Farm News

Celebrity chefs are much ado about the farm bill these days making the rounds on Capitol Hill, according to a recent story in The Washington Post. As a side note, we wish The Washington Post and other news outlets would…

In 2015 we endured our largest and most expensive animal health emergency in U.S. history when highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) swept across 15 states, causing the forced depopulation of 48 million chickens and turkeys and a $3.3 billion economic…

The National Agricultural Statistics Service Agricultural Chemical Use Program is the USDA’s official source of statistics about on-farm and post-harvest fertilizer and pesticide use and pest management practices.

STRAWN, Ill. — Terry Bachtold operates a 135-acre farm in Livingston County, Ill., growing corn and soybeans with a grass-fed cow-calf operation that features rotational grazing with about 20 paddocks.

Editor’s note: The following was written by Lee Schulz, Iowa State University Extension ag economist, for the university’s Ag Decision Maker May 2017 newsletter.

About a year ago, I was in the market for a new pickup truck. Since I had not purchased one in a few years, I was somewhat taken aback by the price on the window sticker. Nearly $58,000 for the…

Mark Mueller grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa for a nearby dairy on his family’s large row crop operation east of Waverly in Bremer County. Mueller is a strong proponent of cover crops and is participating in a 10-year study on…

MELBOURNE, Iowa — Tim Recker is giving a tour showcasing different types of conservation structures. Pointing at a bio-reactor, he makes a simple statement.

KALONA, Iowa — Returns from conservation practices may be hard to quantify, and management challenges difficult to overcome, but Southeast Iowa farmers Steve Berger and Francis Thicke see viable solutions to preserve Iowa’s topsoil and reduce nutrient loss.

Hog prices continued a four-month rally last week, thanks primarily to strong domestic and export markets.

Wet weather and currency shifts influenced grain markets over the past week, but it may be a few more weeks before acreage and yield guesses begin to form trade expectations for new crop production.

Massive cuts mark the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the USDA, drawing swift reaction from a number of agricultural organizations along with the reminder that much of what the president has proposed is unlikely to make it through Congress.

Soil moisture levels are adequate to surplus in most of the Corn Belt, but soils are a little drier in the northern Plains.

The nation’s corn crop is now 84 percent planted, up 13 percent from a week ago, according to this week’s USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Crop Progress Report released today (May 22). That is 1 percent behind the five-year average…

China will carry out a nationwide poll next month to test the public’s acceptance of genetically-modified food, a technology the government says would boost yields and sustainable agriculture in a country that’s seen consumption soar.

As profit margins get smaller, it’s even more critical for farmers to protect what they have. Throw in the unpredictability of the weather and farmers sometimes run out of options.