Top Agriculture News

Encouraging news on the shipping front for agriculture, as the feuding parties in the longshoremans’ dispute along the Gulf and East coasts are moving forward to ratify a new contract. Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, says the recent vote out of committee bodes well. “What’s called the Wage Scale Committee of […]

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has not been kind to college students and farming families for years, due to flaws in the program, farmers must label their machinery, land and small businesses as liquid assets, even though they’re not liquid enough to be converted into college funds. Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra […]

Brazil’s farmers have struggled with too much rain in the north and not enough in the south. Dr. Michael Cordonnier of Soybean and Corn Advisor, Inc., says the dry weather in Brazil stretches well into Argentina. “Oh yes, absolutely. You know, in Argentina, they did have some beneficial rains over about 40 percent of the […]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock. The director of the National Economic Council said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that officials are moving away from the standard practice of destroying all the birds on a farm when an infection is detected. The culling of millions of chickens per month has caused egg prices to skyrocket. Some retailers are rationing sales. The official, Kevin Hassett, says the administration plans to announce further details this week.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has declared a state of emergency as a major winter storm approaches, expected to bring snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the state starting Wednesday. State agencies, power companies, and local authorities are gearing up for potential power outages and hazardous road conditions. “We are taking every precaution to ensure the safety of North Carolinians,” Stein said. He noted that additional power crews are arriving from other states to support Duke Energy, municipal power systems, and cooperatives already preparing for the storm.

As farmers look in the rearview mirror at the season just completed, they have concerns about the planting season up ahead. Zack Webb is a technical agronomist with Deltapine in North and South Carolina, and at farmers meetings he’s attended, he’s hearing a lot. “The biggest thing is, what are we going to plant to […]

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. Grain markets were closed on Monday during the day session for Presidents Day. The market opened back up 8pm on Monday night. The weekly reports will be delayed by a day this week due to the holiday.  […]

Fresh on the Menu People’s Choice Awards voting is open.  Here is Commissioner Weathers to tell us all about it!

An anticipated $1.2 million in specialty crop block grants is expected to come to North Carolina this year. The application period for nonprofits and government agencies is open now through 5 p.m. March 10. The goal of the grants is to grow the competitiveness of specialty crops in the marketplace. Interested groups can find a […]

Don Roose of U.S. Commodities took a recent trip to South America and saw firsthand what the crop conditions looked like. Given the size of South America’s growing area, there’s a variety of conditions ranging from too wet to very dry in parts of Brazil and Argentina. It’s a big country, from Brazil down to […]