Wednesday October 29 Ag News - Ag Smart Money Week Nov 3-7 - SIRE hits 2b gallons of Ethanol Produced - Equipment Costs Analysis - CLAAS Announces Expansion - and more!

Ag Smart Money Week: Free Events November 3-7

Ag $martMoney Week, Nov. 3-7, 2025, focuses on providing education, information, tools, and training for agricultural producers in Nebraska to better manage and improve their operations through free webinars at least once per day during the week.

Areas covered include topics related to finances, cost of production, risk management, land leasing and rental rates, and more.

The goal of this week is to provide education, information, and tools for agricultural producers to help with their operations.

Topics on the schedule include:
    Nov. 3 at noon CT: Balance Sheets
    Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. CT: Livestock Budgeting in Ag Budget Calculator
    Nov. 4 at noon CT: Leases and Rental Rates
    Nov. 5 at noon CT: Enterprise Budgeting and Cost of Production
    Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. CT: Managing Cash Flow
    Nov. 6 at noon CT: Nebraska and U.S. Farm Income Update and Outlook
    Nov. 7 at noon CT: Income/Profit and Loss Statements

Register for Ag Smart Money Week: https://cap.unl.edu/smartmoney/. 

Building Your Financial Foundation: Balance Sheets
With Jessica Groskopf, Extension Agricultural Economist, UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability
A balance sheet is the cornerstone of understanding your operation’s financial health. This session will show how to build and interpret one using real farm examples to track assets, liabilities, and net worth to see where you stand and how that position changes over time. Participants will learn how lenders view balance sheets, and how to calculate key ratios like working capital, current ratios, and debt-to-asset.

Livestock Budgeting with the Agricultural Budget Calculator
With Glennis McClure, Extension Farm and Ranch Management Analyst, UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability 
Livestock operations face unique challenges when it comes to tracking costs and planning for profit. This session focuses on how producers can use the Agricultural Budget Calculator (ABC) to create, compare, and analyze enterprise budgets for cow/calf, backgrounding, and finishing operations. Participants will see how to factor in feed, pasture, labor, and equipment costs, evaluate breakeven prices, and test “what-if” scenarios to guide marketing and herd management decisions. Whether you’re expanding, downsizing, or maintaining your herd, you’ll learn practical ways to make the numbers work for your operation.

Leases and Rental Rates: Smart Decisions for Land Management
With Jim Jansen, Extension Agricultural Economist, UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability
Leasing arrangements and rental rates are among the most important decisions in any farm or ranch business. This session explores current trends in Nebraska’s cash rental rates for cropland and pasture, and offers practical tools for structuring agreements that balance risk and reward for both tenants and landowners. Learn how to evaluate flexible leases, understand regional rate differences, and use UNL Extension’s survey data to guide fair and informed negotiations.

Enterprise Budgets: Figuring Your Cost of Production
With Glennis McClure, Extension Farm and Ranch Management Analyst, UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability 
Knowing your cost of production is essential to managing risk and improving profitability. This session will walk through how to build and use enterprise budgets for crops and livestock using the Agricultural Budget Calculator (ABC) tool. Participants will see how to adjust budgets for local input costs, test “what-if” scenarios, and use budget results to guide marketing, leasing, and investment decisions throughout the year.

Managing Cash Flow: Timing, Forecasting and Operation Stability 
With Shannon Sand, Extension Agricultural Economist, UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability 
A positive bottom line doesn’t always mean positive cash flow. This session breaks down how cash moves through a farm or ranch business, why timing matters, and how to forecast your liquidity position during tight months. Learn how to build a monthly cash flow plan that supports better borrowing, smoother bill management, and stronger relationships with your lender. Real examples will show how cash flow planning can prevent surprises and improve day-to-day decision-making.

Nebraska and U.S. Farm Income Update and Outlook – Fall 2025
With: Brad Lubben, Extension Associate Professor and Policy Specialist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Alejandro Plastina, Associate Professor of Agricultural Finance and Director of the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center, University of Missouri.

