For Kent Harfmann, Mantorville Township, Dodge County, Minnesota Thursday, October 8, 2026. Filed by The MI Farm AI Desk.
Weather, Dodge County, MN
What this means for today: Mostly sunny. High near 66, with temperatures falling to around 64 in the afternoon. Wind 0 to 8 mph through the day (see the hour by hour table below). Source: NOAA National Weather Service via the MI Farm AI weather layer for Dodge County, MN, pulled this morning. Hour by Hour, the day ahead
Source: NOAA National Weather Service hourly forecast and station observations, pulled this morning. Wind this morning at your nearest weather station was about 8 mph. Rain WindowWe could not get a reading right on your field this morning. The nearest weather station (Rochester MN, about 18 miles north) recorded no rain in the past 24 hours. Your own ground may differ, so check your gauge. Rain expected at your field: Next 24 hours: 0.00 inches expected Next 48 hours: 0.23 inches expected Next 72 hours: 0.30 inches expected Source: NOAA National Weather Service forecast and NOAA radar rainfall estimates, pulled this morning. Futures board reference (not your cash)
The board is a labeled futures reference, not your cash bid. Your cash and net after haul are below. Corn Today (Dec 2026 board)
Cash bid, your nearby buyers, ranked by net after haul, best first
Cash bid is each buyer's own posted local price (the local cash plus basis). Ranked by net after haul, best first (ties break to the shorter haul, then higher cash). Net is the cash bid minus the cost to truck it there. Patronage is money a co-op pays back on the bushels you deliver, often a few cents a bushel.
Local cash bids, as of 2026-10-08.
Grain and Livestock, corn, soybeans, wheat, cattleCal's Grain Call: Price a portion of 40,500 bu corn at $4.79/bu via Crystal Valley, Mantorville Branch (a recommendation, see the factors).Corn: Your 2025 bin corn has rolled to the December board, now its nearby contract, in October. Soybeans: The growing 2026 crop is new crop soybean; it prices on the November board.
Source: CME livestock futures. Cal's Market ReadOvernight, corn slipped about 3 cents; and beans slipped about 8 cents. Recent trend, over the last 5 sessions, corn has firmed and beans have firmed. That is the backdrop your cash bid is moving against. Here is our read on why corn and beans both slipped overnight, and honestly the facts do not point to one clean cause. The two likeliest are the pressure spilling over from a weak hog market, with lean hog futures sliding to $2.42 and the USDA base hog price down $3.30 per Tri-State Neighbor, and uncertainty around India floating safe Black Sea shipping and grain export proposals in the Ukraine Russia war per ThePrint. No USDA report is due to steer us. Stocks point lower into the open, S&P futures off about 0.1 percent. A softer tape can tighten the credit and input-cost mood your lender watches, worth a glance, but it does not set your cash bid. Cal Wall Street, yesterday's close
WHY IT MATTERS FOR YOUR FIELDS Decision DeliveredYour decisions for today and the week ahead:
What to Watch Today
From Cal's News DeskThe 8 stories that moved across the wires since yesterday's Brief, sourced, dated, and verifiable. Each one carries Cal's review, the same one the news page shows, with a link to read it straight from the source. 1. Watch out for the field gangs of the prairies
Coyote packs across the prairies are growing bigger and bolder, posing a rising threat to rural areas and livestock. These so called field gangs have earned a notorious reputation as their numbers swell across the countryside. Farmers and country residents know firsthand how these predators can menace animals and property. Read the full article to learn why these prairie gangs are becoming more dangerous and what it means for those living in the country.
Read the full article. Tri-State Neighbor, Thu Oct 8, 2026 9:00 AM CT 2. Resilience on Tap: A New York Family Farm's Journey to Brewing Success
Rachel McDermott, a second generation farmer who left a banking career to launch Dancing Grain Farm Brewery in Moreau, New York, used a state grant to overhaul her harvest operation and continue a family legacy that her uncles Jim and Bob Czub Jr. started on a former dairy farm back in the 1980s. Her operation was one of 19 projects funded in the first $850,000 round of New York's Beginning Farmer Competitive Grant Program, backed by Governor Kathy Hochul and Commissioner Richard Ball, with a second round now offering $1.7 million. With the money she bought a specialized combine fitted with custom sieves, chaffers, and a straw walker for small grains, which cut harvest labor by about 20 percent and ended a brutal 5 hour manual sieve adjustment she used to endure. She now expects to trim crop loss by 10 percent while turning high quality straw into a brand new revenue stream, a reminder that even a modest equipment upgrade can decide whether a beginning grain farm sinks or thrives.
