For Matthew Harfmann, Granger, Indiana (St. Joseph County) Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Filed by The Mi Farm AI Desk. Weather, Granger, IN
What this means for today: Sunny, with a high near 95. Heat index values as high as 105. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Source: NOAA National Weather Service point forecast for Granger, IN, pulled this morning. Hour by Hour, the day ahead
Source: NOAA National Weather Service hourly forecast and station observations, pulled this morning. Rain & Spray WindowYour field has gotten 0.15 inches of rain so far today. The radar shows it is dry right now. Rain outlook, what has fallen and what is expected: Past 24 hours: 0.15 inches so far Next 24 hours: 1.38 inches expected Next 48 hours: 1.71 inches expected Next 72 hours: 2.52 inches expected Source: NOAA National Weather Service forecast and the local rain gauge network, pulled this morning. Grain and Livestock, corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle
Source: Chicago Board of Trade. Cal's Market ReadOvernight, corn added about 3 cents; beans added about 8 cents; and wheat added about 11 cents. Recent trend, over the last 4 sessions, corn has firmed and beans have eased. That is the backdrop your cash bid is moving against. Here is our read on why the board leaned higher overnight. There is no USDA report on the calendar to hang this on, so we see it as broad short covering more than any single fresh number. The two headlines most likely helping are the White House suspending countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate for up to eight months, a relief for corn growers per Morning Ag Clips, and steady buying interest across the row crops. We would not chase it hard. Stocks are steady going into the open, S&P futures close to flat. A calm Wall Street is what your banker likes to see, it keeps the rate and input-cost backdrop behind your operating note quiet for another day. Cal Wall Street, yesterday's close
Wall Street, today's futures (where the market is at going into the day)
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. Small Ant, Big ImpactUniversity of Missouri Extension entomologist Emily Althoff has confirmed the Asian needle ant, a tiny, easy to miss insect from East Asia, has now reached Missouri after spreading across nearly half the country since it first showed up on the East Coast in the 1930s. This ant packs a painful sting that can trigger severe allergic reactions in rare cases, and it crowds out native ants while preying on termites, which forests need to break down dead wood. That matters because piles of undecayed fallen trees can build up more fuel for wildfires, so a bug you can barely see could reshape whole woodlands. Althoff began tracking it in fall 2025 after a sighting just over the border in Arkansas, working with the USDA, U.S. Forest Service, and state agencies, and she is asking folks to send good photos to their local MU Extension center if they think they have spotted one. Read the full article. Morning Ag Clips, Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:09 PM CT 2. White House Suspends Phosphate Duties, Delivering Relief For Corn GrowersPresident Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer imports for up to eight months, a move the Missouri Corn Growers Association is celebrating as major relief heading into next year's corn crop. A Texas A&M University study found those duties piled nearly $6.9 billion in extra fertilizer costs onto U.S. farmers between 2021 and 2025, and with Morocco sitting on roughly 70 percent of the world's phosphate reserves, restoring access should ease tight supplies and high prices. MCGA President Brian Lehman, a corn grower from Versailles, Missouri, called it a significant win but cautioned there is still work to do to build a marketplace that is transparent, competitive, and fair. The order also builds on Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice investigations into possible anti-competitive practices in the fertilizer industry, so more action on farm input costs could still be coming. Read the full article. Morning Ag Clips, Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:02 PM CT 3. CattleCattle traders got a mixed session as August live cattle opened higher, then ran into selling pressure and slipped back by midday. Part of the problem is long liquidation on rallies, with managed money already sitting on a big net long position that leaves little room to push prices higher. The June contract expires today, handing the lead to August, which is trading at a steep $17 discount to last week's cash market. Austin Schroeder of Barchart.com noted that live cattle futures actually finished Wednesday 52 cents to $1.32 higher even as open interest fell by 1,801 contracts, so the market is still worth watching closely. Read the full article. Tri-State Neighbor, Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:21 PM CT 4. Lean HogsOctober lean hog futures pushed up to a fresh three week high, opening slightly higher and building on the gains through the session. According to The Hightower Report, Monday brought a strong finish, with prices closing near the top of their range even after some early weakness. That kind of high range close tells traders that buyers were ready to step in and support the market on the dip. Cash hog prices stayed unestablished on Monday, so the futures strength is worth watching if you are keeping an eye on the protein side of the markets. Read the full article. Tri-State Neighbor, Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:21 PM CT 5. Sweeping Farm Labor Bill to Overhaul H-2A Program Introduced by House Ag Chair GT ThompsonHouse Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn 'GT' Thompson has introduced the Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act of 2026, the first major rewrite of the H-2A farm guestworker visa program in 40 years. The bill would scrap the old "seasonal" rule, allow contracts of up to 350 days, and finally open the program to year-round dairy, pork, and poultry operations that had been shut out, while demand for H-2A workers has jumped from under 100,000 positions in 2013 to nearly 415,000 in 2025. Backed by more than 400 farm groups including the Farm Bureau, the National Milk Producers Federation, and the National Pork Producers Council, whose president Rob Brenneman farms in Washington County, Iowa, supporters call it a game changer for a shrinking domestic workforce. It also includes a hot button provision letting some unauthorized farm workers move into legal H-2A status after background checks and an interview, though it offers no path to citizenship, and it aims to rein in the rising Adverse Effect Wage Rate that has squeezed producers. Read the full article. Hoosier Ag Today, Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:20 PM CT 6. Crops from Ft. Wayne to Lafayette and