Nebraska’s farm income prospects remain mixed for 2025, with lower crop revenue projections buffered by continued strength in the cattle sector and substantial government assistance. The net result is that farm income for the state is projected higher in 2025 even as financial challenges deepen for some producers.

While the overall outlook remains strong, it can hide the real concerns in some sectors and the high levels of uncertainty over key production, market, and policy developments that could affect agriculture the rest of this year and into the next.

The details are always more complex and highlight the need for a deeper analysis. Join us for a review of the details and the latest farm income situation and outlook for the rest of 2025 and beyond for ag producers.

Presented by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Agricultural Profitability and the University of Missouri’s Rural and Farm Finance Center.

Profit and Loss Statements: Measuring Profitability and Net Worth Growth (Ag Smart Money Week Webinar)
With Anastasia Meyer, Extension Agricultural Economist, UNL Center for Agricultural Profitability 
Your income (or profit and loss) statement tells the story of how your farm earned or lost money over a given period. This session explains how to move beyond tax records to understand true operational performance through accrual adjustments and net worth reconciliation.



RFA Congratulates SIRE on 2 Billion Gallons of Ethanol Production

The Renewable Fuels Association congratulates member company Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE), based in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the production of its two-billionth gallon of ethanol.

“Two billion gallons of ethanol production is an incredible milestone,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “The investors and staff at Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy, along with the entire Council Bluffs community, should be proud of this remarkable achievement. Over the past 16 years, SIRE has made invaluable contributions to the economy of southwest Iowa, southeast Nebraska, and northwest Missouri, while at the same time boosting national energy security and improving the environment. Since 2009, the SIRE team has worked tirelessly to provide consumers around the world with lower-cost, cleaner fuel; nutritious animal feed; and captured biogenic carbon dioxide. We are proud of their success. This important accomplishment serves as clear reminder of the important impacts our vibrant renewable fuels industry has on the U.S. and global economy.”

Led by recently appointed President and CEO Eric Fobes, who also sits on the RFA Board of Directors, SIRE’s dry mill ethanol plant sits on 275 acres and produces 140 million gallons of ethanol each year. The company began production in February 2009 and sells its ethanol, distillers grains, corn syrup, and corn oil across the continental United States, Mexico, and the Pacific Rim. 



Escalating Equipment Costs  
NE Farm Bureau Newsletter

Cruising down a Nebraska highway this fall, chances are one will spot a combine enshrouded in dust, trailed by a tractor pulling a grain cart, and a truck parked at the edge of the field. Harvest is in full swing. And while this year promises better than average corn and soybean yields, the cost of equipment being used to bring in this year’s harvest has grown significantly too.

Between 2021 and 2023 prices for new agricultural equipment have increased over 20% according to a farmdoc daily article published by the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois. The price of a typical combine increased 26%, from $587,000 in 2021 to $741,000 in 2023, while an index of tractor prices calculated by the National Agricultural Statistics Service increased by 21% since 2020 (Figure 1). Overall machinery costs in crop production for Illinois producers (depreciation; fuel & oil; repairs; for-hire) increased from $136 per acre in 2021 to $171 per acre in 2024, a 25% increase. Nebraska producers have likely experienced a similar increase. 

The higher costs are not limited to equipment purchases. Repair parts have been rising in price too. Abygail Streff, economist and policy analysist with Nebraska Farm Bureau, reports that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index for farm machinery and equipment parts has increased 69% over the past five years. A part costing $1,135 in 2020 now costs $1,930, “a substantial increase that directly impacts the input costs for agricultural producers who rely on these components for equipment maintenance and operation,” says Streff.  

The farmdoc daily article cites several reasons for machinery price increases. Supply chain challenges, the rise in inflation, labor shortages, supply disruptions caused by trade disputes, and reduced production by manufacturers due to lower demand have all been factors. Higher machinery costs have exacerbated the cost-price squeeze currently faced by crop producers, further testing producers’ management skills and operations’ profitability.
 
