Author: staff

By Cami Koons The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced Friday it had detected the H5N1 bird flu in a flock of commercial egg-laying chickens in Sioux County.  Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for the county on Thursday, because of the “highly contagious” disease that has the “potential to quickly destroy private property and exhaust local resources and capacities unless its spread is stopped.”  According to IDALS, this is the fourth detection in Iowa poultry this year. The previous case was detected June 20, though more recent cases of the flu have popped up in the…

By Ryan Hanrahan The Des Moines Register’s Kevin Baskins reported this past week that “the layoffs continue at John Deere as the agricultural and construction equipment giant announced another round Tuesday at its Waterloo Works, the company’s largest plant. The company plans to lay off 112 workers effective Jan. 5, according to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, website.” “The announcement is the sixth layoff by Deere in Waterloo, a focal point for tractor manufacturing, in 2024. It’s cut a total of 1,075 workers there as farm income projections for 2025 lag, depressing demand for new equipment,”…

My wife and I recently took in our local parade of lights followed later that evening by watching a televised broadcast of “Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” This means that it is now officially Christmastime. We had fortunate weather for the parade, with light winds and temperatures in the mid-30s. Just a few days earlier, the mercury had plummeted to the single digits with a howling wind that drove the windchill to well below zero. Better to be lucky than to be good. Scores of kids turned out to watch the parade from the curb, calling out to Santa as he…

Planter maintenance is one of the most important things you can do to set your crops up for success. Variations in ideal spacing and depth can cause a corn yield loss anywhere from 7-25 bushels an acre, according to an AGCO study. Spending time servicing your planter during the winter will pay off when conditions are right to head to the field. Follow these nine steps to make sure you don’t miss an important detail. Start With a Holistic Approach “I always tell operators to start at the hitch pin and work backwards,” says Brad Niensteadt, lead product specialist at…

A Cedar Park (Texas) Police Department arrest affidavit revealed details involving a 17-year-old Vista Ridge High School student who is accused of killing another student’s goat. According to several news reports, the incident occurred on Oct. 23 at the Vista Ridge FFA agricultural facility, about half a mile from the school. Both students were members of the FFA chapter.  According to arrest records, security footage captured a person approaching a goat’s pen at 9 a.m. carrying a spray bottle and a “syringe-like item.” The affidavit states the person restrained the goat and “forced the syringe item into the goat’s mouth.” The…

March corn ended the day up 1¾¢ at $4.41¾ per bushel. January soybeans closed down 3¾¢ at $9.90 per bushel. March wheat contracts closed higher today. CBOT wheat ended the day up 1½¢ at $5.58¾ per bushel. KC wheat was up 5¢ for the day at $5.58¾ per bushel. Minneapolis wheat was up 6¾¢ for the day at $6.03¼ per bushel. “The grain market took different approaches today as corn and wheat did everything they could to stay positive while soybeans sunk slightly lower on the day,” said Aaron Huebner, commodity broker with CHS Hedging. “With a USDA WASDE [World…

After months of uncertainty, an Arizona rancher who discovered 22 dead cattle on his property earlier this year may finally have answers. On November 20, 2024, the Navajo County Major Crimes Apprehension Team arrested 38-year-old Joseph Daniel Gibbons of Snowflake on charges related to crimes against livestock. The case began on August 22, 2024, when the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office received a report of five deceased cattle found in a pasture off Hay Hollow Road in Snowflake. According to the reporting party, the cattle had gunshot wounds. The owner of the cattle immediately notified the Arizona Department of Agriculture —…

Top Third Ag Marketing helps farmers become better agricultural marketers with the goal of marketing crops and livestock in the top third of prices. Mark Gold and his team provide AGDAILY.com with the latest information and a look ahead in their audio commentary. Listen here! https://www.agdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/top-third-agdaily-2024-12-09.mp3 The post Markets in Minutes: Top Third looks ahead for week of Dec. 9, 2024 appeared first on AGDAILY.

By January 1, owners of farms that are incorporated or formed as limited liability companies (LLCs) were going to have to report their beneficial ownership to the U.S. Department of Treasury or face stiff fines. As of last Tuesday, they’re off the hook — for now. On Dec. 3, a federal judge from the Eastern District of Texas (Sherman Division) issued a preliminary nationwide injunction, preventing Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its implementing regulations. The CTA authorizes FinCEN to require beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports in order to help catch crooks who…

In its largest one yet: The annual 4-H Toy Giveaway organized by Reed Marcum, a 19-year-old 4-H’er from Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, distributed more than 15,000 toys Saturday to children and families in need across Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. Marcum and his team of over 100 volunteers distributed toys, clothing, and other essentials to families in a line of vehicles stretching more than 3 miles near the Southeast Expo Center in McAlester. Marcum launched the annual toy giveaway through Oklahoma 4-H in 2016 — when he was just 11 years old — with a small walk-up event and 1,000 toys donated.…