Top Agriculture News

Washington, D.C., Mar. 3, 2025—The U.S. Forest Service is actively responding to multiple wildfires reported over the weekend in North Carolina and South Carolina following a Red Flag Warning issued across the region. Dry conditions and downed timber from past storms have elevated wildfire risk, and response teams are engaging in initial containment efforts at […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. The selloff in the grains started with a shift in the weather in South America a couple weeks ago. Areas that were too dry in Argentina started getting rain and the areas of Brazil that were too […]

We are officially three weeks out from the Certified SC Showcase, and Commissioner Hugh Weathers is here to talk to us about the event.

Work for the 2025 growing season is getting underway at North Carolina’s 18 Research Stations. Some stations have taken inventory of new technology and equipment, including a new livestock feeding and watering system that will help researchers track the growth of cattle and small ruminants.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Lighter winds in South Carolina and North Carolina are helping firefighters battle blazes that caused evacuations and threatened hundreds of homes over the weekend. Firefighters kept a large blaze near Myrtle Beach from destroying any homes despite social media videos of orange skies at night and flames engulfing pine trees just yards away. The danger wasn’t over Monday. South Carolina officials banned almost all outdoor fires, including burning yard debris and campfires. In western North Carolina, firefighters were setting blazes to burn fuel and contain a wildfire in Polk County.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will start Tuesday, sparking renewed fears of a North American trade war. He announced the coming tariffs at the White House on Monday. He says the tariffs are to force the two U.S. neighbors to step up their fight against fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. Trump provided a one-month delay in February as both countries promised concessions. But Trump said Monday that there was “no room left for Mexico or for Canada” to avoid the steep new tariffs. U.S. stock markets moved sharply lower after Trump’s comments. Trump said he would also add on another 10% tariff on goods from China, on top of the initial 10% he put in place last month.

Renting land to wind energy developers is becoming a trend in farm country. However, many questions arise when it comes to the specifics of lease payments and the long-term benefits. Spencer Smith is the Government Relations Committee Chair with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. He says there are a lot of […]

SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — U.S. National Guard Capt. Jill Holtz spends much of her free time in Swannanoa, North Carolina, searching for items lost from Hurricane Helene’s severe flooding a few months ago. She hopes to reunite storm victims with their cherished possessions after they lost hope that they’d ever find them again. Holtz finds a variety of items such as photos, family heirlooms and antiques. She keeps them in her trailer and posts her finds to Facebook in hopes that the items’ owners will see. Holtz says hurricane debris isn’t “just trash” and is instead people’s “hearts, their homes, the generations of history.”

Potatoes USA continues to work on marketing programs for potatoes to educate consumers about the benefits and versatility they provide. Chief Marketing Officer Kim Brashears says 2024 was a good year for potatoes, and she’s looking forward to what this year will bring. “2025 looks good. We have a lot of great programs that we […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. We got USDA’s Ag Outlook Forum numbers Thursday morning. I would call them mildly bearish for corn and wheat and mildly bullish for beans. They are not dramatically bigger or smaller than expected. However, these are just […]