BARN TALK
The Unfiltered Voice of Rural America
Issue #029 · October 14, 2026
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Hey folks, The government asked farmers this week how hard it is to fix their own equipment, and the stocks of the companies that sell it fell the same day. USDA also handed the market a bigger corn crop than anyone guessed, and a West Virginia mine told 109 people their jobs end in December.
In this issue
| FTC and USDA opened an inquiry into farm equipment dealers and want to hear from you |
| USDA raised its corn yield to 181.2, well above the trade guess |
| Corn gave back 18 cents on the week while hogs lost $2.30 |
| A West Virginia mine is cutting 109 jobs in December |
| Why straight grain farming is running out of road, and what to do instead |
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The Government Wants To Hear How Hard It Is To Fix Your Own Tractor
Regulators want your stories about dealer territories, parts prices and repair limits.
USDA and the Federal Trade Commission announced a joint inquiry into farm equipment dealers and manufacturers on October 7. Public comments are open through December 7 at regulations.gov. They are asking farmers, independent repair shops, and current and former employees of the companies to tell them what they have seen.
What they want to know
The questions cover sales territories assigned to dealers, limits on buying from a dealer outside yours, limits on getting service from one, and whether dealers coordinate on territory, pricing or who gets which customer. They want firsthand accounts of restrictions, penalties and retaliation, and how all of it hits prices and rural economies. USDA says farmer complaints about getting equipment, parts and service keep growing.
Who is already watching
In July the FTC and attorneys general from Illinois, Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin settled a right-to-repair lawsuit against John Deere. Agriculture Secretary Rollins said farmers raise repair restrictions with her all the time and urged them to speak up during harvest. FTC Chairman Ferguson said no farmer should be punished for fixing their own equipment or shopping around. Shares of Deere, AGCO and CNH fell after the announcement, and Deere had not commented when DTN asked.
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From the Barn
A comment form will not fix your combine at 9 p.m. in October. It is still the first time in a long while that the people who write the rules asked what waiting on a dealer costs you. Write it down with dates and dollars while the repair bills are fresh.
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USDA Found A Bigger Corn Crop Than Anyone Was Looking For
USDA's October reports on Friday went the opposite way from what the trade expected. Analysts figured the corn yield would slip again. USDA raised it, and a wet September that left a lot of fields unharvested did not change the count.
Corn production now sits at 16.03 billion bushels against a trade guess near 15.7 billion. Soybeans came in at 4.562 billion bushels, up a little from September.
By the numbers
| 181.2 bushels an acre is the new corn yield, up 2.7 from September. Analysts averaged 177.6. |
| 1.849 billion bushels is the projected corn carryout, up 282 million in a month. |
| $4.70 is USDA's season-average corn price, down 10 cents. Beans held at $12.00. |
What it does to your bid
December corn gave back 20 1/2 cents on Friday alone and closed at $4.79 3/4. More supply with demand already priced in is how a rally stalls out. Wheat stocks also came in above the trade guess, at 740 million bushels.
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From the Barn
More bushels at a lower price only pays if your costs came down too, and nobody told the input store. Price what you can above your break-even before the next report talks the market lower.
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This week's numbers
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Corn (Dec '26)
$4.79 3/4 /bu
▼ $0.18 on the week
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Soybeans (Nov '26)
$12.92 /bu
▲ $0.13 3/4 on the week
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Chicago Wheat (Dec '26)
$6.71 /bu
▼ $0.12 on the week
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Live Cattle (Dec '26)
$227.05 /cwt
▲ $5.58 on the week
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Lean Hogs (Dec '26)
$67.82 /cwt
▼ $2.30 on the week
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Crude Oil (Nov '26)
$91.85 /bbl
▲ $0.74 on the week
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Tork's Picks
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Bitcoin
$82,546 USD
▼ $1,951 on the week
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AGCO
$103.28 /share
▼ $11.33 on the week
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This isn't financial advice. I'm just a farmer with an opinion.
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Tork's Take
Beans edged up while corn and wheat slid, which is a crop report talking. The livestock side split, with cattle up $5.58 and hogs down $2.30, so check your own bid before you assume anything. AGCO lost $11.33 over the same days the equipment inquiry landed.
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If you grow grain for a living and every price bump gets eaten by an input bill, what is the move? Every grain farmer I know has asked it, and my answer stays the same. Specialization was good to us when it was new. You build one thing, you do it well, and then one day you are beholden to it.
The other way out is scale, and Dad and I have both watched how that goes. Somewhere past 10,000 acres you stop farming and start managing, with a finance guy, an HR person and a harvest crew to keep moving. The guys sitting between 7,500 and 12,000 acres are not bragging.
“We have reached the tail end of specialization in agriculture.” |
So I keep landing on a diversified operation. Livestock back on the land, running cattle on corn stalks, custom grazing, or an off-farm business, anything that gives the farm a second way to pay. Dad's version starts with nitrogen. The answer to expensive nitrogen is to stop buying so much of it, and manure is how.
A lot of hog buildings are about to change hands as the guys who built them retire. A young farmer who can swap crop rent or sweat equity for that manure, and let somebody else's cattle graze the stalks, cuts a real chunk out of the fertilizer bill. Sharing equipment belongs on the list too, because the big dealers are not racing to build cheaper machines.
Running something besides straight grain that is paying its way? Hit reply and tell me what it is. I read every one.
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Four things that caught our eye
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A West Virginia mine is letting 109 people goPanther Creek Mining filed a WARN notice for its Samples Complex in Kanawha County, covering a surface mine and a preparation plant. The cuts start in December and are expected to be permanent. That is a lot of paychecks for any small town to lose at once. |
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| 02 |
Anhydrous is $977 a ton, up 25 percent in a yearDTN's retail survey for late September has urea at $675, up 9 percent, and DAP at $926, up 3 percent. Potash is the one that sat still, at $498 and up just 2 percent. If you are pricing 2027 nitrogen, anhydrous also rose about 6 percent in a single month. |
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| 03 |
A Mississippi fire department runs on $13,000 and cookiesThe Furrs Fire Department in Pontotoc County has about 10 firefighters and a budget around $13,000 a year. Out where an ambulance is far off, they are often first to a medical call. They sell shortbread at $8 a pack to keep the trucks running. |
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| 04 |
The people who pick the crop mostly rentA new Housing Assistance Council and UnidosUS report finds about 30 percent of farmworkers own a home or manufactured home, against nearly two-thirds of all U.S. households. Hard to build a steady farm labor supply on housing the workers cannot own. |
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Barn Talk Poll
Where do you land?
How do you take your coffee?
| A. Black |
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B. Cream and sugar |
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| C. Fancy |
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D. Don't drink coffee |
| Cast Your Vote → |
| Voted? If you don't drink coffee, hit reply and tell us what you do drink. |
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Did You Know?
One river barge of grain holds about 1,500 tons, the same load as roughly 15 jumbo rail cars or 58 grain semi-trailers, by USDA's own math.
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Word of the Week
| HEDGE |
A futures position opposite the crop or livestock you will sell later, so a price drop at the elevator is offset by a gain on the screen. It protects a price, not a profit, and it costs margin money plus the upside if the market rallies. |
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Comments on the equipment inquiry close December 7, so write yours down while the repair bills are fresh.
We'll see you in the barn.
Sawyer & Tork
Hosts, Barn Talk · joinbarntalk.com
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Read online · © 2026 Barn Talk · joinbarntalk.com · This week's episode: #EP221
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