Ag Groups File Amicus Brief Supporting AEWR Interim Ruling
The Trump Administration's Adverse Effect Wage Rate interim ruling for H2-A workers is being challenged in court claiming the new calculations will harm foreign guest workers. A coalition of 25 ag groups, including the American Farm Bureau and the North Carolina Chamber, recently filed an amicus brief to the court in s...
NASCAR Names POET Official Bioethanol Partner
NASCAR is the first major U.S. motorsports series to utilize zero-carbon bioethanol, thanks to a new partnership with POET, the nation's largest biofuel producer. POET is now the Official Biofuel Partner of NASCAR. POET Founder and CEO Jeff Broin said the partnership with NASCAR is the right place to show off the new z...
Year-Round E15 Doubts Linger as Sunday Deadline for Deal Passes
Agreement on legislation to allow year-round E15 sales continued to elude farm and oil interests despite a Sunday deadline. A draft plan by the House GOP's Rural Domestic Energy Council failed to win support by the weekend from mid-sized oil refiners who killed year-round E15 in an earlier defense bill. Despite breaks ...
Still Waiting for Full-Scale Beef Herd Rebuilding
Despite high beef prices, the U.S. cattle herd remains at record low numbers. Nate Kauffman, the senior vice president and Omaha branch executive for the Kansas City Fed, said the numbers show there should be some rebuilding underway. "You might ask the question that, especially as you look at the chart on the rig...
Troxler: Farmland Preservation Funding Lags Amid Rapid North Carolina Growth
North Carolina is facing record growth, but state agriculture officials warn that expansion is coming at a cost: the steady loss of farmland and forestland. North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said the state's goal is not to stop development altogether, but to slow the pace at which agricultural land ...
Labor Costs are Still Putting Producers Out of Business
It's no secret that the cost of agricultural labor is a major expense for farmers, but it has exploded in recent years to a level that many cannot afford. Kate Tynan, Vice President of the Northwest Horticultural Council, says getting the crops picked is flat-out unaffordable for many producers. "We've done some r...
Brooks Schaffer Market Report for Tuesday, Feb. 17th
This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at brooks@palmettograin.com or 843-540-4540. Commodity markets were closed on Monday for the President's Day holiday. They opened back up at 8 p.m. Monday night for the night session and will trade a normal schedule for the rest of this wee...
Social Media Gives Farmers a Platform to Tell Their Story
So many of the problems facing farmers today come from a lack of understanding among the public about where their food comes from and what it takes to produce it. Speaking with growers at December's Washington State Tree Fruit Association's annual meeting, Washington Post Columnist Megan McCardle said it's not easy, bu...
Will D.C. Make Farmers A Priority In 2026?
This year is going to be a busy year in D.C., with a variety of issues impacting farm country. Val Dolcini (doll-SEE-nee), Head of Public Affairs at Syngenta North America, says tariffs are one of the top issues he'd like to see addressed in the coming months. He added that farmers can't afford to wait forever for thin...
Warm, Dry Winter Worsens Drought Across Carolinas
Well, after the last few weeks of dealing with rain, sleet, snow and wintry mixes - all the winter precipitation - this weekend, not so much. And this past week has been very calm in the temperature department. In fact, reaching as high as the 70s in several parts of the Carolinas. But is this here to stay? We got stat...