Top Agriculture News

The first U.S. Drought Monitor of December showed improvement from just two weeks prior and from mid-October, USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says. For the U.S. Drought Monitor for the period ending Dec. 2: “We are seeing about 41.4% of the country still in drought. We are seeing drought coverage down approximately five percentage points. We […]

Public hearings began on in Washington as part of the mandatory USMCA review process. More than 1,500 public comment-briefs have been submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Briefs were submitted by manufacturing, industrial, and retail sectors expressing their views of the existing pact.   There are calls for amendments to the existing […]

Farmer sentiment improved in November. The Purdue University/CME Group’s Ag Economy Barometer rose last month, and Purdue Professor Emeritus James Mintert went through some of the findings. “The Ag Economy Barometer Index rose ten points to a reading of 139, but that still leaves the index 19 points lower than it was in May, which […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. The soybean market has been stuck in a pattern of wash, rinse and repeat. The pattern has been that we get rumors of more sales to China and the market bounces, then we either see a few […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is giving farmers some $12 billion in aid to help as they struggle to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs. The move comes after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war. China has since agreed to buy more U.S. soybeans, but sales have so far been slow. Farmers have backed Trump politically but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny. Farmers will get the money by the end of February, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. Trump says his tariffs will help pay for the new program.

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is looking ahead after a challenging growing season for many. NCGA President Jed Bower was at the Illinois Corn Growers annual meeting in Bloomington to discuss the push for higher ethanol blends and what farmers need from Washington, D.C. Bower talked about the potential year-round use of E15. “Here […]

Overturning California’s Proposition 12 has been a top-of-mind issue for the National Pork Producers Council for some time. However, getting a finished Farm Bill approved is right there at the top of the list. Lori Stevermer, past president of the National Pork Producers Council, said it was a big topic of discussion during her year […]

The federal truck weight limit hasn’t been updated since the 1980s and remains capped at 80,000 pounds. Kelsey Kemp, the associate director of government relations for the National cattlemen’s Beef Association, said raising that limit could bring significant benefits for agriculture and transportation efficiency. “Our current Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill expires at the end of […]

So, waking up this morning and yesterday morning, I saw frost on the windshield, frost on the ground, and we are in the middle of a bitter cold spell here in the Carolinas. I got state assistant climatologist Corey Davis here. Corey, with this bitter cold that we are experiencing right now, what’s the chance […]

Kansas Congressman Tracy Mann says the long-running debate over “Waters of the United States” may finally be nearing an end. “WOTUS, or Waters of the U.S., has been a big issue throughout the Obama administration and then the Biden administration. There are those who take the Clean Water Act—everybody’s for clean water—but they look at […]