High commodity prices improve U.S. farmers overall crop receipts and net cash income, which in turn fuels growth in farm machinery.

It's 2014, so we might as well kick the year off and talk about what the expectations are for the year.

The good news is that the 2013 harvest is in the homestretch. Today, USDA reported that as of November 17, 2013, 91% of corn has been harvested in the top 18 corn producing states. This is ahead of the 5 year average of 86%. At the same time, 95% of the soybean crop has been harvested, which is only one percentage point behind the 5 year average.

In response to a Proposed Rule for the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard Required Volume Obligations (RVO) issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Soybean Association expressed concern that the biomass-based diesel levels for 2014 and 2015 would be reduced below the amount actually produced in 2013. The rule, which establishes the amount of biofuels that obligated parties must utilize for 2014 and the amount of biomass-based diesel for 2014 and 2015, proposes a biomass-based diesel RVO of 1.28 billion gallons, less than the amount produced by the industry in 2013. EPA has also proposed to reduce the total advanced biofuels requirement, which also limits the opportunities for biodiesel.

Yesterday, USDA reported 62% of the corn crop is in "good" or "excellent" condition, up from last week's 60%.

The region’s frost-free September, which gave late-planted crops more time to develop, boosted yields and farmers' gross incomes, area ag officials say.

As of October 20, USDA reports that 94% of corn is mature vs. the 95% 5-year average and 100% at this time last year. Overall, only 39% of U.S. corn had been harvested compared to the 53% 5-year average and 85% in 2012.

Well, it's not going to happen just yet, but it looks like it could be playing less of a role in U.S. agriculture than it has during the past decade.

The condition of U.S. corn and soybean crop declined slightly last week, according to today's USDA report.

USDA reported today that the decline in the condition of U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat continued to deteriorate through last week.