For Sheridan Skala, Owatonna, Minnesota (Steele County, family farm heritage) Thursday, July 23, 2026. Filed by The MI Farm AI Desk. Weather, Steele County, MN
What this means for today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. South wind around 5 mph. Source: NOAA National Weather Service via the MI Farm AI weather layer for Steele County, MN, pulled this morning. Hour by Hour, the day ahead
Source: NOAA National Weather Service hourly forecast and station observations, pulled this morning. Grain and Livestock, corn, soybeans, wheat, cattleFutures board (front month): corn Dec 2026 $4.8775/bu (+0.2575, +5.57%); soybeans Nov 2026 $12.4150/bu (+0.0850, +0.69%). Chicago board, as of 2026-07-23.
Source: Chicago Board of Trade. Cal's Market ReadOvernight, corn added about 4 cents; and beans added about 4 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. Cutting the other way, demand still reads firm per Morning Ag Clips: MDARD, MI Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development Award $450,000 Grant. Honest truth, the tape does not hand us one clean reason today, so take this as our best read, not gospel. Stocks point lower into the open, S&P futures off about 0.2 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 10 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. Data, drones help farmers squeeze more from every acre
Soils that are exposed to prolonged drought often develop desiccation cracks, which impact soil properties and exacerbate moisture loss throug...
Read the full article. Tri-State Neighbor, Thu Jul 23, 2026 1:00 AM CT 2. Rollins Urges Congress to Pass $11.1B Emergency Farm Aid as Input Costs and Market Strains Mount
Rollins joined defense leaders on Capitol Hill to push for the administration's sweeping $87.6 billion supplemental spending package. However, Rollins emphasized that existing permanent programs were not built to absorb the compounding pressures of 2026, which include widespread drought affecting nearly 47% of the country and severe winter freeze losses spanning from Florida to the Pacific Northwest. "But what we're seeing is just survival, and we're seeing a lot of the input companies... For producers caught between high overhead and shifting global markets, Secretary Rollins' message to Capitol Hill was unmistakable: passing the package buys the nation the security it needs, and it buys America's farmers time to survive.
Read the full article. Hoosier Ag Today, Wed Jul 22, 2026 5:20 PM CT 3. No-Till Highlights: July 23, 2026
Here is our favorite content from the past week from across the web: In Washington, Cascadia Pizza Co. As wheat harvest wraps up, a Case IH 620 Quadtrac is already in the next field no-till planting double crop soybeans with a John Deere N550 drill, showing how quickly farmers work to establish the next crop after wheat. Kendra Downing is the Summer 2026 Editorial Intern for Lessiter Media's Ag Division. Provide expert analysis and decision support to increase productivity and profitability.
Read the full article. No-Till Farmer, Wed Jul 22, 2026 11:00 PM CT 4. No-Till Cropping & Business Insights
The 2025 No-Till Farmer Operational Benchmark Survey is being promoted here as a deep online resource for no-tillage practices, with the pitch that a single good idea can pay back a subscription many times over. The piece also spotlights an advanced XPR concave system that threshes all crops with one set, cuts rotor loss, and delivers cleaner grain samples and better grain quality. Titan International gets a strong plug too, described as one of the largest North American makers of wheels, tires, and undercarriage products for farm, construction, forestry, mining, and other off road equipment, backed by a worldwide dealer network. It matters because these tools and suppliers all point toward the same goal for your operation, namely better productivity and profitability through smarter no-till decisions and reliable equipment.
Read the full article. No-Till Farmer, Wed Jul 22, 2026 11:00 PM CT 5. MDARD, MI Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development Award $450,000 Grant
The funding, awarded by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), will enable the company to construct a new mill facility, implement advanced technology and create 17 new jobs. We appreciate MDARD's commitment to investing in innovative food and agriculture businesses that add value to Michigan-grown products and help build a stronger, more resilient agricultural economy." Although Michigan produces more than 340 million bushels of corn each year, the state does not have any corn mills. Since Fiscal Year 2019, MDARD has awarded more than $6.9 million of FAIP grants. 80% or 90% of each member's payout will be delivered [...]
Read the full article. Morning Ag Clips, Thu Jul 23, 2026 2:46 AM CT 6. 2026 Ohio State Fair Featured Deviled Egg Flavor Revealed
The 2026 featured flavor will make its public debut when the fair opens on Wednesday, July 29. Fairgoers can enjoy breakfast from 8 11 a.m. For delicious recipes, visit www.OhioEggs.com and www.OhioTurkey.com . Strickler Youth Reserve [...]
