Top Agriculture News

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific is seeking to buy Norfolk Southern in a $85 billion deal that would create the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S, and potentially trigger a final wave of rail mergers across the country. The proposed merger, announced Tuesday, would marry Union Pacific’s rail network in the West with Norfolk’s rails that snake across Eastern states. The nation was first linked by rail in 1869, when a golden railroad spike was driven in Utah to symbolize the connection of East and West Coasts. Yet no single entity has controlled that coast-to-coast passage that so many businesses rely on.

I understand you were up in Clemson last week for the South Carolina Commissioner’s School for Agriculture. Let’s hear about it.

Following a recent discovery of tropical spiderwort in Eastern North Carolina, farmers are being asked to be on the lookout for this aggressive and invasive weed.

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. The Administration said that August 1st is the final deadline for trade deals. They promise there will not be another extension of tariff relief. And they really mean it this time. Over the weekend Trump announced a […]

(Washington, D.C., July 28, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced additional U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) assistance to help producers in the Commonwealth of Virginia recover from Hurricane Helene. Secretary Rollins signed a block grant agreement with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) that provides recovery assistance for […]

Canadian Federal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is doubtful that a security and economic framework agreement can be reached in time to meet Donald Trump’s August 1st deadline. Late last month, President Trump sent letters to a list of nations, including Canada, telling them that if individual trade deals were not in place by the first of […]

It’s a challenging time for the potato industry as a whole right now. Jamey Higham, Executive Director of the Idaho Potato Commission, says the U.S. economy is incredibly tough right now. American consumers are faced with housing, car, utility, and phone payments, and for many, there’s more month than money, which impacts food choices. Higham […]

We have enjoyed growing the very colorful Crocosmia-“montbretia” or “Coppertips”- a summer-blooming flower that reminds me of a miniature gladiola. Crocosmia grows from corms which are sort of like bulbs that store nutrients. Crocus, Dalias, Anemones, and Gladiolus do too. We have had them in our landscape for decades. This flower grew abundantly in Sweet Melissa’s grandparents’ landscape in Pittsboro and she transplanted a few bulbs to our yard. The few are now many. Melissa’s paternal grandparents, Marvin and Myrtle Reeves were special people. Everyone who knew them said so. That makes our crop of Crocosmia extra special.

Well, if you’ve looked at your calendar, your watch, whatever, you probably realize today is July 25… that means it’s Christmas in July! I am talking with Corey “Santa” Davis today from the State Climate Office of North Carolina to see what is on everyone’s lists. Corey, Merry Christmas! How’s your season going so far? […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. One of the joys of being a grain market analyst is I either have more to say than I can fit in the allotted time or there is almost nothing to say. This week has been the […]