Top Agriculture News

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock. The director of the National Economic Council said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that officials are moving away from the standard practice of destroying all the birds on a farm when an infection is detected. The culling of millions of chickens per month has caused egg prices to skyrocket. Some retailers are rationing sales. The official, Kevin Hassett, says the administration plans to announce further details this week.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has declared a state of emergency as a major winter storm approaches, expected to bring snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the state starting Wednesday. State agencies, power companies, and local authorities are gearing up for potential power outages and hazardous road conditions. “We are taking every precaution to ensure the safety of North Carolinians,” Stein said. He noted that additional power crews are arriving from other states to support Duke Energy, municipal power systems, and cooperatives already preparing for the storm.

As farmers look in the rearview mirror at the season just completed, they have concerns about the planting season up ahead. Zack Webb is a technical agronomist with Deltapine in North and South Carolina, and at farmers meetings he’s attended, he’s hearing a lot. “The biggest thing is, what are we going to plant to […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. Grain markets were closed on Monday during the day session for Presidents Day. The market opened back up 8pm on Monday night. The weekly reports will be delayed by a day this week due to the holiday.  […]

Fresh on the Menu People’s Choice Awards voting is open.  Here is Commissioner Weathers to tell us all about it!

An anticipated $1.2 million in specialty crop block grants is expected to come to North Carolina this year. The application period for nonprofits and government agencies is open now through 5 p.m. March 10. The goal of the grants is to grow the competitiveness of specialty crops in the marketplace. Interested groups can find a […]

Don Roose of U.S. Commodities took a recent trip to South America and saw firsthand what the crop conditions looked like. Given the size of South America’s growing area, there’s a variety of conditions ranging from too wet to very dry in parts of Brazil and Argentina. It’s a big country, from Brazil down to […]

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 13, 2025 — Brooke Rollins was sworn in as the 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas in a private ceremony Thursday at the Supreme Court building. The U.S. Senate confirmed Rollins by a vote of 72-to-28. “It is the honor of a lifetime to […]

The economists continue to paint a rather bleak picture for farm prices in 2025. Dr. Nick Piggott is a professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at NC State University, and he expects prices to be about the same or perhaps even lower than in 2024. “The situation is we just have a very large amount […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. My catch phrase for the month of February may be the roller coaster continues in the grain markets. The markets are trading South American weather and weather markets are notoriously volatile. On top of that you throw […]