Forage Marketing - Articles

Forage Market Insights: Putting a partial wrap on 2024

Here’s Progressive Forage’s look at fourth-quarter factors impacting hay markets.

December 19, 2024

Larger harvests are impacting dry hay markets in many regions as 2024 comes to a close. On-farm hay inventories, new seeding estimates and production summaries for all forage crops will provide a clearer picture in early January.

How do moisture and composition affect feedstuff costs?

Nutrient composition and dry matter content should be taken into account when evaluating the value of different feeds.

October 8, 2024

Jason M. Warner

While understanding the impact of feedstuff dry matter is critical for making informed management decisions, we also must consider how differences in nutrient composition, in addition to dry matter, influence feedstuff cost scenarios.

Forage Market Insights: In the swing of summer

June 13, 2024

Joy Hendrix

The summer is in full swing and so is the next season of alfalfa. With corn in the ground and emerging, producers are chomping at the bit to get last year's crop sold and out of the barns to make room for this year's crop.

Forage Market Insights: A splashy start to summer

May 15, 2024

Joy Hendrix

With the new crop of hay being harvested, producers are in a panic trying to sell hay from the last hay season to make room as we dive into the 2024 crop. Take a closer look at what prices and conditions in each region in the Progressive Forage Forage Market Insights column as of May 14, 2024.

Forage Market Insights: 2024 plans taking shape

Many U.S. hay and forage growers are starting the new growing season under the best moisture conditions in quite a while.

February 15, 2024

Dave Natzke

Here’s Progressive Forage’s monthly look at factors impacting hay markets across the U.S.

Making the best of poor-quality forages

Untimely rains challenged forage quality during the 2023 growing season. Although not ideal, implementing strategic measures can safeguard the long-term health and success of dairy operations.

December 8, 2023

Jesse Petersen

Every year, I discuss the importance of high-quality forages with the dairymen I work with. Most years, we see above-average forage value. However, the 2023 crop year brought on some new challenges we hadn’t experienced for quite a while.

You’re thinking about selling carbon credits – what next?

Industry jargon, combined with a long and confusing string of middlemen, obscure the process and make it seem overwhelming to the person who is ultimately storing the carbon.

May 15, 2023

Scott Fleming and Dustin Sawyer

Carbon sequestration, carbon capture, carbon farming – call it what you will, it all comes down to one concept: We can use plants to convert CO₂ from the atmosphere into physical forms of carbon that are locked away in the soil.