Free Republic

2008 Corn & Soybean Yield Expectations In Midwest Study URBANA, Ill. - A new study by University of Illinois agricultural economists projects that average 2008 corn yields could be reduced by 2.9 bushels per acre in Illinois, 3.5 bushels in Indiana, and 6.3 bushels in Iowa due to later-than-normal planting and above-normal precipitation in May. Soybean yields may be down 1.1 bushels, 0.4 bushels, and 1.0 bushels per acre, respectively, in those same states for the same reasons.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=amPZmB.ZSuiE&refer=latin_america

Increasing soybean imports trigger off worries about China's grain security www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-06 16:53:53 Print Special Report: NPC, CPPCC Annual Sessions 2008 BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planning agency, has decided to prolong implementation of interim import duty on soybeans from March 31 to September 30, a NDRC source confirmed Thursday. To reduce the cost of soybean imports and curb price rises for grain on the domestic market, on Oct. 1, 2007 China slashed import duty on soybeans from three percent to one percent. The country's consumer price index, a barometer...

Soybean seed shortage to increase production risks By Robert H. Wells Delta Research and Extension Center STONEVILLE -- With soybean seed in short supply in 2008, Mississippi soybean growers are facing increased production risks including unproven varieties and poor-quality seed. Mississippi State University Extension Service specialists recommend producers research available varieties to minimize these risks. “We’re not going to have replant options this year because of the seed shortage,” said Trey Koger, MSU Extension soybean specialist. “Most likely we are going to have one shot at getting a stand, and we don’t need to plant too early when conditions are...

Soybean growers hold up University of Minnesota funds to protest biofuels paper Trade council unhappy with biofuels paper By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo lsuzukamo@pioneerpress.com Article Last Updated: 02/28/2008 09:41:51 PM CST Call it a soybean spat. The University of Minnesota isn't going to receive any research funding from the state's soybean growers council until the two parties have a heart-to-heart talk next week. The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council voted to temporarily suspend its financial support after a study co-authored by U researchers in the journal Science said increased use of biofuel crops like corn and soybeans could worsen global...

Soybean futures hit 34-year high on strong demand By JACKIE FARWELL, AP Business Writer NEW YORK 12/28/07 ?Soybean futures rose to their highest level in more than 30 years Friday as traders bet on robust exports next year and continued strong demand from China. Gold prices also climbed, boosted by strong oil prices, weak economic data in the U.S., and geopolitical concerns following Thursday’s assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Other agricultural futures were mixed, while oil prices advanced. U.S. exporters have already sold roughly three-quarters of the soybeans the Agriculture Department predicts for the whole marketing year, which...

Soaring soyabean price stirs anger among poor By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong, John Aglionby in Jakarta and Jung-a Song in Seoul Published: January 18 2008 02:29 | Last updated: January 18 2008 02:29 During the ancient Zhou dynasty, soyabeans were among China’s five sacred grains. Thousands of years later soyabeans maintain their importance to the Chinese and most other Asians, but they have recently triggered much more down-to-earth preoccupations. On Monday, 10,000 Indonesians demonstrated outside the presidential palace in Jakarta after soyabean prices soared more than 50 per cent in the past month and 125 per cent over the...

There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular. Now, I'm a health-food guy, a fanatic who seldom allows anything into his kitchen unless it's organic. I state my bias here just so you'll know I'm not anti-health food. The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore. I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of...

They don't look like much, those beans cupped in Kevin Cole's work-stained hands. But soybeans -- about the size of rosary beads -- will be the main ingredient in biofuel produced at the old International Paper site starting next fall. Lake Erie Biofuels will consume 750,000 acres of soybeans each year. So could these little beans cupped in Cole's hands be the salvation for area farmers? Doubtful. Local farmers like Kevin Cole aren't expecting to see any more of an impact than their peers nationwide. That's because the 21,000 acres of beans grown in Erie and Crawford counties is, literally,...

Pots of soybeans don't bubble on Stan Gasperson's stove anymore. The creator of a soybean-based hair dye has cooked up something else -- a product made from corn, rosemary and other herbs that Gasperson claims grows hair. RestHAIRation is actually an entire hair care system featuring shampoo, conditioner and spray gel. The owner of Creative Cuts at 813 E. Grove St., Bloomington, took more than two years to develop the products. He tested RestHAIRation on about 2,000 willing participants, including himself. "Rogaine is the only hair growth product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Because FDA won't approve...

<p>SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa — A gas explosion rocked a soybean (search) processing plant in western Iowa on Friday, injuring eight people and sparking a fire, authorities said.</p> <p>Fire crews extinguished the blaze after four hours at the Ag Processing Inc. plant, about 20 miles south of Sioux City (search), said Woodbury County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Brown.</p>