Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 7:02 and sunset is 6:20, for 11 hours 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 83.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1846, Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune, is discovered by English astronomer William Lassell:
Triton was discovered by British astronomer William Lassell on October 10, 1846, just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune. When John Herschel received news of Neptune’s discovery, he wrote to Lassell suggesting he search for possible moons. Lassell discovered Triton eight days later. Lassell also claimed for a period to have discovered rings. Although Neptune was later confirmed to have rings, they are so faint and dark that it is not plausible he saw them. A brewer by trade, Lassell spotted Triton with his self-built 61 cm (24 in) aperture metal mirror reflecting telescope (also known as the “two-foot” reflector). [Citations omitted]
What does a bumper crop profit a farmer under tariffs and trade wars?:
Despite strong crop yields expected nationwide in 2025, high production costs and strained international markets continue to create market uncertainty for American farmers.
In Wisconsin, corn growers are expected to see record yields with U.S. corn production nationwide expected to be 13% higher than last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s September forecast.
While soybean production nationwide is slightly down from 2024, Wisconsin and several other states could still see record-high yields of the crop.
But with strong yield typically driving crop prices down, those low crop prices paired with high production costs and tense standoffs over President Donald Trump’s tariffs leave many American farmers uncertain about their economic outlook.
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Wisconsin Soybean Association President Doug Rebout told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that soybean farmers in the state are concerned because without China, the U.S. soybean industry lost a huge part of its market, causing prices to drop significantly.
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“Because of retaliatory tariffs, we are paying more for the products that we’re buying and we’re getting paid less for the products that we’re selling,” Rebout said, noting that a lot of equipment and equipment parts are imported from other countries. “It’s just a vicious cycle, and as farmers, we are caught in the middle.”
Additionally, plummeting commodity prices, high production costs and supply chain issues all have played a role in declining incomes for U.S. farmers in recent years. While total cash receipts and government payments are expected to increase, this doesn’t offset the losses for many crop farmers.
In Wisconsin, grain farmers will likely face negative margins in 2025 as expected prices for corn and soybeans are below the estimated break-even points for Wisconsin producers, according to projections by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.
See Anna Kleiber, Record crop yields won’t lead to financial security for Wisconsin farmers this year. Here’s why, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Public Radio, October 7, 2025.
See also Tariffs and Trade War Hit Wisconsin’s Soybean Farmers.
Turns out trade wars aren’t good and easy to win after all. The price of one man’s ignorance now grips much of the economy.
Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado awarded 2025 Nobel Peace Prize: