Contents

FEATURES: 
Cows for rent
Tight capital makes cow-lease agreements more attractive; budgeting makes them work
By James D. Ritchie

The speculation problem
Index funds flex the fundamentals of agricultural markets, bring new risk to small players
By James D. Ritchie

High and lasting
Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute baseline cites a new plateau for commodity prices
By Nancy Jorgensen

MFA technical brief
Get along with fescue
By Dr. Jim White

Cooperatives
Contributing to the success of our communities
By Emily Whitmarsh

Returning hungry
Conservation Reserve Program land being brought into grain production will need some fine-tuning in soil nutrients
By Lyndon Brush

COLUMNS:
Country Corner 
Wrong-way Ken
One environmentalist swings wide of the facts
By Steve Fairchild

Crops
It's all timing now
Late planting will condense the field season this year
By Dr. Paul Tracy

Viewpoint
Mother Nature slows planting
A wet spring ties a knot in the supply and demand equation
By Don Copenhaver

DEPARTMENTS:
UPfront
• Market diversion
• What's that weed?
• Food security
• Book review
• MFA at 100

Markets 
Shifted corn acres
By Dr. Robert Wisner

Cattle Outlook
Still cyclical
By Glenn Grimes

Country Humor

Relish Recipes