Republicans elect farm-state Sen. Thune for majority leader Republican John Thune of South Dakota prevailed over two rivals in closed-door voting on Wednesday and will become Senate majority leader in January. A supporter of biofuels, Thune, No. 2 in GOP leadership since 2019, will be the first majority leader from… Continue reading

As rural America turns gray, ‘older age’ counties triple Roughly one in five rural Americans is over the age of 65, and the number of “older age” counties, where at least 20 percent of residents have reached retirement age, has tripled since 2010, said a USDA report on Tuesday. Rural… Continue reading

Mexico displaces China as top market for U.S. food and ag exports U.S. food and ag sales to Mexico surged by 7 percent during the 2024 fiscal year, making the North American neighbor the No. 1 ag export customer, according to Census Bureau data tracked by the USDA. China, the… Continue reading

Breaking: Donald J. Trump (R) is the 47th President Elect of the United States of America defeating Kamala Harris (D) Farmer confidence rebounds, reaches highest level in a year High crop yields and a rapid fall harvest helped boost farmer confidence to its highest level since last November, just a… Continue reading

U.S. tally of bird flu infections in humans rises to 44 Three additional dairy farmworkers in California contracted bird flu, raising the state total to 20 cases and the U.S. tally to 44 people since March, said the Centers for Disease Control on Monday. “To date, person-to-person spread of H5… Continue reading

Turnover is certain on House Agriculture roster, elections will determine its scale One-fourth of the members of the House Agriculture Committee are in tight re-election races, according to political handicappers, a factor in the likely upheaval of the committee roster in 2025. Turnover is a fact of life on the… Continue reading

A post-election farm bill will require high-level dealmaking The lame-duck session of Congress offers a last chance to enact the new farm bill this year, but it would require compromise on a number of nettlesome policy disputes and an agreement among House and Senate leaders on how much to spend,… Continue reading

USDA announces $235 million in disaster relief Payments totaling $235 million are being issued this week to producers hit by natural disasters, including Hurricane Milton in Florida, said the Agriculture Department. The payments make up the bulk of $375 million in spending announced for various USDA programs on Wednesday. First… Continue reading

USDA launches program promoting organic dairy products Agriculture Undersecretary Jenny Moffitt announced a $15 million program to expand sales of organic dairy products to schools and youth programs on Monday. “Expanding access to a variety of organic dairy products in schools and community programs promotes healthy consumption habits and strengthens… Continue reading

Higher ag productivity may be cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions The least expensive way to attack greenhouse gas emissions on the farm may be larger investment in agricultural research and development, said University of California professor Aaron Smith in a blog on Tuesday. He cited a 2010 study that… Continue reading