Read the full article. Morning Ag Clips, Thu Jul 23, 2026 2:33 AM CT 7. Pullers pull off victory in student competition
Ten Wisconsin students recently earned $1,500 scholarships from Insight FS.
Read the full article. Tri-State Neighbor, Thu Jul 23, 2026 1:00 AM CT 8. MPS Egg Farms Celebrates Grand Opening of the Strauss Feed Mill in Wabash County
MPS Egg Farms just cut the ribbon on its brand new Strauss Feed Mill near North Manchester, Indiana, a high capacity plant that carries on a family milling tradition dating back to 1875 when Daniel Strauss first ran a water powered grain mill on the Eel River. Co-CEO Sam Krouse, part of the sixth generation of family leadership, says the mill turns local farmers' quality grain into quality feed for the thousands of hens across the company's three Indiana layer farms. For corn growers, the big news is a guaranteed, high volume local buyer right in the neighborhood, which means lower hauling costs, fewer freight miles, and a more dependable market close to home. It is a reminder that investments in local livestock and poultry feeding can open steady, profitable doors for grain producers, and the full story digs into how this cage-free egg powerhouse plans to keep growing.
Read the full article. Hoosier Ag Today, Wed Jul 22, 2026 5:15 PM CT 9. House passes $95B measure with ag aid, Senate outlook is shaky
Lawmakers in the House squeaked through a $95 billion package by a razor thin 216 to 214 vote, setting aside as much as $12 billion to steady a struggling farm economy. The aid is meant to offset surging fuel and fertilizer costs tied to the ongoing war with Iran, though critics like Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called it a hidden war slush fund and said the real fix is ending the fighting. Massie and fellow Republican Warren Davidson of Ohio joined nearly all Democrats in voting no, while Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance shaped the plan, which also carries Trump's SAVE America Act requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote. It matters to your operation because that farm money is far from guaranteed, since Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington is now pushing a shaky Senate to pass it. For the full breakdown of what could land in your mailbox, MI Farm AI has you covered.
Read the full article. Agri-Pulse, Wed Jul 22, 2026 5:12 PM CT 10. Mexico ends pseudorabies-related limits on U.S. pork
Mexico has finally reopened its market to U.S. pork products like offal, jowls, skins, fat, snouts and stomachs after a six week trade halt tied to a pseudorabies outbreak detected in Iowa at the end of April. Erin Borror of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, speaking at last Friday's Iowa Farm Bureau Economic Summit, said the precautionary restrictions were eventually narrowed to just Iowa and Texas before being fully lifted at the start of this week. She credited the USDA and partner groups like the NPPC for pushing to get the limits removed. This matters because Mexico is the biggest foreign buyer of U.S. pork, taking roughly one third of all U.S. pork export volume, so getting that trade flowing again is a big deal for demand and prices.
Read the full article. Brownfield Ag News, Wed Jul 22, 2026 3:43 PM CT 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 SafetyConstant tractor and grain-dryer noise above 85 decibels causes permanent hearing loss you never get back. Keep foam earplugs or muffs in the cab and wear them on long field days and around augers and dryers. Hearing damage is painless until it is permanent. Source: NIOSH hearing loss prevention; National Ag Safety Database. Cal Local ObituariesNo local obituaries for your area in today's papers. The Coffee ShopToday in Farm History, Boll weevil enters U.S. 1892Around 1892, the boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande into Texas from Mexico. By 1922 it had reached Virginia and was destroying about a third of the Southern cotton crop annually. The weevil drove the Great Migration of Black farm families north, and pushed Southern agriculture toward peanuts (Carver's work) and soybeans. Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service entomology history. [CAL'S QUIZ]
When the AAA was passed in 1933, what was Iowa's average corn price per bushel?
(a) $0.10
(b) $0.31
(c) $1.20
(d) $2.50
Answer at the bottom of the Brief. [CAL'S JOKE]
The youngest soil-and-water board member was 28. The chairman said, "Welcome." The new member said, "What do I do?" The chairman said, "Listen for a year. Talk in your second year. By year three you'll think you know everything. That's normal."
The MI Farm AI Desk
Cal "Corn-Bread" Halvorsen, your AI Agronomist and Editor in Chief Quiz Answer(b) $0.31 per bushel. After the AAA programs lifted prices, by 1937 the Iowa average was $0.81 to 161% higher in five years. Source: USDA NASS Iowa cash-price historical series.
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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.