these fish farmers and pre nup or not...should the farm be protected before saying i do? nowow for the news that moved the markets this week...the federal reserve making the much anticipated decision to raise intereststates. fed chairwoman janet yellen annouing the federal reserve is raising interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point... indicating the bank expects four more quarter point increases in 2016. this is the first increase in nearly a decade. "what has held the fed back is what's happening on thehenternational picture. eurozone worriesnd worries about the strong dollar impacting exports and also

u.s. is one of their concerns. however, given the domestic side is so strong that gives the fed reason to move."> the fed's decicion means higher borrowing rates for farm loans, land purcses and equipment. speaking of bankers...the rural mainstreet index--a survey of rural bankers in key ag states--telling a different story about the farm economy. ernie goss says in november the overall index fell below growth neutral for a forth straight month. farm equipment sales declined to record low levels. and banks think farmland prices will fall roughly 6 percent in 2016. that drop is already underway in iowa according to a new survey. values dropping in 2015 for the second straight year..down nearly 4 percent--and off almost 13 percent 2013 highs. < "we've had quite a few sales results in that northwest corner where they had an

well...entrenched wealth."> it was ananp and down week for grain markets. in south america, as promised, the new argentine president-- eliminating export taxes on agricultural goods including beef, wheat and corn while cutting a tariff on soybeans to 30 percent he also lifted four years ofofurrency controls. the peso now allowed to float--expected to pull millions of tons of soybeans into the market. oil prices continuing to trend lower...brent crude now trading below 35 dollars a barrel....or near 11 year lows...all the way to back to 2004 prices. new datatathis week still showing growing supplies. it was another dismal week for feeders according to the latest sterling beef profit tracker. feedyards losing an average of 681 dollars per head--a full 70 dollars per head worse than the week before. the 5 area cash prices averaging 118- and a half. cow-calf profits in the new year estimated at about half what they were a year ago. dairy

prices at one point falling more than 80 cents in the matter of a week. cold storage supplies....and a desire to move that butter before the end of the holiday season...weighing prices down. spot cheese prices also down in the last couple weeks...trading this week at its lowest level since 2011. you're looking at the biggest winter storm to hit denver so far this season. the city receiving almost 8 inches of snow this week....breaking a record for that day set more than 100 years ago. to the north other parts of the state got up to 10 inches from the system. meteorologist mike hoffman joining us...mike last week started very active how does the holiday week look for folks planning to travel. thanks, clinton. well, travelers definitely need to stay tuned to the forecast. there are multiple systems moving across the country this week, with some snow. we will show you the maps coming up. in the meantime, you can see the drought monitor continues to show almost nothing east of the continental divide, there are just a couple of pockets here and there, with moderate drought, but out west

dramatically in weststn washington, northwestern oregon, even northwestern california over the past couple of months, so at least there are some end roads in that. all right, let's go day by day. first storm system on monday in the upper great lakes with a little bit of snow there most of the system will be rain showers as you head through the mississippi, tennessee, ohio valleys into the southeast. lots of snow out west mainly in the e untains, even frfr a northeastern calilirnia you can see some snow there that system will then move into the upper great lakes as we head towards wednesday, so another system. i know the map looks similar there with some snow in the upper great lakes. lots of rain through the mississippi, parts of the ohio o d tennessee valleys, showers in and evev some thunder showers in the soutast, more snow showers all thou this is not a big stem right there, by friday then on christmas day that next storm that's coming out of the southern plains producing some snow showers, parts of the great

shore though and then the next system could be putting down a lot of snow, very cold air sweeping into the pacific northwest, northern california with that system there, but that's a real quick shot of cold air. longer range forecast in our next half hour. okay when we come back, mark gold and mike north join me to discuss markets and share their advice for wrapping up 2015.

