DAILY Bites The Ag Economy Barometer fell sharply in January, dropping from 136 in December to 113, as both current conditions and future expectations weakened. Farm finances look more strained: one-half of producers said they’re worse off than a year ago, 30 percent expect worse performance ahead, and operating-loan needs…

A Hiroshima University-led project has secured a $1.8 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop a way to store bull semen using simple refrigeration instead of costly liquid nitrogen, a shift that could remove a major barrier to modern dairy cattle breeding that has long excluded farmers in low-resource…

Image by Arina P Habich, Shutterstock Sunday’s big game will be the main focus for millions of America’s families, but what they eat during the game will be a close second. The NFL championship represents the second-highest day of food consumption, behind only Thanksgiving. The event offers a snapshot of…

Image courtesy of Bureau of Land Management, Flickr On Monday, the Public Lands Council and the Bureau of Land Management signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments on BLM lands. The MOU will help public lands ranchers and local BLM officials cooperate to collect and…

DAILY Bites New guidance issued February 2, 2026, says farmers and equipment owners have the legal right to repair nonroad diesel equipment, helping cut costs and downtime. Federal clean air law allows temporary disabling of certain emissions controls for repair, as long as equipment is returned to proper working condition…

The U.S. cattle herd started 2026 a little smaller than a year ago, and the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers suggest any broad-based rebuild is still more talk than reality. As of Jan. 1, 2026, the United States had 86.2 million head of cattle and calves on farms and…