Texas
Once considered a Texas problem, the pest is on the move. Rice experts urge growers to prepare for it now.
With wheat barely a foot tall, the flag leaf is already emerging—a sign the crop is rushing to reproduce under stress, leaving too little structure to support a harvest. Less than 10% may be harvested in West Texas.
Kansas State Veterinarian Dr. Justin Smith outlines a coordinated plan built on surveillance, targeted treatment and movement controls to protect cattle operations while preserving business stability.
Here are resources for those looking to donate to ranchers recovering from recent wildfires in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
High winds and low humidity are expected to continue throughout the week as producers deal with multiple fires that have blazed across Western Oklahoma, Western Kansas and the Texas Panhandle.
This former Bloomberg executive returned to her family’s Texas ranch to build a thriving, community-rooted business that prioritizes local economic value and authentic storytelling over global scale.
Texas producers need to remain on alert as NWS continues to move north. The newest detection is in the state of Tamaulipas.
Historically, colder temperatures have played a crucial role in controlling New World screwworm’s geographical spread.
With New World screwworm within 70 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, the livestock industry is on high alert. USDA continues to fight the northward spread of the parasite while debate continues on the border closure.
AGCO’s Fendt brand has added four models of row crop tractors ranging from 426 hp to 550 hp and the first-ever stack fold planter. And both new offerings are jam-packed with PTx precision technologies.
A federal court has vacated the Biden-Harris administration’s rule that listed the lesser prairie-chicken as an endangered species.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has announced a plan to build a facility near Edinburg, Texas. It will be capable of producing 300 million sterile flies per week to combat New World screwworm and is estimated to be in production in one year.
Secretary Rollins takes decisive action and shuts down cattle, bison and equine trade due to further northward spread of the devastating pest in Mexico.
The losses to the agricultural community won’t be known for a few weeks but are devastating and come just over a year after Texas was hit by the biggest wildfires in U.S. history.
Following a New World screwworm assessment by USDA staff in Mexico and ongoing conversations between Secretary Rollins and the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture, USDA will start reopening the ports for cattle, bison and equine.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announces plans to reopen Moore Air Base in Texas as a New World screwworm sterile fly distribution facility. Long-term production is anticipated to be 300 million sterile flies per week.
Cheap cotton prices and dwindling demand are just part of the problem. Input costs have climbed and there’s no safety net to be found from a new farm bill. One Georgia farmer says the current farm bill is irrelevant and worthless, and if a new one doesn’t get passed this year, the cotton industry is doomed.
2025 Top Producer Women in Agriculture Award winner Kimberly Ratcliff wanted a life in New York City, but soon found herself pulled back to the family ranch. She left a prestigious career, went back to school and expanded the operation.
The second USDA Crop Progress Report of the year shows farmers are already ahead in planting the 2024 crop with six states pacing ahead of the five-year average.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that a human case of bird flu has been confirmed in Texas and identified in a person who had direct exposure to dairy cattle presumed to be infected with the disease.
As most of the U.S. is still prepping for spring planting, USDA’s weekly crop progress report shares Texas growers have already planted more than half their corn acres.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photographer Sam Craft was in the Texas Panhandle documenting the aftermath of the largest wildfire in Texas history, and the aid and support for fire victims.
After burning for more than six days, the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma was only 15% contained Sunday morning. Drifting sand now poses a threat to rural roads.
While the Smokehouse Creek Fire rapidly became the state’s largest in history, four other wildfires are burning in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle area. (Additional images contained in story.)
Devastating wildfires are burning in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle region and the Smokehouse Creek Fire has already become the second largest in Texas history, consuming at least three-quarters of a million acres.
After Texas renovated a highway, Richie DeVillier’s ranch experienced catastrophic flooding that destroyed his crops and killed his cattle. A seven-year legal battle ensued, which now heads to the Supreme Court.
West Texas is the largest cotton production area in the country, but after battling drought and heat, area farmers say the dryland crop is a failure, and the irrigated acres are only yielding half of normal.