mark gold, top third, and mike north with commodity risk management group. now, you wanted to go by force trading, right? >> star wars trading. >> star wars trading, yeah, it's that kind of week, isn^t it? [ laughter ] >> first we got to wish everybody a m mry christmas out ththe. >> absolutely, merry christmas. >> and a happy new year, and it's nice to see everybody, and hope everybody has a great holiday season. >> yeah, you know, we've been talking about these markets over the last few weeks, and it has just been a struggle. it's been a struggle, i think, mentally and you almost feel like

you're getting? >> yeah, absolutely. obviously as guys close out the year and start doing tax planning and looking forward to the next year and preparing budgets it^s certainly got people down because the opportunities out there are slim to none, and it's hard to look forward d to a year thinking you're not reallllgoing to make much or you're going to lose money. so, yeah, bias has certainly been negative around the country and certainly as you look at price there's been a fair bit of well, dismal trade as we go forward. >> but mark, talking with you off camera here you're not a complete bear when it comes to markets.s.ou've got a twinin of some positive out there, some silver linings. >> not only am i not bearish, i'm pretty friendly in these markets. >> okay, explain. >> everybody accuses me of being dr. death out there and always wanting to buy puts. well, we're certainly telling our clients, if they're selling grain out here we want them to reown it with call options. e've gone to pretty low levels here, starting

situation in brazil, particularly northern brazil, is serious. we've got some clients down there that are telling us how hot and dry and how tough it is to even get even crops in the ground, so i think there's some up potential in this market. i also believe that this el nino's going to turn into a la nina here, so, again, i don't know if the market's going up or down or not, but if you've sold 3.60 corn out there and 9 8.50 beans, i'd certainly want to reown wit a call option. >> what do you think, do you agree? >> well, especially in this rket as you look forward and carries ha been dissolving, that does open the door to shortcutting the cost of storage and opening yourself up for further opportunity without, you know, losing on what the market may throw us later. the bottom line is, if you are going to be aggressively selling here, if the market h h moved you to capitulation and you neeeeto turn corn or soybeans into cash, a cheap call option, and they are cheap. volatility premiums are really low right now. you can move into the market and buy that for much less than what you

it there. >> you know, we'e' seen some interereing market moves this week, especially in soybeans even though down in south america, argentina making some moves, doing what they said they were going to do, expecting that grain to come to the market. how did that did that reaction surprise you or is it what you expected? >> well, i thought it was great that we had this bad news hit the market, the devaluation. we knew it was coming. we knew about the nene president down there allowing exports to flow more freely and taking off the export tariffs, and then yesterday we get the news about the devaluation. the market breaks a little bit. we came back on the informa number, which really wasn't that bullish, but the price action of the market on thursday, i thought, was great. followed it through on friday somewhat >> sure. >> and, again, i don't want to be bearish down here at these levels. i think there's some upside potential to these markets. >> yeah. what do you think about the fed raising rates this week, mike? i mean, it is old news. we've known it was going to happen, but, but is there any impact we see longer term? >> well, they also foreshadowed what might be coming in saying that they could

the next several years, so certainly as we look at our debt structure, as we talk about the cost of money as it relates to operating notes s d what that translates back into on cost of production. those are going to be factors that play out over time. will there be an immediate impact? no. we won't really see one, and the market's been pricing this for a long time. they painted themselves into a corner. we knew, basically that ititas going to happen. . was just a queststn of to what degree they would do it, so the news really wasn't news, but it will change the game long term, and for years we've talked about zero interest rates going away and changing the game financially in the country. it's now starting to come to fruition. we're starting to see that corner be turned and now we're going to have to spend some time mapping that out. >> yeah, real quick. you agree? >> well, i think we're going to see

higher than most people think. i think most people are looking for a gradual, very slow. i think once it builds up a little steam we could see some higher interest rates here. >> all right, thanks, gentlemen. thanks for starting the day with us here. we're going to be right back with more u.s. farm report right after these messages. welcome back to u.s. farm report. mark gold, mike north, our guests here today. let's

n hammered. in fact, i saw some numbers this week. we've lost $2 billion in equity in the feeding part of that industry in the last two months. >> you know, how low is low? with any luck we saw the hardrdelloff on thursdayaywe had the limit up p friday. we'll see how we get through the cattle on feed numbers on monday, but i don't want to be too bearish down here. i think there's still some more risk out here, but i think

