News
Today’s agriculture headlines and expert perspectives serving farmers, ranchers, crop consultants, livestock nutritionists and the entire U.S. ag community.
After two years of weaker exports of farm goods, it is appearing as though 2017 will push higher.
Tax reform is on the agenda in Washington D.C. when legislators return from a month-long recess. Before Congress resumes, President Donald Trump rolled out a four-point plan in Missouri earlier this week.
Trump sending mixed messages on program if Congress fails to act.
A big reason data from the Farm Journal Midwest Crop Tour is comparable to previous years is because of consistency. Scouts always travel the same routes, but pick fields at random. In South Dakota, scouts only take samples in the southeast corner of the state. But this year, the western and central portions of the state are facing drought.
Trump to Declare China as a `Strategic Competitor’ in Speech (1)
Shipments above new limit may be held back for more cleaning.
Today, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that Tony Tooke will become the new Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Tooke, who grew up on a 200-acre farm outside Detroit, Ala., has been with the Forest Service since he was 18.
Farmers might soon have a tough time finding workers after a report from the Migration Policy Institute says the number of undocumented farm workers is falling.
It’s an historical day for the United States as the first round of negotiations to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), got underway Wednesday morning in Washington D.C. In effect since January 1994, NAFTA created a Free Trade Zone between Canada, Mexico and the United States. President Donald Trump has called the trade pact “the worst trade ever made by any country.”
John Duarte is a California farmer who took on the federal government and lost.
Amazon’s Whole Foods Deal Wins Swift U.S. Antitrust Approval (1)
NAFTA 2.0 negotiations begin this week in Washington. The hoped-for conclusion will not be as quick as some want, nor take as long as some observers predict. But a long list of policy hurdles is evident.
There’s an unwanted record in the Gulf of Mexico: This year’s “dead zone ,” a largely human-caused phenomenon where there’s too little oxygen to support marine life, is the biggest ever measured.
Certainly, nobody wants a repeat of the 1980s farm crisis. But what can be done to prevent it from happening again?
Insurance plays a special role in one of America’s most precarious—and dangerous—industries.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the United States’ current farm-labor visa program is “essentially unworkable.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.