Beyond are Uniform and in Good ShapeBASF Indiana district manager Kent Stickler drove from Fort Wayne to Lafayette and on past Champaign, Illinois on his way to a company field day, and he came away impressed by uniform, healthy fields full of yield potential. Stickler noted the 2026 crop was planted on many different dates after early wet weather turned dry, and even the late starting Fort Wayne corner is now racing ahead thanks to the heat. His big message to growers is that with so many inputs already invested, now is not the time to coast, because heavy morning fog, lingering dew, and high humidity are creating ripe conditions for trouble in the fields. He stresses scouting to push every possible bushel per acre to cut production costs, and a BASF colleague warned that one looming threat, tar spot, could make this a heavy season worth watching closely. Read the full article. Hoosier Ag Today, Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:15 PM CT 7. US to suspend some duties on phosphate fertilizer from MoroccoPresident Trump has declared an emergency and authorized suspending certain anti-dumping and countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer coming from Morocco, giving farmers a new supply line for up to eight months. The move comes because U.S. phosphate production alone cannot cover domestic farm needs once exports are counted, and Middle East supply was choked off when the Strait of Hormuz closed during the Iran war. White House adviser Kevin Hassett said back in March the administration was hunting for more fertilizer sources, and Trump noted that Morocco can ship product without disruption while efforts to build up American manufacturing slowly ramp up. For corn and soybean growers, this matters because it aims to ease phosphate shortages and steady prices heading into the season, though the relief lasts only until the emergency is lifted. Read the full article. AgWeek, Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:04 PM CT 8. Ag groups rally behind Thompson's farm labor billHouse Ag Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson has rolled out the Securing Agriculture Workforce Labor Act, a bill that would speed up H-2A processing, broaden worker access, address wages, and finally open the foreign labor program to dairy farms that have never qualified. National Milk Producers Federation CEO Gregg Doud put it bluntly, warning that without reliable help the cows do not get milked and the dairy is finished, while Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall recalled that labor shortages forced him out of dairy and into poultry 20 years ago. Backers note that roughly 70 percent of custom harvesters already lean on H-2A, and they say the bill would cut costs, clarify confusing rules, and smooth out what one attorney called a regulatory roller coaster. Introduced before the August recess and headed to the House Judiciary Committee, the measure has bipartisan working group input and broad farm group support, and it matters to every operation that depends on seasonal hands to get the crop in. Read the full article. Brownfield Ag News, Tue Jun 30, 2026 4:03 PM CT 9. U.S. rice acreage falls to lowest since the 1970s as cotton acres increaseUSDA's June acreage report shows U.S. rice plantings dropped to about 730,000 long grain acres, the lowest level since the 1970s, while cotton acres came in higher than expected. University of Arkansas economist Hunter Biram says the decline is rippling through Arkansas, the top rice state, where Riceland Foods shut down nine grain dryers and Producers Rice Mill is weighing closures of its own. Even so, Biram notes the country will have roughly the same rice supply on hand as last year, and cotton's shift makes sense despite a net return near a $200 per acre loss. The Delta saw a swing of more than 600,000 acres toward soybeans, away from both cotton and rice, raising real questions about the long term viability of the U.S. rice industry. Read the full article. Brownfield Ag News, Tue Jun 30, 2026 3:56 PM CT 10. Phil Weiser holds off Sen. Michael Bennet to secure Colorado Democratic governor nominationColorado Attorney General Phil Weiser scored a surprising come-from-behind win Tuesday, taking 54.7 percent to Senator Michael Bennet's 45.3 percent in the state's Democratic primary for governor. Bennet was the early favorite when he jumped in back in April 2025, but Weiser, who has sued the Trump administration more than 60 times, flipped the race by making it a contest over who could best fight the president's agenda. Weiser hammered Bennet for missing votes, noting the senator showed up for only two of 62 Senate roll call votes in June, while Bennet fired back that Weiser had not challenged Trump hard enough in court, and the two also clashed over healthcare, housing, and even cellphone bans in schools. In deep blue Colorado, where no Republican has won a statewide office in a decade, Weiser is now favored to win the general election, though the Republican primary was still too close to call late Tuesday night. Read the full article. Washington Examiner, Tue Jun 30, 2026 9:02 PM CT Cal's ReceiptCal's Receipt is the public 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). HILT-Transparent. Append-only. Every dollar cites its source.
Today in Farm SafetyOn a hot field day, drink water before you are thirsty, about one cup every fifteen to twenty minutes. Watch a working partner for confusion, no sweating, or a stumble; those are heat stroke, a medical emergency. Take shade breaks during the worst afternoon heat. Source: OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety guidance. Cal The Coffee ShopToday in Farm History, Bordeaux mixture discovered 1882In 1882, French botanist Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet noticed that grape vines along Bordeaux roads, sprayed blue to deter thieves, were free of downy mildew. The copper sulfate / lime mixture (Bordeaux mixture) became the first scientifically validated fungicide, still used in organic apple and grape production today. Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service plant pathology history. [CAL'S QUIZ]
Wisconsin became the 30th state in 1848. By what year did it lead the nation in butter and cheese?
(a) 1858
(b) 1875
(c) 1899
(d) 1925
Answer at the bottom of the Brief. [CAL'S JOKE]
A farmer's pickup had a rust hole the size of a dinner plate. His son said, "Dad, that's not safe." The farmer said, "It's not unsafe either. It's just honest."
The Mi Farm AI Desk
Cal Halvorsen
Cal "Corn-Bread" Halvorsen, your AI Agronomist and Editor in Chief Quiz Answer(c) 1899. Dairy did not dominate immediately, wheat was first, but by century's end Wisconsin held a leadership position in butter and cheese it has held most years since. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society; USDA NASS dairy 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.