recover. we haven't seen meat at the retail level come down nearly as much >> right, we haven't. >> these cattle prices have come down, and, again, if you're selling cattle down here on this kind of a break in these markets i want re-own something with a call option. we've seen $20 rallies in the feeder cattle market over a couple of four, five days. we've seen a $10 rally in the fats on a couple of days, so if you're selling down here i would certainly be renewingngt with a call option. i wouldn't get married to it. i wouldn't look to go back to anywhere near the highs that we've been at, but there could be a nice bounce in this market, particularly after the first of the year. >> yeah. too far? too much? >> no, if you go back and look at what's happened in recent years. 2014 was the banner near,r,ut if you look at the years that proceeded that we spent a lot of time with fat cattle and that 110, 115, 120 range. the market's come back to that. the cutout values have moved back to a place where they were in those years. the cattle prices have done the same, and really as we go forward without changing the breeding herd that much, we're kind of stuck in

certainly fall and spring weather will play into the discussion as we move towards the calving season. all of these conversations will come into play, but you know, we're not out of the woods yet. we still have a tighter supply of breeding inventory, and so while we work through a little bit of heavier feed lot inventory we're going to keep some pressure on the cattle market, but going into spring i see some opportunities that could unfold and allow for better prices for cattle men. >> do you agree 2016 some better prices or is it going to take a little longer? >> i think we can see some better prices. one of the problems is that guys keep putting weight onto these animals >> sure, yeah. >> and it's not such the numbers. it's the total tonnage that's coming into the market. now, the question is, has this price break, and it's been precipitous, is that going to slsl some of the expansion that we've been seeing over the last six or eight months? >> that's a good question. >> i don't think it will slow it that much. maybe there will be some changes out

longer term, but i think we can see a rally here maybe into the spring, get a nice recovery. give guys an opportunity to buy somemeuts, then to protect what could be some downward pressure. >> all right. let's talk dairy real quick, mike, with you. we've seen, i think, 30% off of our prices in 2014 here in 2015. what do you foresee in that market? our products, butter, cheese, have had a rough couple of weeks. >> well, it doesn't come as a surprise in butter, right? we were trading $3 butter as we came into the fall. we've hovered around $2.90 over the last several weeks while the rest of the world is trading $1.30, $1.40, and so there's been a movement back towards some equality in the market. we've tried to cover some ground, and they did so in a hurry. we took 83 cents out of butter in a matter of five trading sessions. that was a huge, huge move, but, again, it didn't come as a big surprise. futures were already pricing it in. we had january, february, at or below $2 on butter while the spot was trading $2.90. cheese

markets. there, again, with our strong dollar, our big inventories, and having moved through the holiday season, all of this had to happen. it doesn't come as a big shock, and as we go into the 2016 period we see a little bit more of that lele. >> all right. >> a little bit more s stening on product prices. >> as we get into 2016, mark, what do you see as indicators? not just for livestock, but for grains, for all of our commodities, of things you're watching for? >> well, one of the big things is obviously weather. again, i believe el nino is for real. will it turn to la nina here? that's something we'll have to watch very closely. the u.s. dollar, if we can get a break in the u.s. dollar, that's certainly going to help our export market, and i'm just not quite convinced that we're not going to see demand continue to show up in these markets, and, again, down here at these levels we've taken a lot out. we've got the funds short. >> right. >> which ultimately, we can rally 5080 cents in beans just on the

believe there's going to be an opportunity in 2016. may not last long, but it will be there. >> all right, thank you both, we'll get your closing thoughts here right after this last break. we'll be back with markets now in just a minute. u.s. farm report brought to you by case ih. your cattle bring in the profits. count on case ih equipment to help you do

everything else. it's time fofomarkets now. let's start16 certainly in the moment everything seems very dark, very bearish, but i'm very optimistic that there's going to be a few opportunities along the way between market structure and weather and a number of others. there's a few things that are kind of hiding in the bushes so to speak that could stick their head up and provide some opportunity, but i think we need to be smart about opportunity as we head into 2016. we're not