Read the full article. Morning Ag Clips, Thu Oct 8, 2026 8:58 AM CT 3. Goats, Gourds & Good Times:
Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, New Jersey is throwing its annual Celebrate Fall Festival on Sunday, October 18, from 11 am to 3 pm at 165 Hobart Avenue. Families can meet the crowd favorite goats, visit hands on animals from Zoophoria, build bird feeders, walk a not too spooky trail, and browse local food and market vendors across the colorful gardens. Executive Director Jackie Kondel calls it one of the group's favorite community events of the year, and The Lees Group of Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty is back as Title Sponsor. The event runs rain or shine with advance registration encouraged, and it matters because this nonprofit public garden uses days like this to connect folks of all ages with nature, horticulture, and conservation.
Read the full article. Morning Ag Clips, Thu Oct 8, 2026 8:50 AM CT 4. Lean Hogs
Hog futures took a hit midweek, with contracts sliding $1 to $2.42 by Wednesday's close, as reported by Austin Schroder at Barchart.com. The USDA national base hog price slipped to $72.44 in the Wednesday afternoon report, a drop of $3.30 from the day before, while the CME Lean Hog Index eased another 41 cents to $79.22 on October 5. Open interest also pulled back by 2,300 contracts, a sign that traders were stepping to the sidelines. The slide carried into Friday, when contracts faded again by 17 to 97 cents, keeping pressure on the pork market heading into the weekend.
Read the full article. Tri-State Neighbor, Thu Oct 8, 2026 8:29 AM CT 5. At least 30 people killed in Russian bus bombing in Ukraine
A bomb tore through a public transit stop in Kramatorsk, Ukraine at 10 a.m. local time, killing at least 30 people and wounding 18 more, according to Ukraine's National Police. Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin blamed Russia for deliberately hitting civilians, posted images of the burned bus and bodies, and shut down public transport in Kramatorsk and nearby Sloviansk. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said an aerial bomb struck the stop, doctors were struggling to save the injured, and some of the dead were so badly hurt they could not yet be identified. The attack hit the industrial Donbass region near the frontline just a day after a missile killed 22 people, including five children, even as Moscow keeps denying it targets civilians.
Read the full article. NBC News, Thu Oct 8, 2026 5:53 AM CT 6. Ithaca council halts Cornell event permits amid scrutiny over handling of rape allegations
The Ithaca Common Council voted 9 to 1 Wednesday night to block Cornell University and its fraternities from getting city permits for events and gatherings until at least November 5, a rare rebuke tied to how the school handled a student's rape allegations. The case centers on a woman called Jane Doe, who sued seven former Chi Phi fraternity members in September, claiming they drugged her with ketamine and raped her in October 2024, charges the men deny. The fight has grown messy because District Attorney Matthew Van Houten first declined to prosecute, citing a sworn statement he says called the conduct consensual, yet police interview transcripts show Doe telling investigators, I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped. Governor Kathy Hochul has since pulled the case from the local DA and handed it to Attorney General Letitia James, so this story matters as a window into how far a community will go when people lose trust in local justice.
Read the full article. Fox News, Thu Oct 8, 2026 8:33 AM CT 7. Oil prices hit $105 and stocks tumble as Trump considers renewed strikes on Iran
Markets got rattled as Brent crude jumped past $105 a barrel and U.S. crude neared $93, all because President Trump is weighing renewed strikes on Iran that could shatter a three month standoff. The fear drove the 10 year Treasury yield up to 5.35% and knocked stocks lower, with the S&P 500 off 0.4% and small caps down nearly 1%. Iranian attacks have throttled the Strait of Hormuz to fewer than 23 ships a day from hundreds before the war, and Bank of America's Francisco Blanch warns a bigger conflict could spike oil toward $150. For you at the pump and the fuel tank, this hits hard, with regular gas now at $4.36 a gallon and diesel soaring nearly 70% since February to $6.28, just weeks before the midterm elections.
