Top Agriculture News

The world population increased by more than 71 million people in 2024 and will be 8.09 billion people on New Year’s Day. Estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday show that the world population increased by almost 0.9% in 2024. That’s a slight slowdown from 2023, when it increased by 75 million people. In January 2025, 4.2 births and 2.0 deaths were expected worldwide every second, according to the estimates. The Census Bureau says the United States grew by 2.6 million people in 2024. The U.S. population will be 341 million people on New Year’s Day.

ATLANTA (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died. He was 100 years old and had spent more than a year in hospice care. The Georgia peanut farmer served one turbulent term in the White House before building a reputation as a global humanitarian and champion of democracy. He defeated President Gerald Ford in 1976 promising to restore trust in government but lost to Ronald Reagan four years later amid soaring inflation, gas station lines and the Iran hostage crisis. He and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, then formed The Carter Center, and he earned a Nobel Peace Prize while making himself the most active and internationally engaged of former presidents. The Carter Center said the former president died Sunday afternoon in Plains, Georgia.

As you take this big picture, look back at 2024, Corey, how would you define this? “Mike, you know, we can’t fully close the book on 2024 just yet. We’re still a few days away from the end of December, but we’ve got a pretty good idea about where 2024 will finish up. And maybe […]

Interest in the department’s social media accounts continue to grow as our Facebook followers grow to nearly 50,000 plus over 20,000 on Instagram. The department plans a new social media series beginning in January. Follow us to stay up on the latest ag news and information, plus fun features about the state’s No. 1 industry. […]

Christmas is tomorrow, and we are fortunate to have Commissioner Hugh Weathers here to talk with us about this season. Commissioner: It has been a trying year for many farmers. But this week, we spend some time with family and reflect on our blessings. The harvest season is over. Despite the storms, drought and economic […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is allocating more than $100 billion in emergency aid to address extensive damage caused by hurricane and other disasters. The money is in a bill passed early Saturday by Congress after this week’s scramble to find consensus on a government spending bill. The money is being provided after back-to-back hurricanes slammed into the Southeast. But the funding will go to much more than just Helene and Milton recovery. There’s also disaster assistance for farmers, money for damaged roads and highways and money for block grants administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Farmers in Georgia are still reeling more than two months after Hurricane Helene blew away cotton, destroyed ripened squash and cucumbers and uprooted pecan trees and timber. Agribusinesses in other Southern states saw costly damage as well. The University of Georgia estimates the September storm inflicted $5.5 billion in direct losses and indirect costs in Georgia alone. In rural Toombs County, Chris Hopkins just finished harvesting his ravaged cotton crop and figures he lost half of it, costing him about $430,000. Poultry grower Jeffrey Pridgen in Georgia’s Coffee County had four of his 12 chicken houses destroyed and others badly damaged. Farmers say more government disaster assistance is needed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has rushed through final passage of a bipartisan plan to fund federal operations and prevent a government shutdown. It now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to quickly sign it into law. The House passed the package late Friday in an overwhelming vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed into the night to finish early Saturday, just after the midnight deadline. The bill would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, but drops President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. He also said Trump is happy with the outcome.

Those rains we had a week or so ago really starting to kick in now on the soil moisture, and we see that on the Drought Monitor. Corey Davis is the Assistant State Climatologist for North Carolina. He joins me now, and at the time those rains were occurring, you had said that we really […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. First the good news. Exports this week were at the center of the range of expectations for everything reported after being very disappointing last week. So it does not look like they have come to a screeching […]