The $24-a-share price is 46 percent more than Miami-based Burger King’s close Aug. 31, before reports of a deal surfaced. Under the terms of the agreement, Burger King can solicit superior bids through Oct. 12, according to a statement today. The transaction amounts to about $4 billion including debt.

Burger King reported total sales of $2.5 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30th, down 1.4 percent from the previous year and the second consecutive year-over-year loss.

3G is an investment vehicle whose main investors are three Brazilian business partners and at one point owned 4.2 million shares of Wendy’s/Arby’s but their June 30 disclosure statement showed they do not have those shares any longer. One of the main partners also owns shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev the world’s largest brewer.

“We can see that even though farmland is not increasing at a rate that it maybe did for the prior two or three or four years, we still have an upward bias towards prices,” said McCabe.

McCabe says the average price for the best quality land is $7,665 an acre in Illinois with some well over $8-thousand-dollars. The average price for fair quality land is $4,646 an acre. And, McCabe says the trend of fewer acres offered in the market continues, especially compared with the first half of 2009.

Conducted by Lisa Mauer, an associate professor of food science at Purdue, the method also differentiates between strains of E. coli 0157:H7, which means, outbreaks could be tracked more effectively and quickly. The findings were reported in the August issue of the Journal of Food Science.

“Since 2000, we have seen an increase of about a 106 percent if you combine all of those years together,” said Zwilling. “Last year was the only year out of those years that actually was a slight decrease. It was only $20 an acre. This is talking about farmland and buildings together, all real estate.”

The average farm real estate value for Illinois in 2010 was $4,650 per acre, a record high. Zwilling points out there can be big differences in land values from northern to southern Illinois.

Meat prices are expected to increase 2 to 3 percent this year and dairy should be 1.5 to 2.5 percent higher than a year ago but retailers are apparently reluctant to pass the increases on to recession-weary consumers. The USDA report states; “Although global economies have recovered somewhat from the 2008-09 recession, world economic activity remains below pre-recession levels, resulting in overall food price inflation in 2010 remaining below historical averages,”

“In a normal year you’d water soybeans one time, that’s about the most you’d water them,” Hinkebein said during an interview with Brownfield Wednesday at the edge of one of his soybean fields. “This year, beans have been watered three times, so it’s an unusually dry year.”

Hinkebein has dramatically improved soybean yields through a strict regimen of herbicide and insecticide application along with regular applications of sugar.

“Sugar, yes,” said Hinkebein. “Worms and insects, they cannot digest it so it will kill them.”

The practice seems to pay off. Hinkebein’s Asgrow Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans have recorded yields as high as 109 bushels to the acre. 

Prior to planting, Hinkebein also relies on sacred intervention.

“Our priest in the area, he’ll come out for dinner and he’ll come up and bless the fields and bless the seeds and everything, and I think that has a lot to do with it too,” said Hinkebein. “Yeah, we do have a lot of faith.”

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control say a spike in salmonella cases were reported in June and July and have been with public health officials have determined they are likely linked to shell eggs from Wright County Egg. The CDC says it has received reports of about 200 cases linked to the salmonella strain each week during late June and early July. The traceback investigation continues.

 More human Salmonella infections are being investigated by local FDA/CDC partners in Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.

The FDA & CDC advise people to NOT eating recalled eggs – they say to either throw them out or return them to the place of purchase for a refund.

The recalled shell eggs are packaged under these brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.

For information on proper egg handling and preparation

Jones says the good news is that land used for farming is retaining its value and that is important because most of farm wealth is in farmland. He does not see pressure from the non-farm market returning in the near future and as long as commodity prices remain strong the land in farming should at least hold value if not trend higher.

AUDIO: Jones talks about the market

The top hog was exhibited by Brady Tibbits also of Mineral Point. His animal sold for $6,000. Top lamb was exhibited by Tierney Reilly of Shullsburg and sold for $4,000. Wisconsin Ag Connection reports a total of 28 animals were sold at the auction for a total of $111,900 which is about $44,000 less than generated by last year’s sale. The monies are divided among the exhibitor, auction expenses and youth scholarships.

Indiana’s Agribusiness Development Team

“For instance there is an aerial shot of Khost Province as taken from a Blackhawk helicopter that shows what a desert it is and the importance irrigation is to this agricultural society,” Wissing said. “There are pictures of meetings outside of basically these 13th century mud villages, between the Afghan farmers and the ADT soldiers, the Agribusiness Development Team soldiers.”

The ADT exhibit at the Indiana State Fair is located in the Toyota Exposition Hall in Booth 306.

AUDIO: Doug Wissing, Freelance Journalist (4:55 MP3)