Top Agriculture News

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new steps to strengthen child nutrition through new school meal standards. Nutrition standards for school meals will gradually be updated to include less sugar and flexibility with menu planning between Fall 2025 and Fall 2027. He talks about the need for updated standards. “First of all, I think it’s important […]

Most of us can easily go to our local supermarket and find just about any fresh and healthful food that there is. But in this country today there are still places where people don’t have easy access to fresh healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables. However, there is a lot of work going on […]

Some compelling testimony a few days ago before the Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee. testimony from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “And I bring to the attention of the committee concerns that I have about the loss of farms and the loss of farmland.” Losses, Vilsack says, are huge. He told lawmakers that since 1980, “We’ve lost […]

I understand the governor is signing a bill today that will help farmers and all South Carolinians. Tell us about it, commissioner. Commissioner Weathers: Today Governor Henry McMaster is holding a ceremonial signing of the Working Agricultural Lands Preservation Act. This bill passed with bipartisan support. It passed the Senate unanimously. Farmland loss is a […]

At the beginning of the month the National Agricultural Statistics Service released the 2024 planting intentions for North Carolina with cotton, flue-cured tobacco and soybeans looking to pick up small increases in acreage. Corn, peanut and winter wheat plantings are projected down.

This is the Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. Row crop markets finished last week strong and saw follow through buying to start off this week as well. USDA releases the commitment of traders report every Friday and we saw a bit of a surprise last week […]

The Environmental Protection Agency is issuing an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 gasoline to be sold during the summer driving season. The agency said the move will provide communities with relief at the pump from ongoing market supply issues created by the ongoing Ukraine war and conflict in the Middle East by increasing the […]

Anheuser-Busch is the first company to display the new US Farmed certification seal on its products. The certification was announced in March by American Farmland Trust, led by acting president and CEO Dr. Beth Sauerhaft. “US Farmed is a certification and packaging seal program that any consumer packaged-good company, food or beverage company can use […]

The Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee held annual hearings last week regarding the president’s trade agenda. Dave Salmonsen, American Farm Bureau Federation Senior Government Affairs Director, says its an opportunity for the administration and Congress to collaborate. “This is a required report in which the administration lays out what their accomplishments […]

Every month, Dr. Glynn Tonsor, a livestock market economist with Kansas State University, releases a Meat Demand Monitor. Tonsor says the latest data from March shows some  good news. “The good news for the industry is retail demand – so think to go the grocery store for consumption at home – was up on five […]