Winter wheat condition improves as harvest nears
Half of the U.S. winter wheat crop was in good or excellent condition at the start of the week, a vast improvement from the drought-scarred 2023 crop, said the USDA’s Crop Progress report on Monday. The USDA will make its first forecast of the harvest on Friday. Winter wheat usually accounts for three-quarters of all U.S. wheat production.
Trash talking the farm bill and lining up votes
House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson, who frequently injects red-meat messaging into his public comments, says he expects the Senate to pick up the pace in writing a farm bill. He has set a date, May 23, for a committee vote on his package, though there is no Senate mark-up session in sight.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
From bog to wetland: Faced with declining prices and rising competition, some cranberry farmers in Massachusetts are retiring their bogs and restoring them to wetlands with an assist from federal, state, and local conservation programs. (Ambrook)
New dicamba proposal: Under a proposed label for dicamba weed killer submitted to the EPA, Bayer would end the post-emergence spraying of soybeans, also known as over-the-top application, and halve the annual maximum application on cotton and soybeans. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Pulitzer for child labor exposé: The Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting was awarded to Hannah Dreier of the New York Times for her 2023 reporting on migrant child labor in U.S. industries, including agriculture, and the government blunders that let it persist. (New York Times)
Climate change overheats hives: Bumblebees are known for their ability to regulate the temperature in their hives by beating their wings to push cooler air through the hive during hot weather, but rising average temperatures put the bees in peril, say researchers. (Guardian)
