The U.S. Department of Agriculture has banned the transportation of live hogs and pork from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland even though African Swine Fever (ASF) has not been detected in either of the territories. The move comes as part of USDA’s effort to shield the...

Work continues to reduce or eliminate trade barriers on U.S. ag products. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the European Union has allowed the U.S. more time to satisfy health certificates for livestock. “We were deeply concerned that might impact and affect about a billion and a half dollars of the...

John Deere production and maintenance workers gathered this week for what they called an "informational picket".

Hot August weather outside and hot ag equipment sales inside! Not a single down category for either year-to-date or comparing August 2020 to same month sales in 2021. For the month, sales for over 100 HP 2WD tractors were up 37.8% and 4WD tractors outpaced that by increasing 40.4%. Combine sales...

The decline in ag production loans issued at commercial banks helped loan balances drop by 5% in the second quarter compared to last year, according to a recent Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City report. Some banks saw loan balances drop more than 10% from 2020. The Chicago Fed recorded a 35-year...

USDA has again lowered its 2021 and 2022 milk production estimates because of expectations for lower cow numbers and milk per cow.

China's total arable land amounted to almost 1.28 million sq km (490,000 sq miles) by the end of 2019, down nearly 6% compared with a decade earlier, according to a once-in-a-decade survey of the country's land use published recently.

The United Sorghum Checkoff Program is celebrating a new USDA forecast that estimates farmers will plant 7.3 million acres of the grain this year, a 24% increase from last year.“We have long known that U.S. sorghum’s potential is tremendous, whether as a solution in crop rotations that adds value...

You already know about “supply chain” issues with new pickup trucks, construction materials, computer chips and even Christmas presents. Have you considered how that might affect the corn and soybean harvest schedule this fall? 

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are joining farmers and ranchers in calling for the preservation of stepped-up basis, a tax provision farmers and ranchers rely on to pass their operations down to future generations.

USDA’s Economic Research Service forecasts inflation-adjusted net cash farm income (NCFI) - gross cash income minus cash expenses - to increase by $19.8 billion (17.2%) from 2020 to $134.7 billion in 2021. U.S. net farm income (NFI) is forecast to increase by $15 billion (15.3%) from 2020 to $113...

Agricultural producers' sentiment improved slightly in August compared to July as the Purdue University Ag Economy Barometer rose four points to a reading of 138 vs.134 a month earlier. The modest rise in the barometer was primarily attributable to an improvement in the Index of Current Conditions,...

Three years passed between the first time Cody Skinner talked to the potential sellers of the Grundy County farmland to the day the auction was held. It was worth the wait. Iowa Land Company, where Skinner works, sold 75.7 acres of farmland at auction August 27 for a whopping $22,600 per acre – a...

From Louisiana to New Jersey and beyond, damage caused by Hurricane Ida and the heavy rains, flooding, and tornadoes it brought north will be in the billions.

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) welcomed the reintroduction of The Next Generation Fuels Act (HR5089), legislation to transition gasoline and vehicles to low-carbon, higher octane fuel to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and meet future needs of more advanced vehicles by taking...