Agriculture Shorts

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported the average cash rent for irrigated land in Nebraska this year is $281 per acre, up 1.4 percent from 2023. Cash rent for dryland cropland this year averaged $169 per acre, a 3 percent increase. And pasture rent averaged $28.50, up 5 percent . . . The Daily Livestock Report reported U.S. beef production in the first half of the year was 13.326 billion pounds, 1.6 percent lower than a year ago. First half pork production was 13.81 billion pounds, 1 percent higher . . . According to Bloomberg, the average age of farmers in Brazil dropped to 46 years. The average age of U.S. farmers is 57.5 years . . . Deere & Co. has laid off 2,100 production workers since November, or 15 percent of its hourly workforce, reports the Wall Street Journal. Agco plans to cut 6 percent of its salaried workforce, about 800 people, by year's end . . . Multiple reports said profits for Bunge, Cargill, and Archer-Daniels-Midlands Co. are under pressure this year from ample grain supplies and reduced earnings from soybean processing . . . And the final sting, honeybee colonies in Nebraska on operations with 5 or more colonies totaled 17,500 on January 1, and 11,000 on April 1 according to NASS. Last year buzzed in with 7,000 colonies on January 1, and 8,000 colonies on April 1.