more like $4.20 to $4.50 corn or $9 to $9.50 beans. we have to make sure we're framing up a plan right now to take advantage of those type of prices and then using options to give us some flexibility in the market. look at getting sales made and look at get some puts bought. >> mark, your thoughts? >> well, i kind of agree with that. since 1972 as long as i've been in these grain markets, every year the american farmer since '72 has had at least one opportunity every year to price his grain at profitable levels or protect it at profitable levels. and, again, i don't think this year's going to be any different. we're going to get one opportunity. it may come now if brazil continues to have problems. it mayayome in the summer, but you've got to be willing to take advantage of that rally this year because we still have big world gluts of grain. if we grow a big crop next year here in '16 we can see significantly lower prices, but we're going to get that one opportunity. take advantage of it. >> all right, thank you, gentlemen, for being here. we'll be back with john phipps in just

and gain knowledge about current market conditions from the professionals at bower trading. view the markets like never before. go to bowertrading.com.

farm country. john. even as we slowly climb down from the near hysteria over the tragic paris and california terror attacks, i think many of us in the country quietly remind ourselves t tt the same distance issue that makes getting repair parts a pain also is a powerful protection against the tiny chance of being a terrorist target. we're just too hard to get to and too spread out in rural america to be worth the trouble. in fact, it's one reason many rural residents feel vaguely uncomfortable visiting the city. nor is this the only overlooked upside to living in rural america. we're not getting short-changed economically as much as we think. we're simply

many of us share the horror and fear of urban america at the prospect of terrorist acts. but rushing to embrace wildly disproportionate draconian measures to prevent future events seems a little forced to me here in farm country. nobody is going to aim a plane at my grain bins, i doubt. however, the infininisimally small odds being a victim of a terrorist attack are virtually the same for urban and rural residents alike approximately zero. despite wall-to-wall coverage, the facts clearly show you are much more likely to die at from the action of a horse or even a cow than a terrorist. all these numbers do not change our visceral reaction to the types of fears we take seriously and those we ignore. but my point is if you are demanding stronger government protection from terrorism and even willing to compromise some fundamental

zero, don't be surprised other citizens want the same irrational protection from imagined risks like gmo's. we'll eventually tire of being afraid, but inappropriate and ineffective responses could encumber our lives for a long time. john's world...thanks john. still to come...a recap of action in washington, strong advice for farm kids planning to get married, and classic iron from north of the border. we'll be right back. the chevy silverado isishe official news gathering vehicle for farm journal television. from the

report. here's what's ahead on u.s. farm report... washington work...taxes and spending g t last minute attention drone drop--faa drops registration rules for uav's competing in catfish...can new oversight help u.s. catfish farmers keep up with foreign competition. and leave a legacy...should the family farm be protected before the i- do's. now for the headlines...washington

the christmas break. congress working on a one point one trillion dollar spending bill and a 680 billion dollar tax package. the spending bill includes language to repeal country of origin labeling-potentially halting retalitory tariffs from canada and mexico. the bill would also lift a 40 year ban on crude oil exports. it targets the dietary guideline panel and blocks changes to current guidelines. a ovision halting the sale of g-e salmononntil it can be labled is also included. congress also working on a 680-billion package of tax cuts. the bill includes some critical tools for agriculture including section 179 and bonus depreciation. section 179 would be permanent at the 500-thousand dodoar level. bonus depreciation would be extended for 5-years. also in washington this week, the government accountability office rolling out a new report on the epa's waters of the u.s.

how it promoted the rule on social media. it says the epa was urging the public to back the wotus rule with-- quote-- 'covert propaganda and grassroots lobbying.' co-vert propaganda. that means they were doing things we don't expect government to do for a regulation where they are supposed to balance economic, social and environmental outcomes. they didn't do that here. 14 they were campaigning and advocating in ways that we don't expect our government to do. epa disagrees with the assessment and says it uses social media tools just like all organizations to stay conected and inform. if you're giving or getting a drone this holiday season, don't forget to get it registered. the f-a-a announcing that recreational users of drones or unmanned aerial systems must register their machine and themselves on a new website starting december 21st. if you open it or buy after the 21st--it has to be registered before you take it and fly it outdoors. that's it for news...meteorologist mike

