AgriTalk-October 7, 2026 AM

Chip Flory (0:03)

It is Wednesday morning, October 7th, and this is AgriTalk.

Welcome to AgriTalk, I'm your host, Chip Florey. The grain markets are bobbing and weaving this week, ahead of Friday's USDA reports. And after yesterday's nice rallies, corn, soybeans and wheat are favoring the downside. Wheat is leading the way to the downside with double digit losses.

Crude oil is slightly higher, the dollar index is higher, US stocks are lower, and the yield on the 10-year note made a new high at just over 5.3 percent. The September Ag Economy Barometer is out, and Joana Colussi from Purdue University will be here to discuss a sharp decline in farmer sentiment in September. And then it's time for this week's farmer forum, Bob Hemesath from Iowa, Chad Leman from Illinois will check in from their combines this morning. Margie Heckelkamp from The Scoop will check in right after we get a news update from Haley Bickelhop. Hey, I almost said-

Haley Bickelhop (1:14)

I thought you forgot my last name for a second.

Bob Hemesath (1:16)

What was that, Chip?

Chip Flory (1:18)

No. You see, I've said this before. I think I've said this before, but every now- I've got a daughter-in-law, Bailey. Okay?

So, Haley Bickelhop, Bailey Hickelhop, sometimes it gets in my head.

Haley Bickelhop (1:38)

I love it. I'll call you out on it, but I'll understand. It's okay.

Chip Flory (1:42)

I fully expect to be called out on that. No doubt.

No doubt. Haley Bickelhop. Yes. That's it.

Haley Bickelhop (1:50)

You got it. You got it. Well, Chip, how's the weather where you're at today? Is it pretty nice and sunny? Beautiful.

Chip Flory (1:56)

Absolutely gorgeous. Heading for high in the 70s, clear sky. We've got a little bit of a breeze blowing.

Bob Hemesath just up the road from me here, maybe an hour or so, is going to take time and have a conversation with us from the combine cab. But I assume he got started at the start of the week. We'll find out when we get him on here. But and then Chad Leman over in Illinois, I think he's probably been rolling for a while. We'll find out how things are going for him.

Haley Bickelhop (2:30)

Great. Wonderful. Well, we'll jump ahead and jump right in. We have a little bit of a harvesting update in just a second too Chip. But to start us off, USDA is launching $180 million seed sovereignty initiative. Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, made this announcement in Iowa on Tuesday morning. Chip, this was during this press conference that we have been talking about for a couple of days now, it got postponed. That was in Prairie City, Iowa.

This initiative will provide investments to USDA's Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Dermplasm System. It houses 600,000 collections representing 16,000 species. Lance Lillybridge is a member of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Chip, he was at this event yesterday with the secretary. I spoke to him yesterday afternoon, and he's calling this a step in the right direction, protecting farmers, seed companies, and competition. Here's what he had to say.

Lance Lillybridge (3:21)

One of the things that they talked about is China is doing the same thing, and right now is probably actually a step ahead of us. But by us getting some leverage within the USDA, we're able to put some resources towards that and maybe get the step up on the China program.

Haley Bickelhop (3:40)

Now Chip, a couple of things here too.

USDA says they are expanding work with DOJ on seed pricing and competition. They're also investing $6 million in Iowa State University to expand the Alliant Energy Agriculture Innovation Lab too. But we love your thoughts on this, Chip. We're still diving in. We're still peeling back the layers on this announcement.

Chip Flory (4:00)

Well, yeah, and it's protecting the work that has been done over the last 250 years in this country to develop the best seed genetics. And it's a step that it's got to happen. It's got to happen. We've got to have a way of protecting it and preserving it. And this is how it happens.

Haley Bickelhop (4:19)

Exactly.

Well, Chip, you know, we're talking about harvest and people being in the field today. And just this morning on Ag Day, we did continue our Whipple's Harvest Your Independence Tour. So our feature today was the Harrell family from Carthage, Illinois. And just yesterday, Chris Harrell told me that his family is about halfway done with corn there. They're about a quarter of the way done with beans. So corn yields are about 10% lower than their five-year average, and beans are slightly above that five-year average.