National Gas Prices Drop and Ag Economy Barometer Holds Steady
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**USDA’s Economic Research Service finds cover crop mixes account for 18 to 25% of acres with cover crops, but the use of single-species cover crops is more common.
For corn fields in 2021, almost 75% of acres with cover crops used a grass or small grain cover crop, such as cereal rye, winter wheat, or oats.
At 44% of acreage, cereal rye was almost twice as common as winter wheat as the cover crop on corn for grain fields.
**The national average gas price fell 15.8 cents over the last week, down to $3.36 per gallon.
The national average diesel price fell 13.6 cents last week to $5.06 per gallon.
GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan expects diesel prices to fall under $5 per gallon this week, but cautions there may be some concerns coming as the price cap on Russian oil kicks in.
**Not much movement in the November Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer with a reading of 102 for the month, unchanged from October.
However, the Current Conditions Index dropped three points to 98, while the Future Expectations Index rose two points to a reading of 104.
Even though producer sentiment was unchanged, producers continue to look at their bottom line and rising interest rates.
Combine that with high input and energy costs, and there’s a lot of anxiety at the farm level.
