Ag, Construction, and Forestry News

As a provider of off-highway tires to the construction, forestry and agriculture industries, we're always on the lookout for great news and insights from the media and the blogosphere. This is the time of year when industry experts are predicting next year's trends, so we've assembled a few stories from this past week along those lines, as well as some other key news that caught our eyes.

• It was much easier for grain farmers to make a profit when corn was selling for $7 to $8 per bushel and other grain prices were up, but 2014 was a tough year and 2015 is not expected to be much better. Grain farmers really need to pay attention to the fundamentals according to agriculture.com like developing marketing plans and (we would add) getting optimum production from their equipment, including tires. On a related note, read our post on getting the most value from your used farm equipment.
  
  
• In a related story from agriculture.com, here are 5 tips for more aggressive marketing for grain farmers.
  
  
• Forestry professionals are worried about the increasing average age of forest landowners and shrinking of parcel size. According to this article in Associated Press, this is not a good trend for the industry as privately-owned forests are passed on to more urbanized children who don't have the same commitment and passion for managing the forests.
  
  
• The agricultural industry benefits greatly from falling oil prices but the U.S. oil industry and its suppliers suffer as production of shale oil slows. Read more in the National Deseret News about the winners and losers as oil prices continue to plummet.
  
  
• 2014 was not a good year for the U.S. coal industry. Read this analysis in The Wall Street Journal about how 2015 is shaping up for coal.
  
  
• The North American energy revolution is one of 4 mega trends in the construction industry. Read about it and the three others in this insightful report from the CFMA (Construction Financial Management Association).

Feel free to add your commentary on these or any other breaking topics in the comments section below.