Read the full article. NBC News, Thu Oct 8, 2026 7:15 AM CT 8. Trump order temporarily expands use of dyed diesel nationwide
Farmers running tractors and other off road equipment just got a break, because on October 5 President Donald Trump signed an order temporarily expanding nationwide access to dyed diesel across the country. That dyed diesel is the tax exempt fuel normally reserved for heavy agricultural and construction machinery that stays off public roads, so the move could ease fuel supply worries during a busy season. For corn and soybean producers, cheaper and more available off road fuel can mean real savings when you are burning through diesel in the field. The full story also checks in with Lone Tree, Iowa producer Chad Yoder, who has been steering his family pork operation in Johnson County toward long term sustainability.
Read the full article. Iowa Farmer Today, Thu Oct 8, 2026 8:21 AM CT Around the WorldThe world news moving your markets this morning, the same read from Cal's desk that runs on your dashboard. India seeks safe Black Sea shipping, grain exports & non-attack understandings in Ukraine-Russia warIndia is stepping into the Ukraine Russia conflict as a peacemaker, with spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirming New Delhi has floated proposals covering safe Black Sea shipping, grain and energy exports, and non attack understandings between the two warring nations. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called India's ceasefire plan the broadest of four that Kyiv received last week, a plan likely raised during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's visit to Kyiv and followed up at the United Nations gathering in New York. The timing is urgent, since the war is now in its fifth year and has grown fiercer, with four ships attacked in the Black Sea in just the last few days and at least two Indian seafarers injured and treated in Romania and Bulgaria. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pressed the point with President Putin that the time has come for endless war to give way to end of war, and both Moscow and Kyiv have welcomed India's effort. A separate worry is that roughly 259 Indian nationals were recruited into the Russian military, with 139 now discharged but 69 still serving, prompting India to again warn its citizens that such offers carry grave danger to life. For a grain exporter watching world markets, this matters because safe shipping and restored navigation through the Black Sea directly affect global grain and energy flows that help set the prices farmers live by. ThePrint (via world wire). Read the full story.Local ObituariesNo local obituaries for your area in today's papers. Cal's ReceiptCal's Receipt is the running ledger of every call this desk made for your farm, what was at stake, whether you followed it, and what it actually saved (or cost). Append-only, and every dollar cites its source. You will find it on your farm Dashboard, on the Farm Services desk. Open the Dashboard from the button at the bottom of this Brief. Today in Farm SafetyNever search for a hydraulic leak with your bare hand. Pinhole leaks spray fluid hard enough to inject it under the skin, a true surgical emergency even when it looks like a small cut. Relieve the pressure first, then hunt the leak with a piece of cardboard, not a finger. Source: National Ag Safety Database; Penn State Extension. Cal The Coffee ShopToday in Farm History, Combine harvester arrives Midwest 1924The Massey-Harris No. 5 combine harvester reached the Midwest in 1924. Before that, harvest meant a binder, shocks, and a threshing crew of 10 to 25 men sharing meals at every farm for a week. The combine ended the harvest crew and changed rural social life forever. Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History agricultural collection. [CAL'S QUIZ]
What was the result of FDR's September 1936 nine-governor Dust Bowl meeting in Des Moines?
(a) The CCC was extended
(b) The Shelterbelt Project and Plains tree windbreaks
(c) Crop insurance was created
(d) The AAA was struck down
Answer at the bottom of the Brief. [CAL'S JOKE]
The 4960 turned 14,000 hours. The grandson said, "What's the next milestone?" The farmer said, "Whatever number she reaches before either of us stops counting."
The MI Farm AI Desk
Cal "Corn-Bread" Halvorsen, your AI Agronomist and Editor in Chief Quiz Answer(b) The Great Plains Drought Area Committee report and the Shelterbelt Project, the federally-funded tree windbreaks still standing on Plains farms. Source: National Archives FDR Presidential Library; USDA Forest Service history.
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The MI Farm Brief is the independent daily farm intelligence brief that earns zero when you buy inputs. Cal "Corn-Bread" Halvorsen is the editorial persona of the MI Farm AI desk, the AI-orchestrated production team that produces this Brief every working morning. The Monthly Receipt is signed by the Founder, MI Farm AI. Honest. Independent. Loyal. Transparent. The HILT Covenant.
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Signed by Cal "Corn-Bread" Halvorsen, Editor in Chief, The MI Farm AI Desk.