TRACTOR & COMBINE SALES SINK 
Higher machinery prices, lower crop prices, and weaker producer profitability have led to lower equipment sales this year compared to recent years. Year-to-date sales of tractors and combines through September trail last year’s sales and are down considerably from the 5-year average. Sales of 4-wheel and 2-wheel tractors combined are off 8%, with 4-wheel units down 39% according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). Last year saw nearly 168,000 tractors sold through September compared to 154,300 this year. Even more startling, year-to-date sales of combines are off 40%. 



ASA Testifies on Rising Input Costs Threatening Farm Viability

Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association and soybean farmer from Magnolia, Kentucky, testified today before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing titled “Pressure Cooker: Competition Issues in the Seed & Fertilizer Industries.”

Ragland told the committee that U.S. soybean farmers are facing a worsening financial outlook driven by high production costs and shrinking operating margins.

“Commodity prices have fallen by an average of 50% since 2022, at the same time farm production costs continue to skyrocket,” Ragland said. “Soybean farmers are expected to net a $109 per acre market loss on their crop this year.”

He warned that input inflation, particularly for seed, fertilizer, pesticides, fuel, and equipment, has become one of the greatest threats to farm viability.

“Farm profitability for row crops like soybeans will continue to remain in peril if input costs remain static at current levels,” Ragland said.

During the hearing, Ragland urged Congress and the administration to take immediate action to reduce farm production costs and prevent additional family farm closures. He outlined three urgent policy priorities to improve economic conditions for U.S. soybean farmers:
    Provide tariff relief on critical agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, seed, pesticides, machinery, and parts.
    Finalize biofuel policy, including RFS volume obligations and 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit guidance, to expand domestic markets for soy.
    Deliver targeted farmer assistance to help producers manage severe market losses and negative basis impacts.



New Trade Deals In Southeast Asia Announced By USTR

Sunday, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) announced that agreements on reciprocal trade were reached with Cambodia and Malaysia, and frameworks for similar deals were secured with Thailand and Vietnam with the goal of eliminating trade barriers to further increase U.S. producers’ competitiveness.

The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) issued the following statement in reaction to the announcement:

“The Council believes that when trade works, the world wins, and the steps USTR has taken to facilitate the movement of U.S. agricultural goods is a welcome sight for the entire industry. The Council looks forward to USTR’s continued efforts that will help reduce costs for consumers and drive demand for U.S. farmers and businesses.”



RFA Thanks Trump Administration for Trade Efforts Supporting Ag, Ethanol

The Renewable Fuels Association thanked President Trump and administration officials for recent trade announcements important to U.S. farmers and the ethanol producers who partner with them.

“President Trump’s trade actions in Asia this past week are evidence of his clear commitment to promoting American agriculture and renewable fuels around the world,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We thank him and his administration for their work to expand markets for U.S. agriculture, and to bolster opportunities for rural America to continue its leadership role in feeding and fueling the world.”

Most recently, USDA Sec. Brooke Rollins posted Tuesday morning on social media that “Every day, we’re getting closer to Japan fulfilling its commitment to buy $8 billion in U.S. corn, soybeans, rice, ethanol, and other agricultural goods. This announcement capitalizes on our earlier agreements with Japan, opens new markets, and honors the hard work of our farmers, ensuring prosperity for rural communities.”



CLAAS Adds Four North American Dealers, Invests in Omaha Facilities 

With the 2025 harvest season nearly complete and record yields expected, CLAAS continues to demonstrate its commitment to North American farmers with new dealer locations and investment in its Omaha headquarters. These initiatives demonstrate a significant commitment to local service and innovation. 

New CLAAS FARMPOINT ™ dealer locations 
Starting in 2026, CLAAS FARMPOINT will open two new full-service locations in Atlantic, Iowa, and Mitchell, South Dakota. These dealerships will expand support for farmers across some of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions, providing local access to parts, service and additional product lines for farmers in the area who demand more for their operations. 

