Planning for the future can be a very frustrating process, especially in times of market volatility. Planning typically pays high dividends. For most farm and ranch managers, developing realistic commodity price expectations is one of the most difficult and complex tasks of the planning process.

The Langdon Research Extension Center’s statewide annual surveys in 2025 indicated that among the canola diseases, Verticillium Stripe was the most common and yield-damaging, followed by white mold, blackleg, and clubroot (observed only in Cavalier County). No registered fungicides or resistant varieties were available for Verticillium management. Growers can only manage it by practicing White mold in canola can be managed by spraying fungicide at 20-30% flowering. Use the sclerotinia risk forecast website (www.ag.ndsu.edu/sclerotinia/ riskmap.html) during the crop season to make an informed spraying decision and refer to NDSU’s annual North Dakota fungicide guide, as well as the LREC annual reports, for the efficacy information of fungicides.

North Dakota State University Extension has released projected crop budgets for 2026. These budget projections serve as guides for farmers in the state and are organized by multicounty region.

By Anitha Chirumamilla, extension cropping systems specialist, Langdon Research Extension Center Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor Say) remains one of the most important insect pests of wheat in the United States. The insect was introduced to North America in the late 1770s on straw bedding used by Hessian soldiers during the American Revolution, first reported from Long Island. Since then, it has spread across major wheat-growing regions of the country. Although wheat is its primary host, the Hessian fly also infests barley, rye, and several grass species.

NDSU researchers have estimated the cost of topsoil lost to natural erosion and tillage practices LANGDON, N.D. - Losing 6 inches of topsoil could cost farmers more than $6,600 in nutrients and organic matter per acre, according to analysis by North Dakota State University researchers.

The changes to the 2026 crop year and beyond originate mainly in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) that was passed in July 2025. While we still await a new farm bill sometime (hopefully) in 2026, the OBBB provided not only funding increases for our programs but necessary changes to direct USDA programs themselves.

According to agricultural loan officer Chase Boen of KodaBank in Drayton, the 2025 growing season produced mixed results across the Red River Valley due to uneven rainfall. “The 2025 growing season was variable as certain areas received more rainfall than others,” Boen said.

One thing is for sure, volatility in the business of agriculture isn’t going away. Right now, we’re finding ourselves in the trough of the cyclical nature of farm economics and many producers are wondering – “Can I endure this… and for how long?” In 20+ years in banking, I’ve seen these dips come and go and each time, I’ve come away with similar lessons learned. Can you endure it? Absolutely. Will it be stressful and take a tremendous amount of discipline? Absolutely.

Technology has revolutionized global agriculture. Automation has changed the agricultural sector, and those changes might have arrived in the nick of time.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will transfer a large office building to the General Services Administration in a step toward shrinking the department’s footprint in and around Washington, D.C., Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday.