Author: staff

The longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history officially ended when President Donald Trump signed legislation passed by Congress to fund the federal government and extend key farm programs. The Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026 was approved by the House in a 222-209 vote and signed late Wednesday evening. The measure provides full fiscal-year funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture and extends provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill through September 2026. The end of the 43-day shutdown restores critical services for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities that had been frozen…

Marking the end of the longest shutdown in U.S. history, President Trump on Wednesday signed a spending package to reopen the government. The president’s signature came days after the Senate’s vote and just hours after the House’s vote to end the shutdown. Agricultural groups and politicians have been responding to the developments all week, using the opportunity to advocate for farmers across the nation. From commending and applauding, to calling the developments “the bare minimum,” here’s what they’ve been saying.  Agricultural Groups American Farm Bureau Federation The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is the nation’s largest farmer-run organization and serves…

College students and recent graduates are encouraged to attend CattleCon 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee, Feb. 3 to 5, to help them prepare for careers in the cattle industry. Future agricultural leaders will have the opportunity to engage with potential employers during the new “Career Crawl” at the NCBA Trade Show on Feb. 5. Attendees can visit participating “Career Crawl” companies at the NCBA Trade Show that Thursday to explore internships, job openings and career opportunities while engaging in meaningful conversations with agriculture professionals. In addition, the first 250 FFA members and 250 4-H members to register will receive complimentary One-Day…

The People’s Choice Pup is a popular social media element of the Farm Dog of the Year competition. Check out the profiles of our three nominees and vote here. The People’s Choice Pup wins barking, er, bragging rights along with a $2,500 cash prize and a year’s supply of dog food from contest supporter Nestlé Purina PetCare. Cast your vote for your top pup by Nov 28. Images courtesy of American Farm Bureau Federation Bubbles, 5-year-old border collie, Montana Like many farmers, Bubbles, a 5-year-old Border Collie, does a little bit of everything year-round on her Montana farm. Her main…

By Todd Hubbs and Scott Irwin The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a trilogy of decisions for the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in recent months that represents some of the most significant regulatory developments for biomass-based diesel in the program’s history.  The combined effect of higher renewable volume obligations (RVOs), more restrictive small refinery exemptions, and mandatory reallocation creates substantially higher biomass-based diesel requirements for 2026/2027 (Farmdoc Daily, Oct. 25, 2025).  Consequently, D4 RIN generation will have to rise substantially in the future (Farmdoc Daily, Nov. 5, 2025).  This in turn raises the all-important question of the implications…

Ahead of 9:15 a.m. CT, December corn was up 3½¢ at $4.38¾ per bushel. January soybeans were up 13½¢ at $11.47¼ per bushel. March CBOT wheat was up 1¼¢ at $5.53¾ per bushel. March KC wheat was up 1½¢ at $5.43¼ per bushel. March Minneapolis wheat was up 2¢ at $5.86¼. With the government shutdown over, USDA has begun releasing data. This morning the agency released the weekly U.S. Export Sales report for the week that ended on Sept. 25. “USDA pegged net U.S. corn export sales for the week ended Sept. 25 at 55.8 million bushels, with net weekly…

In their competition for rural health care dollars from a new federal fund, states are seeking money to bolster emergency services, address chronic diseases, and recruit and train more doctors and nurses. All 50 states submitted their applications to the federal government last week to get shares of the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. Congress created the program in response to concern from rural health care providers — as well as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — about the effects of Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed this summer. A…

By Karl Plume and Julie Ingwersen CHICAGO, Nov. 13 (Reuters) – A crop data blackout during the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown has led to the widest range of analyst estimates in a decade for corn and soybean yields, as an information vacuum at harvest time and during critical trade negotiations distorted the market for the country’s two most valuable crops. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to release a hotly anticipated crop report including the government’s first estimates of the two feed crops since mid-September, before the harvest had taken shape. In the absence of last month’s world agriculture supply and demand estimates report, traders have…

Emerging technologies may make cattle management easier than ever. These systems may reduce the need for on-farm labor and provide greater insights into your herd.  A Scanner to Weigh Cattle ClicR Technologies, a Florida-based imaging company, has developed a scanning system it said can measure individual cattle weights with 98% or better accuracy — without scales!  ClicRweight Bovine Solution is a 3D camera mounted above a watering or feeding station. Every time an animal comes to drink or eat, the system identifies it and takes multiple scans. Then, a patented algorithm sorts the scans and calculates animal weights, said Joey Spicola,…

U.S. tractor and combine sales saw a steep year-over-year decline in October, even as farmer confidence edged higher on the strength of the livestock sector, according to the latest report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. The October AEM Ag Tractor and Combine Report showed that total farm tractor sales were down 19.6 percent compared to October 2024, with 17,258 units sold across all drive types. Two-wheel-drive models under 40 horsepower (typically the most active segment) dropped 22 percent, while large tractors over 100 horsepower fell 17.3 percent. Sales of four-wheel-drive tractors, often used in large-scale crop operations, plunged 56.3…