Record U.S. corn and soybean crops are possible this year U.S. farmers will plant enough land to corn and soybeans this spring to put record harvests within reach with normal weather and “trend-type” yields, said an S&P Global update. It was the second report this week to suggest that despite… Continue reading

House conservatives oppose higher subsidies in new farm bill Half a dozen House Republicans pushed back on Wednesday against a drive by farm groups for higher reference prices in the new farm bill, while analysts said that an expansion of federally subsidized crop insurance could cost nearly $600 million a… Continue reading

Budget is roadblock for farm bill Agricultural leaders in the House and Senate are negotiating quietly over elements for the new farm bill, already four months overdue, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group on Tuesday. “We feel they are putting pen to paper now,” said Zippy Duvall… Continue reading

Biofuels and climate markets could stem loss of farms The decades-long decline in the number of U.S. farms can be stanched by adopting climate-smart farming practices and crops, increasing biofuel production, and expanding local and regional marketing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the largest U.S. farm group on Monday. There… Continue reading

Biggest problem facing agriculture is lack of labor Congress must reform the guestworker program to ensure there are enough workers on the farm to produce America’s food, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group on Sunday. “It’s the biggest limiting factor that American agriculture has,” said president Zippy… Continue reading

Stabenow open to reference price proposals, a farm bill obstacle In a bid to break the farm bill deadlock, Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow said that she was “open to proposals” to increase so-called effective reference prices for all crops in the U.S. farm program but would not accept… Continue reading

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