Top Agriculture News

The massive $1.5 trillion Farm Bill would set policy and funding levels for key food agriculture and conservation programs for the next five years, but it remains stalled in Congress, now working on a one year extension from the 2018 Farm Bill. North Carolina Republican Senator Ted Budd tells SFN the bill contains a lot […]

Reasonably good news for most crop growing areas regarding drought coverage over the past month. That’s according to USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey, and that is despite an increase in overall drought coverage on July, 2, after a four year low was reached in mid-June, Rippey starts with 7% of the US corn crop drought, 9% […]

Between heavy rains and hurricanes, there are some potential logistics challenges out there that could hamper fertilizer shipments down the road. For now, though, Josh Linville, vice president of fertilizer at StoneX, says things are okay and just need to be monitored. In terms of any impacts from Hurricane Beryl on U.S. Gulf shipments of […]

Grain prices have fallen to their lowest level since COVID-19. A Bloomberg report extended this year’s losses to 17 percent, with grains trading at the lowest point since 2020. It’s a sharp reversal from the post-COVID rally that sent grain prices more than doubling through 2022. University of Illinois Ag Economist Scott Irwin said the […]

The latest USDA effort to provide support to dairy producers with herds impacted by the H5N1 virus involves an updated version of USDA Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP). “Designed now to provide assistance to dairy producers through incurring milk losses as a result of H5N1.” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack […]

Levels of drought we have not seen in more than a decade. There’s the headline for you. I’m Mike Davis talking with climatologist, Corey Davis, Assistant State Climatologist for North Carolina. Corey, I was taking a look at the Drought Monitor, and I’m seeing colors that do not look good to me, and especially don’t […]

 The honeybee population faces challenges like we all do, but the list appears to be manageable. Brandon Hopkins, a researcher at Washington State University’s Apiary Program, says they break the challenges down into what they call the “4 P’s.” “Poor nutrition, which involves a lot of really big issues around forage, nutrition, and the availability […]

RALEIGH – Although most of the state saw some rainfall in the past week, it was not enough to improve dry conditions, leading the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council (DMAC) to expand its severe and moderate drought classifications across the state, and introduce the extreme drought classification for part of one county in eastern North Carolina.  DMAC classified part of Columbus County as in extreme drought (D3 classification) in […]

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee is set to mark up a funding bill that could include some good news for farmers and ranchers. John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the bill, which dictates funding for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, includes […]

Quality management of a cow during the dry period is a critical component of any udder health program. Dr. Jennifer Roberts, a professional services veterinarian with Boehringer-Ingelheim, talks about the importance of keeping cows healthy during the dry period and into freshening. “The dry period is a time when cows can be especially susceptible to […]