Policy
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the United States’ current farm-labor visa program is “essentially unworkable.”
Certainly, nobody wants a repeat of the 1980s farm crisis. But what can be done to prevent it from happening again?
In 2013, the Chinese firm Shuanghui received wide public attention when it purchased U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods for a record $4.7 billion. That purchase was just a part of a continuing surge in foreign investment in American farmland and food that has raised concerns in Congress and among rural advocacy groups.
The corn and soybean markets broke out of previous trading ranges this week. How long will the strength last? Jerry Gulke provides his take.
Business, agricultural and education groups are joining forces to expand Nebraska’s reach into international markets that generate billions of dollars annually, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Thursday.
Corn planted area for all purposes in 2017 is estimated at 90.9 million acres, down 3 percent from last year. And soybean planted area for 2017 is estimated at a record high 89.5 million acres, up 7 percent from last year.
Target matches current quota set by Obama administration.
Several states are seeking to join a legal challenge to a Trump administration decision to keep a widely used pesticide on the market despite studies showing it can harm children’s brains.
When the 2014 farm bill bumped the 2008 version, several changes occurred – most notably, eliminating Direct and Counter Cycle Payment (DCP) and Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) programs and replacing it with the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs. How did farmers in different regions fare with these changes?
President Donald Trump announced new restrictions Friday limiting U.S. citizens’ ability to travel to and do business in Cuba, moving to roll back a historic rapprochement led by the Obama administration that he frequently targeted on the campaign trail.
President praises farmers, vows to ‘rebuild rural America’
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal calls for saving $10 million next year by selling wild horses captured throughout the U.S. West without the requirement that buyers guarantee the animals won’t be resold for slaughter.
Budget plan also calls for sale of post-Sandy gasoline stash.
Did you know U.S. agricultural exports have been traded at a surplus every year since 1959? According to USDA-ERS economists Alex Melton and Bryce Cooke, U.S. ag exports have accounted for around 10% to 11% of total exports in recent years.
The Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against a farm in Arizona that underpaid and kept Mexican workers in inadequate housing.
A new fence will reduce the number of elk, deer and antelope affected by the cow pasture barrier at the base of Sheep Mountain outside of Laramie, Wyo.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has warned a Pittsburgh restaurant to not serve horse meat again.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said parts of an Asia-Pacific trade deal rejected by the Trump administration could form the basis of a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement.
States that supported Donald Trump in the election have the most to lose if NAFTA ends.
President Donald Trump won a court ruling that makes it easier for him to rescind the Obama administration’s plan for weaning American power producers off of coal and other fossil fuels.
Iowa farmers asked Republican lawmakers Monday to reconsider plans to eliminate an agriculture research center they say is vital to the state’s largest industry.
President Donald Trump has signed more than 30 executive orders during his first 100 days, and he hasn’t forgotten to get the agriculture industry and rural America involved. Earlier Tuesday, Trump signed the executive order, titled Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America, in front of newly installed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, a 14-member farmer roundtable and others.
John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, reports that a shipment of rice will travel from the port of Houston/Galveston to the Republic of Cuba - the first shipment of its kind in a decade.
An environmental assessment of proposals for managing human-wolf conflicts and wolf depredation on livestock in Minnesota recommends that federal officials continue using a combination of lethal and non-lethal methods.
Since Donald Trump’s election, state officials, emergency managers and even some Republicans in Congress said they hoped the president’s skepticism about climate change wouldn’t cause him to toss programs meant to protect Americans against its consequences -- stronger storms, longer droughts, rising sea levels and more intense heat waves. That seems to have been too optimistic.
The Trump Administration on Wednesday denied a petition by environmental groups that sought to ban a common pesticide used on citrus fruits, apples, cherries and other crops, reversing a push by the Obama administration to revoke all uses of the pesticide on food after a government review concluded it could harm children’s brains.
Things have been going smoothly for former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on his road to lead the USDA, but it might not stay that way.
As rural America faces another year of expected low farm income, the House Agriculture Committee is reviewing the financial health of the Farm Credit Administration (FCA).
The proclamation applauds our nation’s farmers as “endlessly innovative,” as well as being determined, self-reliant and a critical component to the nation’s future.
The share farmers receive for farm commodity sales for domestically produced food fell in 2015, the last year such data is available. On average, farmers receive 15.6 cents on each dollar consumers spend on food, according to recent reporting from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).