News & Events

White House threatens to veto House version of farm bill

Published Jun. 18, 2013

The White House is threatening to veto the House version of a five-year farm bill, saying that its proposed cuts to the food stamp program will leave some Americans hungry.

Wells Fargo picks Charlotte to plant agriculture hub

Published Jun. 7, 2013

Some of the satellite sites serving the hub could be in Florida, New York, Ohio or Pennsylvania, the bank said, although nothing official has been announced.

Weekly Cornbelt Crop Update

Published Jun. 7, 2013

The northwest Ohio and southern Michigan regions have had one of their best springs in quite a while. The crop continues to thrive, and they are “okay” for moisture today. They certainly won’t turn down a rain, but it is really hard to find a complaint with this crop. The only possible risk is that the majority of their corn crop all went in within a 5 day window.

Vilsack: Agriculture must adapt to climate change

Published Jun. 6, 2013

But he called the threat of a changing climate “much different than anything we’ve ever tackled” and warned that without more drastic changes, the accelerating pace and intensity of global warming during the next few decades might soon begin to significantly affect agriculture.

USDA Trade Mission Aims to Create Opportunities for U.S. Agriculture in Turkey

Published Jun. 7, 2013

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse is leading a mission to promote U.S. agricultural exports to Turkey, this week. Representatives from Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania, as well as 20 U.S. companies are participating.

USDA says they can’t locate any more genetically engineered wheat in Oregon

Published Jun. 18, 2013

In April, an Oregon farmer discovered and reported a small number of volunteer wheat plants that were glyphosate-resistant

UN food, agriculture chief urges ‘nothing less than the eradication of hunger

Published Jun. 5, 2013

In a message marking the launch of The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that although the world has registered some progress on hunger, one form of malnutrition, there was still “a long way” to go.

U.S. wheat output dropped

Published Jun. 6, 2013

Informa pegged U.S. production of hard red winter wheat at 778 million bushels, 2.5% below the firm's May estimate, but 9.6 million above the U.S. Department of Agriculture's May forecast. Hard red winter wheat yields are forecast to average 36.9 bushels per acre, 3.8 bushels per acre below last year.

Top two at Eastern Livestock Co. sentenced to federal prison

Published Jun. 18, 2013

Founder and former owner, Thomas P. Gibson, 73, of Lanesville, Ind., was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and former Chief Operating Officer Michael Steven McDonald, 61, of Lanesville, Ind., was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

The Farm Worker Shortage

Published Jun. 7, 2013

In 2010, farmers reported more than $320 million in losses because they didn't get the workers they needed. Illegal workers fill most of the gap, but increasingly the bigger companies are moving production to Latin America.