In the Atlantic, Iowa area, CLAAS FARMPOINT will serve combine customers who previously worked with Ziegler Ag. Meanwhile, the Mitchell, South Dakota area location will expand support for combine customers previously served by Butler Machinery Company through 2026. Both locations will offer the complete CLAAS lineup, including LEXION and TRION combines, JAGUAR forage harvesters and AXION, ARION and XERION tractors. CLAAS also has plans underway for grower support in the Aberdeen, South Dakota, area with an announcement scheduled for the first half of 2026. 

Northwest Minnesota will receive a regional support hub, making it easier for CLAAS FARMPOINT technicians to serve local growers. This support hub gives the area on-site parts availability for improved turnaround times and less downtime when it matters most.   

“The CLAAS FARMPOINT model is built around service, flexibility and farmer convenience,” said Patricio Frangella, head of commercial development at CLAAS FARMPOINT. “We’re excited to show our continued commitment to the Midwest and provide growers with enhanced local expertise and around-the-clock support to keep them running.” 

New HJV dealership 
HJV, a regional dealer in Ontario, recently opened another location in Winchester, Ontario, and sells the full line of CLAAS equipment. Their grand opening was on Sept. 24, when they welcomed more than 400 local farmers to their open house. The new Winchester location will provide eagerly awaited brick-and-mortar support in an important geography for agriculture production.  

“We’re in what we call ‘tractor alley’ here in Winchester, located next to quite a few competitor dealers, and it’s been great to see who pops in to check out the new store,” said Steve Gibson, HJV location manager. “We’ve received a lot of really good feedback from those who’ve stopped in. This area serves a critical agricultural region for Ontario and the traffic in the store reflects that.”  

Omaha investments  
CLAAS continues to invest in their Omaha, Nebraska, North American headquarters. In August, CLAAS broke ground on their new 44,800-square-foot Research and Development Center. The facility will serve as the hub for all North American testing and engineering operations, including two stories of office space, an expanded instrumentation area and secure facilities for prototype testing and analysis. 

CLAAS will continue to invest in its Omaha campus in 2026 with a Customer Experience Center, designed to showcase equipment, host training sessions and connect directly with farmers and dealers across the continent. The Center will be a part of a larger renovation project to their current showroom, with a targeted completion date of June 2026.  

“CLAAS is a partner you can rely on,” explained Jan-Hendrik Mohr, CEO of CLAAS Group. “We are fully committed to the U.S. and will continue to grow, investing across the entire value chain - from our expanded retail, service and supplier network to the North American R&D Center and the just-announced Customer Experience Center on our Omaha campus." 



AGI BinManager Website Announcement 

Ag Growth International (“AGI”) announces the launch of a new farmer-facing website for its industry-leading bin monitoring technology — AGI BinManager. The website (https://www.agibinmanager.com/) serves as a central information and education hub to explain the values and benefits of retrofitting farm storage bins with digital real-time monitoring.  

“With a challenging agricultural economy, farmers face tough decisions about when to sell their grain. Storing it for longer can mean higher risk. BinManager helps turn bins into smart systems that protect grain quality over time, giving farmers more control and confidence to wait for the right time and price,” says David Postill, Senior Vice-President of AGI Digital and Global Marketing. 

The redesigned BinManager site is built with farmers and industry in mind — making it faster and easier to access the insights, tools and support they need to get the most from their system. Whether the goal is to improve grain storage efficiency or boost ROI, the new site simplifies the search for answers. From product details to customer testimonials and helpful FAQs, everything is organized to help users make informed choices about in-bin technology that protects the value of their stored grain investment. 

In addition to the website, AGI has launched dedicated BinManager social media channels on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. These platforms will keep farmers connected with the latest updates, how-to videos, customer stories and expert tips — all designed to help them stay informed and engaged with in-bin monitoring technology.