The biggest news today is that the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by 0.25 points – as expected.  CBOT futures closed mixed with relatively small price changes. Corn and wheat closed near the day’s highs, despite the spike higher at 1 pm CST in the US Dollar Index when the FOMC raised its interest rate.

KFB Candid Conversations presents a discussion about the topical issues facing the agricultural industry in a question and answer format with a member of Kentucky’s agricultural community. In this column, State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Stout discusses the Veterinary Feed Directive, a regulatory action taken by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and goes into effect January 1, 2017.

CBOT futures closed steady to lower after trading both sides of unchanged.  Cattle futures closed higher and in the upper range. Buyers hit the market from the opening bell, adding to Monday’s strong closing action.  Lean hog futures closed mixed with weakness in the Dec and Feb contracts and firm values in April and beyond contracts.

CBOT futures closed mostly steady to lower with late-session trading taking corn and wheat to the day’s highs while soybeans traded near the day’s lows.  Cattle futures closed strongly higher with Feeder Cattle closing near the day’s highs. Futures were supported by technical buying.  Lean Hog futures closed mixed with modest gains in Dec/Feb/April and steady closes for June-forward contracts. Futures were supported by higher cash hog prices and a stronger pork market.

A healthy export market is highly important to all U.S industries and agriculture is no exception. Agricultural exports from this country are expected to be in the $127 billion range for 2016 and higher in 2017 at a projected $133 billion.

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A report on how KCARD, the Kentucky Center for Ag and Rural Development, assisted ag entrepreneurs across the state qualify for $1.7 million in USDA value added grants to help take their new business ventures to the next level. Aaron Shapiro, KCARD grant facilitator, says most of their service are free and they stand ready to assist individuals with help from assessing their business’s chances to developing a business plan.

Kentucky and several other states face a shortage of large animal veterinarians in many parts of the state. Feldhaus reports on the Veterinary Technician program at Morehead State University.  Assistant professor, Amy Staton, talks about how vet techs can serve as a part of the solution to that problem.  She says their vet tech graduates are in very high demand these days.