Top Agriculture News

Cotton growers are studying their options now as they anticipate the 2025 planting season. James Bookhart is a technical agronomist with Deltapine in North and South Carolina and suggests with the current price climate, one major consideration must be yield potential. “If you look at economic times, which is on a lot of people’s minds, […]

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s public inauguration ceremony scheduled for Saturday for new Gov. Josh Stein and other statewide elected officials has been canceled because of approaching winter weather. The state inaugural committee announced the decision Wednesday. It was supposed to be held on the grounds of the old Capitol building in Raleigh. Stein and Council of State members were to be sworn in publicly. A little snow with sleet and freezing rain is anticipated for Friday and Saturday. Stein and several Council of State members already have taken their official oaths in private or in small ceremonies. A block party for Saturday also was canceled but may be rescheduled.

As the calendar turned to 2025, plans were well underway for the new growing season. Ben Brown is an agricultural economist at the University of Missouri, and he’s predicting farmers will likely add to their corn acreage in 2025. “My expectation is I do think that the market’s going to incentivize additional corn acres, and […]

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina governments are receiving over $1.65 billion in federal block grant money to help address historic levels of damage caused by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Officials say the money is from Community Development Block Grant funds contained in a bill approved by Congress last month. Most of the grant money will go to North Carolina state government, with the remainder to the city of Asheville. Gov. Josh Stein and the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development held a public event Tuesday in Asheville to discuss the funds.

This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at [email protected] or 843-540-4540. Last week would have been a lot more constructive in the grain and oilseed markets if we had not had friday. We saw a washout in almost everything Friday and although we still managed to have some […]

Dozens of Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program (StRAP) projects are set to get underway in 2025 in the second round of StRAP funding. Projects will take place in 72 counties and 15 of the state’s 17 river basins. The program aims to reduce flooding by clearing streams of debris, downed trees and other materials that block […]

January and February months are what I call “Meeting Season.” Before farmers put seeds in the ground for the year, they head over to meetings that concern the industry. Here are a few important ones coming up. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn and network within your corner of the ag industry: Have a Happy […]

Demand continues growing for farm labor through the H-2A program. John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says that even though the increase in positions certified was small, it still demonstrates how important the program is. “We saw H-2A positions increase by two percent at 384,900 H-2A positions certified […]

The USDA’s H5N1 Monitoring Program set the lofty goal of eradicating the virus from U.S. dairy herds. Lucas Sjostrom of the government affairs team at Edge Dairy Cooperative says the average producer shouldn’t feel much impact from the program. “Unless, of course, their herd is positive, and they wouldn’t have found that before. That’s maybe […]

Romance scams are well known among many people under 50, but did you know they can hit seniors, even in rural areas? Michelle Reinen is the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture’s Administrator of the Division for Trade and Consumer Protection. She says regardless of age, romance scams can cost large amounts of hard-earned money. “This might […]