Top Agriculture News

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Autonomous tech is coming to farming. From self-driving tractors to fruit-picking robots, a growing number of technology companies are bringing automation to agriculture. Advocates of the technology say it will ease the sector’s labor shortage, help farmers manage rising costs, and provide workers with respite from extreme weather — issues that are closely related to climate change. But despite a hot automation market, many small farmers and producers across the country aren’t sold on whether a slate of often-costly technologies could shape the future of farming.

South Carolina has been identified as a top-five most dangerous state for rural motoring. Wyoming tops the list with a worrying 19.76 rural crash fatalities per 100,000 residents. This rate starkly contrasts with Massachusetts, which recorded the safest rate at just 0.43 fatalities per 100,000. These results are from a recent study conducted by Lucky […]

Commissioner, I understand you went to Sunbelt Ag Expo recently for the Southeastern Farmer of the Year Awards in support of a South Carolina farm family. Yes, Mike. Every October we head to Moultrie, Georgia, for Sunbelt and for the Farmer of the Year awards.   South Carolina was runner-up this year. Faylene Whitaker of […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. Friday’s trade has fit the pattern of the last few weeks where we saw a lot of pre-hedge pressure come into the market before the weekend. Harvest continues on a blistering pace. On Monday, USDA reported corn […]

North Carolina Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler joining me now, and the North Carolina State Fair just in the rearview mirror, and oh so close to a million people through the turnstiles. “The final tally was 998,926, so we were that close. But a million is a number to shoot at. We gave the success of […]

The Worker and Farmer Labor Association, along with several agricultural groups, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Labor to protect farmers from recently issued H-2A regulations. WAFLA CEO Enrique Gastelum says this suit follows a recent ruling in Georgia that found in favor of agriculture in 17 states. “While my group that I’m, […]

The farmers impacted by Hurricane Helene continue to display their resiliency, and some of them made it to the North Carolina State Fair last week. Trey Enloe of Bright Branch Farms in Hendersonville was one of them after suffering significant losses to his apple crop. “We had about 50% of our crop already picked. So […]

Canada exports more than 70 percent of its live hogs, and Ontario is Canada’s largest producer of market-weight hogs, with the majority transported to the U.S. for processing. In late 2023, Olymel, one of Quebec’s largest processing facilities was closed. This has only put more pressure on an existing Ontario processing shortage. According to industry […]

COLUMBIA – In August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $603,000 in funding awarded to South Carolina through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Through this program, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture funds projects that strengthen South Carolina’s specialty crop industry through marketing, education, and research. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. Monsoon season in Brazil has now started in earnest with virtually all the major growing regions receiving another 2 to 3 inches of rain this week. Everyone down there is planting as fast as they can to […]