Bison and cattle face off over public land grazing in Montana as row crop producers deal with delayed harvests and a strong U.S. dollar pressures commodity markets, Iowa PBS reported on Friday.
The Bureau of Land Management is involved in a court battle in Montana centered on federal grazing permits and bison held by the nonprofit group American Prairie. The Montana Stock Growers Association and the state of Montana intervened in 2022 to argue that issuing permits for bison violates the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, which regulates domestic livestock production.
“Ranchers who are grazing on those public lands are living in communities, providing economic impact, putting kids in schools and really keeping rural America open for business,” said Raylee Honeycutt, executive vice president of the Montana Stock Growers Association, told Iowa PBS.
Federal officials concluded that American Prairie manages its bison primarily for wildlife conservation rather than domestic production.
“We'll get kind of back to our normal programing now of harvesting bison, shipping bison,” said Scott Heidebrink, director of landscape stewardship for American Prairie, told Iowa PBS.
Meanwhile, row crop producers face harvest delays driven by precipitation and warm El Nino weather patterns. USDA data in November 2026 placed the corn harvest at 86 percent complete, trailing the five-year average by five points. Soybean harvest reached 92 percent complete, running ahead of the five-year average.
| Commodity Contract | November 13, 2026 Price Action |
|---|---|
| December Corn | Gained a nickel |
| January Soybeans | Improved $0.37 |
| December Meal | Expanded $9.70 per ton |
| Nearby Wheat | Added $0.03 |
The U.S. Dollar Index hit a 19-month high amid sticky inflation data, with the producer price index rising 3/10 of a percent in October and consumer prices increasing 4/10 of a percent. Market analyst Kristi Van Ahn told Iowa PBS that the strong dollar acts as an elephant in the room for corn and wheat exports while soybean demand remains strong.
