U.S. launched additional strikes this week on Iran as tensions continue to escalate. Ukraine also came in with a significant drop in fertilizer costs. So, Delaney, globally, the U.S. Ukraine also carried out new attacks on Russia, which is, of course, impacting energy prices. Drought conditions linked to the El Nino growing season are lowering water levels in the Panama Canal, causing shipping restrictions and disrupting global trade. Meanwhile, livestock markets have been mixed throughout the week. Hogs declined on some profit-taking opportunities, while cattle gained on short coverings after earlier losses tied to the news that the Mexican imports would resume. The Federal Reserve voted 9-3 this week to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.5%. And we'll continue to monitor the economy as inflation remains above its 2% target level. So, interest rates are certainly going to be top of mind as we head into the next growing season and start to think about operating notes for 2027. But that's a quick look at the markets and some of the larger markets as well, Josie. But you can catch all of our Corteva Media Day coverage on social media, as well as all of the cool things we're doing here on the podcast. You can find us on Twitter. You can find us on every major social media platform. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and TikTok, and YouTube. I think I got them all there. I think you got them all, too. But what do you say with that? We let the people go for today. Let's let them know. Let's let them know.