Top Agriculture News

A post-COVID benefit reduction may have left more Americans hungry, a Pennsylvania panel says immigrants could boost workforce participation, struggling rural hospitals await help from Congress, and Americans traveling over Thanksgiving get gas price relief.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Senate Ag Committee Chair, is looking for more urgency from farm groups about getting a new farm bill in place. The Fence Post says Stabenow recalled farm bill negotiations dragging on during 2013 and says there was a “sense of urgency” in the agricultural community about getting it done. However, Stabenow […]

This month, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service raised the 2023-2024 national average soybean yield to 49.9 bushels an acre in its Crop Production Report. That’s up from 49.6 bushels an acre in the previous report. This revision has increased the 2023-2024 soybean production forecast by 25 million bushels to 4.13 billion bushels. Higher yields in […]

The question is when the new farm bill will finally be in place. Jim Wiesemeyer, a political analyst for Pro Farmer, talks about what’s going to happen with the new bill. “Later rather than sooner. That’s why I never put a year on a farm bill, and I’ve covered 11 of the 19 in our […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new “Transparency in Poultry Growing Contracts and Tournaments” rule is granting North Carolina farmers more bargaining power. The rule, introduced by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack under the Packers and Stockyards Act, aims to address the power imbalance in the poultry industry. Aaron Johnson, senior program manager with Rural Advancement Foundation International, […]

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in early November offered his opinion on the fate of a new farm bill this year. We’re not going to have a farm bill passed before December 31. And just this past weekend, chairs and ranking members of both Senate and House Agriculture committees announced a one year extension of the […]

When winter rolls around, bears hibernate, birds fly south, but what about the bees? Like every other creature on Earth, bees have their own unique ways of coping with the cold during the winter season. Tim Wilbanks is owner of Heritage Honeybee. He explains more about how beekeepers are working hard to take care of […]

We hear a lot about mycotoxins in grain during the fall, but how does it affect the pigs we feed? Dr. Chris Hostetler, director of animal science at the National Pork Board, says mycotoxins are a classification of mold growing on feedstuffs. “This time of year is harvest, so the new crop is coming in, […]

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Nov. 14, 2023) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University leaders, elected officials, faculty, staff and project team members picked up shovels and officially broke ground on the Urban and Community Food Complex, the latest expansion of the 492-acre University Farm. N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr., N.C. Sen. Gladys […]

Today we’re talking about some new duties that will be take over by the SC Department of Agriculture. I’ve been telling people we’re “The Food Agency,” and this is part of it. Starting July 1, 2024, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture will take on some important regulatory duties that are currently handled by the […]