Texas
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.