Author: staff

Eight migrant farmworkers were arrested this week at Pleasant Valley Farms in Berkshire, Vermont, in what advocates and officials describe as the largest immigration enforcement action against farmworkers in the state on record. According to news sources like the Burlington Free Press, agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection responded to a report made by an unnamed person who said they had seen two individuals with backpacks enter private fields of farms that bordered a wooded area along the U.S.-Canada border. One of the two individuals was apprehended at the scene, while the other managed to flee. The larger-scale…

Ranchers and farmers across the country are calling for simpler water rules following decades of uncertainty regarding the definition of what is a federally regulated waterway. On April 22, the American Farm Bureau Federation submitted formal comments to the Environmental Protection Agency urging it to revise the definition of “Waters of the United States” pursuant to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA in 2023. In that decision, the court overturned the EPA’s previous “significant nexus” test, deeming it too broad and vague. Instead, the Court upheld a narrower “relatively permanent” standard, which focuses on waterways with unbroken surface…

The window is open for planting in the Ohio Valley region, while more consistent rains will continue to develop in the southern Plains and western Corn Belt. Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist, said the break in precipitation will give “waterlogged” areas in the Ohio Valley a chance to continue drying out.  “The rain was generally good for the northern half of the Corn Belt, but the southern half of the Corn Belt could probably go the rest of the spring season without needing any more rain,” Ford said.  Ford said that at a station near Belleville, Illinois, the water table…

An in-depth comparison and analysis of the genomes of apple species is giving Penn State biologists better methods for identifying genes associated with desirable traits, like tastiness and resistance to disease and cold, that could help guide future apple breeding programs. The researchers set out to understand how apple genomes have evolved over the past nearly 60 million years, and their paper published in the journal Nature Genetics points to the structural variations they identified. “There are roughly 35 species in the genus Malus, but despite the importance of apple as a fruit crop, there hasn’t been extensive study of…

Kubota’s Hometown Proud community grant program will invest in communities across the country by awarding 10 grants in 2025. Each grant is valued at $50,000 (includes $25,000 cash and a $25,000 equipment voucher). Kubota will announce the 10 winning hometown projects on September 1, 2025. Nonprofit organizations with a community project are encouraged to enter; the application is easy: just fill out the form below and upload a short video! During the last four years, the Kubota Hometown Proud program has awarded $2 million in grants that have benefited communities across the country. Last year’s recipient projects included: infrastructure updates…

David Friedberg, the founder of The Climate Corporation and a lifelong vegetarian, is drawing ire from the agricultural advocates for his “charity” of choice going into tonight’s final round of Celebrity Jeopardy!: Humane World for Animals, the anti-livestock activist group formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States. The Center for the Environment and Welfare said it is pleading with the producers of the Jeopardy! series to more rigorously vet the nonprofits eligible to receive the $1 million grand prize money from the game show. While Charity Navigator shows that HWA currently has a high charitable rating, the…

What Happened Marketing decisions are often made with little certainty as to what lies ahead for price movement. In most years, if good crops are produced, it is likely prices will be lower by late summer or early fall, as bigger supplies are anticipated. Knowing when to sell (especially if making only a few sales) can be challenging and often requires acute attention to market signals. Even with that, the fewer sales one makes increases the potential for extreme results, good and bad. To avoid the potential imbalance of making a few large sales, make smaller and more frequent sales.…

“This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.” In 2010, United States lawmakers passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which aimed to tackle both childhood obesity and hunger by making school meals more nutritious. Two years later, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its guidance for schools participating in the National School Lunch Program, or NSLP, in accordance with the law. Whereas schools could previously serve fat-free, 1 percent, 2 percent, or whole milk and be eligible for federal reimbursement, now they could only recoup meal costs if they ditched 2 percent and whole…

Ahead of 9 a.m. CT, July corn was down 4¾¢ at $4.78½ per bushel. Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor at Total Farm Marketing, said a lack of new bullish news contributed to July corn falling below the $4.85 support level yesterday. She said the next level of support is $4.80 and then $4.75 is a significant support level. July soybeans were up 4¼¢ at $10.50¼ per bushel ahead of 9 a.m. CT. July wheat contracts were lower. CBOT wheat was down 4¢ at $5.46¼ per bushel. KC wheat was down 6¢ at $5.52¼. Minneapolis wheat was down 3¢ at $6.07¼.…

Ever imagined your toilet flush could fertilize a tomato? A new life cycle assessment from a research team in Barcelona makes a surprisingly strong case that our urine could someday replace a significant portion of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer in urban agricultural methods. In a world contending with fertilizer scarcity, resource-heavy production methods, and the environmental toll of fertilizer overapplication, the idea of pee-powered produce isn’t just ecological poetry, it might actually be a practical pathway forward. The global demand for nitrogen fertilizers is growing steadily, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and conventional production via…