Nebraska’s Emily Guerra, age 2, died when she fell off a spooked horse while her father was helping to brand calves. Austin Reuter, a 7-year-old from Iowa, died after an ATV rolled over him during evening chores, and Travis Flory, a 3-year-old in Wisconsin, was killed when he was accidentally run over by a skid steer his brother was driving.

CME Group has withdrawn its proposal to expand electronic grain trading hours to 22 hours per day, according to a Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) spokesman. The Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) also pulled its parallel proposal and submitted a new one, in which electronic trade would open at 5 p.

The production of ethanol in the U.S. reduced wholesale gasoline prices by an average of $1.09 per gallon in 2011. The research, authored by Professors Dermot Hayes and Xiadong Du, is an update of a 2009 report from CARD based on the impact ethanol has on gasoline prices.

“This was, reportedly, 10 percentage points above pre-report expectations,” said DTN Analyst John Sanow. “The most impressive showing to note is Illinois and Indiana at 79 percent and 70 percent, respectively, as compared to the five-year average of 29 percent and 20 percent.

It’s no shock that input costs for corn production have staged four years of sizable price increases. But unlike past seasons, higher overheads will be exposing producers to more serious marketing risks in 2012, cautions financial adviser Sam Bachman with AgriSolutions.

Gas guzzlers beware: Higher diesel prices could take some of the fun out of farming in 2012. Assuming an Illinois corn grower averaged $2.83/gallon for diesel in 2011, each $1/ gallon increase in 2012 will shave this year’s profit margins as much as 4.5 percent, according to Sam Bachman, a financial consultant with AgriSolutions, Brighton, IL.

In a response to the studies, insecticide manufacturer Bayer CropScience said the studies used higher than normal levels of neonicotinoid insecticides, and results contradicted results found in previous studies using “fieldlevel” amounts of the insecticides.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a petition last Monday seeking cancellation of all registrations for the popular herbicide ingredient 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, or 2,4-D, used on millions of U.S. farm acres to control broadleaf weeds.

It was definitely easier for an above-average corn grower to shoulder extreme rent in 2011 than 2012, according to financial adviser Sam Bachman with AgriSolutions, a Brighton, IL, financial consulting firm.

A fact surprising accountants as they study yearend farm financials for 2011 is how well private policies paid for wind and hail coverage, separate from more than $10 billion in claims paid nationwide under federal crop insurance last year.