The winners of the National Wheat Yield Contest, hosted by the National Wheat Foundation, represent some of the best wheat growers in the country. And today, we're ducking behind the curtain to learn the secrets of growing bin-busting crops.

DTN Crops Editor Jason Jenkins takes the reins to lead us through a conversation with Greg Anthis, a wheat grower and agronomist from Wheatland, Indiana, and Alec Horton, a grower and seed supplier in Leoti, Kansas.

These long-time contest participants discuss how participating in the annual contest has become common in their areas, and along the way, they dig into what they’ve learned about management, technology, seed selection, quality, and wheat rotations while being part of the community of state-of-the-art wheat growers.

With challenging conditions across much of the ag economy, cattle markets are a bright spot in the first few months of 2026.

Despite high prices, consumers are continuing to buy beef, even in advance of what is usually the peak demand period for the year. Add that to the fact that the Southern border has been closed for nearly twelve months with no signs of reopening anytime soon, and you'll find cattlemen across the country are still motivated to take advantage of top dollar prices — keeping the herd firmly out of the rebuilding cycle.

But all that doesn’t mean that there aren’t potential risks on the horizon.

To help us make sense of all the news that’s affecting cattle markets today, we’re joined by DTN Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart. She'll walk us through the market-moving meaning behind the latest cattle-on-feed report, bring us up-to-date on the most recent confirmed case of New World Screwworm in Mexico, and help us understand what we might expect from the worsening drought situation across the American West.

We’ll also hear her advice on how to make sense of the firehose of news coming out of the Middle East and Washington at the moment, and finally, give us a boots-on-the-ground update from her own cattle operation in Wyoming.

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The April WASDE dropped Thursday, April 9th, representing the third big update from USDA in two weeks following the Prospective Planting and U.S. Grain Stocks reports.

Though expectations from analysts were relatively low, wider uncertainty in the markets related to the ongoing US-Iran conflict and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz have left farmers hungry for any clarity on what might be in store for markets in the coming months.

To help us dig into all three of these reports, we’re joined today by DTN Lead Analyst Rhett Montgomery. He’ll offer insight on the latest news, and then take us beat-by-beat through USDA updates to the balance sheets for the major grains, highlighting the biggest changes along the way.

Then, we’ll hear updates on the Latin American crop, the current corn trade picture, and hear Rhett’s thoughts on the world wheat market and what that might mean for U.S. growers as 2026 continues.

Finally, we’ll talk about the Prospective Planting report, understanding how last year’s crop is influencing this year’s acres, and thinking about how planting plans might still adjust as concerns about war-disrupted fertilizer continue to crystallize.

Plus, we’ll hear what Rhett will be watching most closely in the common weeks, from Trump’s trip to Beijing to energy markets.