Recently the crop insurance program has become the target of federal budget cuts. In this podcast University of Nebraska's Market Journal interviews Kansas State Ag Economics Professor, Art Barnaby, who explores possible cuts that could be made to the crop insurance program, which could even include eliminating the Harvest Price option. This comes after a 3 billion dollar cut in October which capped insurer's rates of return.

Having a farmland lease agreement based on a handshake may be an easy way to avoid paperwork, but not having a written agreement can be a sure way of opening a can of worms. This can be especially true for family members who inherit property or during times of weak commodity prices.

In this podcast Eddie Davis who is a farm manager for Brown Land and Farm Management in Rayville, LA discusses the importance of having a written lease and what could go wrong with just a handshake.

Budgeting for next year is going to be tight for many farmers due to low commodity prices and high cash rents. Some economists have even suggested cutting upwards to $100 dollar per acre. In this podcast Purdue University Ag Economics Professor Michael Gunderson suggests budgeting based on output costs instead of cutting input costs strait out.

Boom bust cycles had an impact on agriculture markets in both the 1980s and 70s. Current economic indications may point to another bust ahead. In this podcast University of Nebraska's Market Journal interviews Kansas State Ag Economics head, Allen Featherstone, who discusses how financial lessons from the past may help producers get through tough times head.

This episode of Talking Crops comes from "Landlords and the cash rent issue" by Harwood D. Schaffer & Daryll E. Ray who are Economists at the University of Tennessee.

Talking Crops: Cutting Budgets by $100 an Acre - Gary Schnitkey by AgFax

When you think about growing rice, Arkansas or California may come to mind. For Marquette University Associate Professor Michael Schläppi, his mind is set on growing rice in Wisconsin. In this podcast Schläppi discusses his current experiments, growing methods, and varieties he has used to bring the crop to the Midwest.

There are still a few weeks left before grain sorghum is harvested and for some farmers sugarcane aphids may be posing a threat to yields. In this podcast Drew Ellis, Dow AgroSciences Market Development Specialist, explains proper thresholds, making effective applications, harvest aid decisions, and more.

The rise of the middle class in China has caused the cost of labor to increase. As a response, Chinese cotton production leaders have explored new options in order keep the cost down. Meanwhile, global markets are having to adjust to the devaluation of the China’s currency. In this Podcast cotton market analyst and Mississippi State University Professor Emeritus O.A. Cleveland explains how recent cultural and economic changes have shaped China’s current role in the global cotton market.

Managing Palmer pigweed in cotton can be tough, especially if they escaped residual herbicides. If the weeds get too big, you’ll need to result to hand pulling because of their hardy resistance. In this Podcast, Cotton Extension Associate Professor for North Carolina State University Dr. Guy Collins explains how to hand weed properly and the problems that can ensue if you don’t.