Top Agriculture News

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 […]

Dry conditions continue across the Carolinas, and now it is starting to show up on the Drought Monitor. To get details, I am talking with Corey Davis from the state climate office of North Carolina. What are we seeing as far as maturation rates for some of these crops with these dry conditions? “Well, we’ve […]

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — North Carolina legislators returned to work Thursday to address further relief efforts following the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, but Senate president Phil Berger doesn’t expect any action on Governor Cooper’s $3.9 billion request for disaster relief. State lawmakers approved an initial $270 million relief package last month, but Berger said he expects lawmakers will approve additional funding for Helene recovery efforts. However, he cautioned against rushing to spend all the state’s reserves so soon. Berger criticized Gov. Cooper’s administration for failing to get aid to Hurricane Matthew and Florence victims, including some people who lost their homes in 2016.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina officials say the catastrophic flooding and destruction from Hurricane Helene likely caused at least $53 billion in damages and recovery needs in the state. Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration generated the preliminary figure in a report released Wednesday that also includes Cooper’s request to the General Assembly for $3.9 billion. The request was disclosed the day before the legislature planned to meet for a one-day session to advance additional Helene recovery legislation. Cooper says the previous record for storm damage in North Carolina was $17 billion after Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Soybean planting is off to a slow start in parts of South America, and that could impact multiple crops. Dr. Michael Cordonnier, the president of Soybean and Corn Advisor, says the central part of Brazil is low on moisture right now. “It was an extended dry season, and they’re finally now getting some rain in […]

The farmland market appears to be slowing as the calendar gets closer to the end of 2024. Tim Cobb of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers says things had been steady for most of the year. “We’ve seen steady – at least at the beginning of the year – to a bit […]

HOT SPRINGS, N.C. (AP) — Elections officials, poll workers and voters in western North Carolina have been adapting in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s destruction. The storm destroyed roads, bridges and homes, and left communities without power and water. Despite the widespread destruction, election workers have rallied to set up polling sites and help voters cast ballots during the early voting period in the crucial presidential battleground. Turnout during last week’s first day of early in-person voting set a record, and more than 1.3 million people have cast ballots since then. Many election workers and voters in a hard-hit Democratic-leaning county and others in a Republican-leaning one expressed a gritty determination to make sure voters’ voices are heard.

Over half of the 70 ag economists surveyed in Farm Journal’s Monthly Survey of Ag Economists believe the U.S. agriculture economy is in a recession. Seventy-five percent of the other economists believe the ag economy is on the brink of a recession, up from the 56 percent who responded that way in the previous month’s […]