Month: January 2024

Rural Iowa was important but not decisive for Trump Former president Donald Trump won 60 percent of the rural vote in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, well above his statewide total of 51 percent. But his victory Monday in the first-in-the-nation test of voter support for presidential candidates was built on… Continue reading

Little mixing of crops and solar panels in agri-voltaics, so far The infant industry of agri-voltaics most often combines a large solar farm with pollinator-friendly vegetation rather than crop production, said USDA analysts. In the near term, the land might also be used for sheep pasturage or for high-value crops… Continue reading

Six-week government funding bill is proposed The Senate was scheduled to take a procedural vote on Tuesday afternoon to keep the government running until early March, a six-week extension of the stop-gap funding bill now in place. If Congress fails to act, funding for the USDA and four other federal… Continue reading

SIMSBURY, Conn. (AP) — A plot of land in Connecticut, once a thriving tobacco farm where Martin Luther King Jr. worked as a college student in the 1940s, will be protected for its historic and cultural significance to the state’s civil rights history. Last month’s finalized sale of the 288-acre… Continue reading

Ethanol stands out in nationalized campaigning in Iowa Republican presidential candidates pledged allegiance to corn ethanol ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses in a contest dominated by former president Donald Trump and his personality. There was little room for any farm policy debate in an effectively nationalized campaign. As food… Continue reading

As inflation falls, ‘backwards pressure’ on food prices Compared to food price inflation of 11 percent in 2022, grocery price increases will be virtually nonexistent this year, said a Wells Fargo analyst Wednesday during a panel discussion on the 2024 outlook for the food and ag sector. A Rabobank analyst… Continue reading

Lower commodity prices point to belt-tightening for corn and soy growers Corn and soybean growers will operate in “a much tighter margin environment” this year than in recent years because of lower market prices for the crops, said two University of Illinois agricultural economists on Tuesday. They cited fertilizer and… Continue reading

USDA has spent $1 billion fighting bird flu Since bird flu outbreaks began nearly two years ago, the USDA has spent slightly more than $1 billion to compensate farmers for lost flocks and to suppress the spread of the viral disease, said a spokesperson for the Animal and Plant Health… Continue reading

Agreement on spending limits may prevent USDA shutdown House and Senate leaders announced an agreement on Sunday to limit federal spending to $1.66 trillion this fiscal year, a step toward averting a partial government shutdown in 11 days. Stop-gap funding expires on Jan. 20 for the Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Veterans,… Continue reading

Nearly 80 million birds die in almost two years of bird flu One-fourth of U.S. losses to bird flu in outbreaks that began in early 2022 were recorded in the past three months, when the viral disease staged a resurgence, according to USDA data released on Thursday. Some 20.9 million… Continue reading