drought monitor says just 20 percent of the continental u.s. is in moderate drought or worse. yeah, that's right, clinton. and almost every bit of f at is west of the continental divide. i mean most of the plain states, eastern states, just not seeina any drought at all. jet stream as we head through this week-- you will notice one thing there's ripple, after ripple coming eastward each one has a little shot of cold air with it. could be producing some rain in the east and snow to the west of it. quick shot of cold air in the west then that system moves into the southwest and it warms up again, so changeable is really the big key as we head through this coming week, let's take a look at the thirty day outlook then. above normal for the northern plains, great lakes, northeast and down into the southeast, it will be changeable but averaging youou normal then from montana down into the southermississippi valley and from southern and western texas throughout the west-- below normal temperatures are expected as far as precipitation is concerned really a lot of the country is

some of the surrounding areas. near normal for the ohio valley and great lakes, above n/rmal in many other places, clinton? thanks mike. the business of farming is big...and diverse. today in our farm journal report, national reporter betsy jibben looks at the catfish industry. its in the midst of a significant change as to which government agency will oversee catfish inspections. betsy. the catfish industry has been a part of townsend kyser's day as long as he can remember. growing up in a catfish raising family, he's seen the ups and downs. "right now, times s e good for peopleleho have weathered the storm," for kyser, that storm first hit about a decade ago, when the price of both grain and oil increased. that's when imported catfish-like species called pangasius- began pouring into the u.s. from asian countries. "our inputs went up and other products were coming in at a cheaper rate. those two

national fisheries institute on how consumption has changed. in the last decade, pangasius numbers have risen sharply. "we are still battling it out. i'm still very much in favor of good, fair, competition on an even playing field but when other countries come in and undercut our prices and steal the markets that we spent a lifetime building, it hurts our communities,"> back in 2008. some catfish producers asked for more regulations within the industry. congress agreed to move inspection of foreign and domestic produced catfish from the food and drug administration to the usda. now starting in march, the usda will regulate catfish instead of the fda. when the governmental accountability fice looked at the t t competiting programs, usda and fda program, they found the usda program was exceedingly expensive. they estimate 170 million dollars over 10 years. currently it only takes 700

enormous hit for taxpayers 44 kysehowever welcomes the news. "that is a wonderful brand. everyone recognizes it and we know that it's safe and good. our product will shine with that,"> usda specializes i i meats and eggs b b the fda has regulatory oversight over all other fish andishery products. some feel the inspection process changes by organization.. and new inspection system may be costly.. besides new costs, gibbons argues the change only protects domestic producers and violates world trade organization rules. he worries the situation could bring retaliation and end up in court. and other commodities could be impacted. we don't export any domestic catfish. that wto loss could impact soybeans, or beef for instance. in the end, trade retaliation is visited upon with u.s. ag exports. so this is a lose, lose, lose," when it comes

to domestic catfish producers. "federal regulation is not a problem for ususn the catfish industry as long as its equal to everybody in the game. we grow a safe and healthy proct. all we are asking for is equal playing field with competitors," in an industry thta's seen tough times, they hope their industry can rebuild and continue in kyser's case, , lifelong legacy. "it's a lot to our community and its a lot to our family. we've been doing it for 50 years and i hope we can continue to do it," thanks betsy. kyser told betsy, some catfish producers asked for more regulations--calling it a food safety issue. he says the catfish-like species raised overseas, are grown in unsafe or polluted environments- making the product unsafe for consumers. gibbons disagrees saying it's a low-risk food. we asked usda for an update on the transition...a spokesperson says the department is not doing interviews just yet. we've been talking about giving away this yahmama kodiak 700 for several talking about giving away this yahmama kodiak 700 for several

turn up the volume here you go... the winner of our kodiak give away is...jess thew of staples minnesota. he's a farmer there in the land of 10-0-ousand lakes. merryryhristmas jess. and for everyone else...thanks so much for entering the contest. alright when we come back...john phipps takes joins us with a little customer support. "are e limits on nitrates in water reasonable?" (us farm report brought to you by basf. grow smart with basf and get the most acre after acre season after season.)

people in and out of the ag industry have spent plenty of time recently discussing nutrientntanagement--- espepeally when it comes t t nitrates. that topic is at the heart of a recent mailbag

following the nitrate lawsuit in iowa and stan ortman in kokomo, indiana has a good question: "i've followed the des moines water issue from a distance, and would appreciate your insight. are the standards reasonable, or are they set at lowest detectable levels?" stan, i think this is a great place to start to understand this issue a little better. the short answer is, like most detection methods today, we have ways, such as colorimetry to detect down to about one twentieth of a part per million or ppm. given enough time and money i expect we could go much farther than that. under e safe srinking water act, the maximum contaminant level for nitrates is 10 milligrams per liter which is the same as 10 parts per million you'll see it listed both ways. it is expressed as nitrate-n, because

nitrogen is the problem. nitrates actually pose little hazard to humans, but when they are converted to nitrites no2 in the gut, they can damage the hemoglobin in the blood, which carries oxygen around the body. and here's the core of the whole issue. infants under 6 month consume proportionately more water per pound of body weight and have underdeveloped digestive systems. this can result dangerous levels of nitrites which has been linked the scary sounding "blue baby syndome" where the loss of hemoglobin can cause the infant to have bluish tint to their skin and under the fingernails it is this medical problem which always grabs headlines when talking about nitrates, but just like flesh-eating bacteria or mad cow disease, the name itself triggers a strong reaction gardless of the real threat we're talking about little

problems. nitrates may only be be only one factor for bbs. there are confusiong study results and the debaba is ongoing. on the other hand, the two most recent cases well, only cases i could find occurred in the late 90's on wisconsin farms with well water nitrate levels above 20 ppm. clearly you cannot discount the possibility of the cause and effect. in my opinion given the ghastly name and emotions involved with infants, until it can be proven otherwise, not only is 10 ppm a reasonable limit, we're lucky the standard is not much lower. breaking it down as only john can. thanks john.. up next, straight talk for families working to leave a legacy.

it's no secret... that as land prices,s,quipment and asset values creep higher, so does the value of the family farm. and today's it's not uncommon for values to be in the six or seven figure range. that's why one expert says, as kids get married and spouses come on board, it may be time to consider protectininthat asset. the brooks dairy farm in wauauca wisconsin is a busy operation. and fortunately still running--a difficult family transition forced ron brooks to make some tough choices. we had to put zoey in an equity position immediaty. zoey and her sisters are now full owners. to save the farm, i now work for my daughters. my daughters own all the land. it^s in a separate llc called ibrooks farms homestead llc and to be honest, our succession plan, divorce or no divorce, looks about the same today as it would have no matter

says when marriage happens it may be time to take the farm off the table. one of my mantra's is its not just just hollywood it's good planning for anyone and if the goal is to keep the farm in the blood a prenuptual agreement can be very helpful. although that's not where most legacy planning conversations start--polly says that's often where it leads. a few minutes into our discussion when i talk about okay leave your child to your children d your child gets divorced and part of your farm is now that marital estate and being divided by a judget...the hackles go up the red flags go up and what i find almost immediately is they want to keep it simple but keep it in the blood. she says there's only so m mh that can be done after a marriage. we can use trusts we can use llc, llp's any kind of entity we can use transfer restrictions and by-sell agreements and we can do our best to protect the farm. but

end up with other assets. but..before the wedding a premarital agreement is contract that can say hey, the farm that's going to reign down upon me from a generation above is going to be different and ought to be treated differently that the wealth we build during our marriage. and if something goes wrong alright we'll fairly split that and the judge will decide. she knows not all agree... it is difficult and some people have very strong feelings that what god brings together in marriage there should be no legal contract between. and i respect that. its just my job as a lawyer to issue spot and give advice but i describe it as marriage insurance. you hope you never ever need it. but if you do it's in the drawer. and it can very limited in nature. ron brooks says planning saved the farm. two of my daughters are married, after what we went through with succeceion planning on m mpart, we^ve learned d at we really need to get in place marital property agreements. my two non-farm daughters who are married, have non-farming

with non-farming spouses are water-tight. they seem to understand that, giving them a chance at building a new legacy. all right, when we come back, tractor tales and our country

tractor tales crosses borders this week as we check out a classic machine that originated in canada. but it's home is north central iowa. there we met a collector and his 1957 cockshutt golden eagle. this tractor has been in the family since it rolled out of the factory. and if you ask the owners, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere, anytime soon. bought new by my father in 1957. its been a workhorse on the farm ever since he bought it. i grew up on the tractor. i hav ethe old steering wheel. i always said i cut my teeth on the steering wheel and there's a couple of hunks missing and he

steering wheel. we had the motor over hauled with the new bearing on the crank shaft. new rings on the pistons. other wise that's it. my dad made a rock shaft for it so we had a three point run by a two way hydrolic cylinder, we used to cultivate with a 6 row rear mount cultivator. i would hat to think of how many bales they cranked out of the baler when it was it was always on the baler. i know one summer dad baled for the neighbor on down the road here and he had a lot of cattle. i think at the end of the year he tallied up we cubed up 24 thousand bales of hay and straw and it was all with that tractor. pulled a 4 bottom plow with it. dad had 4 fourteens that he plowed, very easy to steer for not having power steering. its probably one of the easiest steering tractors with no power steering that ive ever been on. its a joy to drive. you know the scene isnt the best but when i was looking for parts for this tractor why

guy i was ordering the toolbox from said oh, you had the deluxe seat oh if that was the deluxe seat i'd hate to see the cheap one. because a man that spent 10 hours a day on that seat, he had a day. cockshutt farm equipment manufactured and sold farm machinery across canada, several u.s. states, and around the world for more than 85 years. it was started by james cockshutt when he opened the brantford plow works, in 1877. starting with plows it didn't manufacture tractors until the mid 19-40's. this week's country church salute goes to our savior lutheran church of wayne, nebraska. this specific church was created just 20 years ago when two others were combined. in 1994 the st paul's evangelical church joined the redeemer lutheran church after a lightning strike started a fire

may be young at heart but together there is 218 years of ministry between them...and a membership of more than 750 people. our thanks to sue olson for sending their information in. stay with us - -cropwatch is next. find your next piece of equipment at machinery pete dot com and enter for a chance to win a yeti cooler! one yeti tundra 35 cooler is being given away each week. go to ww.machinerypete.com/survey complete the survey and enter your information. you could be the next owner of a machinery pete yeti cooler.

from nathan mueller just south of fremont nebraska. he says it's been one of the wettest decembers on record for many

december--normal is less than an inch. he's seeing a lot of fields like this--underwater. and here's a an early morning shot from a farm in herkimer new york. it comes from twitter--at n-y farmer. she says it's been a mild winter so far. cows at this farm are still out grazing. it's been mild weather in the midwest for awhile now. karen forbes posted this picture of her nieces at a pumpkin patch recently. the area is up north near tinley park. that's far northern illinois. in kansas, david seck of hutchinson kansas says he doesn't ever see canola on the program. he says the mild weather has his field in fall color and in good shape. the area there getting 6 inches of rain over the past 20 days...he says while the moisture is appreciated they're good for now. and farther south..much farther... in brazil the growing season is in full swing. ron haase sent us these photos of soybeans from mato grosso. he says things look pretty good so far...as he travels across the state. ron says cattle in the area don't look too bad either. and remember if you have a picture to share be sure to post it on our facebook page, twitter or email it to us with a short

final thoughts on weather during christmas week? and don't forgetet next weekend is our annual christmas in the country special..tyne will be here..along with many others to help celebrate the season. don't miss it... for john, al and mike, i'm clinton griffiths. thank you for watching u- s farm report. we'll be back next weekend--including fresh market perspective during a short holiday week. merry christmas and have a great day in farm country.

good morning. breaking overnight, airplane bomb alert. an air france flight headed for paris diverted to kenya, after suspicious devices were found in the bathroom. at least six people being interrogated. we are live with the latest. he's sorry. bernie sanders kicking off last night's democratic debate by

messed up by looking at hillary