Top Agriculture News

We are officially three weeks out from the Certified SC Showcase, and Commissioner Hugh Weathers is here to talk to us about the event.

Work for the 2025 growing season is getting underway at North Carolina’s 18 Research Stations. Some stations have taken inventory of new technology and equipment, including a new livestock feeding and watering system that will help researchers track the growth of cattle and small ruminants.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Lighter winds in South Carolina and North Carolina are helping firefighters battle blazes that caused evacuations and threatened hundreds of homes over the weekend. Firefighters kept a large blaze near Myrtle Beach from destroying any homes despite social media videos of orange skies at night and flames engulfing pine trees just yards away. The danger wasn’t over Monday. South Carolina officials banned almost all outdoor fires, including burning yard debris and campfires. In western North Carolina, firefighters were setting blazes to burn fuel and contain a wildfire in Polk County.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will start Tuesday, sparking renewed fears of a North American trade war. He announced the coming tariffs at the White House on Monday. He says the tariffs are to force the two U.S. neighbors to step up their fight against fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. Trump provided a one-month delay in February as both countries promised concessions. But Trump said Monday that there was “no room left for Mexico or for Canada” to avoid the steep new tariffs. U.S. stock markets moved sharply lower after Trump’s comments. Trump said he would also add on another 10% tariff on goods from China, on top of the initial 10% he put in place last month.

Renting land to wind energy developers is becoming a trend in farm country. However, many questions arise when it comes to the specifics of lease payments and the long-term benefits. Spencer Smith is the Government Relations Committee Chair with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. He says there are a lot of […]

SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — U.S. National Guard Capt. Jill Holtz spends much of her free time in Swannanoa, North Carolina, searching for items lost from Hurricane Helene’s severe flooding a few months ago. She hopes to reunite storm victims with their cherished possessions after they lost hope that they’d ever find them again. Holtz finds a variety of items such as photos, family heirlooms and antiques. She keeps them in her trailer and posts her finds to Facebook in hopes that the items’ owners will see. Holtz says hurricane debris isn’t “just trash” and is instead people’s “hearts, their homes, the generations of history.”

Potatoes USA continues to work on marketing programs for potatoes to educate consumers about the benefits and versatility they provide. Chief Marketing Officer Kim Brashears says 2024 was a good year for potatoes, and she’s looking forward to what this year will bring. “2025 looks good. We have a lot of great programs that we […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. We got USDA’s Ag Outlook Forum numbers Thursday morning. I would call them mildly bearish for corn and wheat and mildly bullish for beans. They are not dramatically bigger or smaller than expected. However, these are just […]

An indicator of farm financial health across the country, Chapter 12 bankruptcy provides farmers and ranchers with increased flexibility for paying off debt, and is used when all other options have been exhausted. AFBF Market Intel reports have long followed annual filings of Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies, through good and bad years for the farm economy. Unfortunately, as we […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration believes a renewed emphasis on biosecurity can help in the battle against bird flu and ease egg prices, but the Agriculture Department predicts the current record prices are going to get much worse this year. It’s also not clear how much more farmers can do to keep the virus out. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins offered the first new details about her bird flu plan Wednesday. But USDA predicted this week that egg prices will soar more than 41 percent this year on top of the record average price of $4.95 per dozen.