Author: staff

One fourth of the $99 billion in disaster aid requested by President Biden would be funneled through the USDA, with the bulk of the $24 billion devoted to offsetting lost crop production and reduced quality of crops. Agriculture deputy secretary Xochitl Torres Small was to testify in support of the request before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. Passage of disaster assistance was a top priority for Congress following Hurricanes Helene and Milton this summer. The White House asked for $99 billion on Monday for a wide range of departments and agencies. “From rebuilding homes and reopening critical infrastructure, such…

By Joshua Haiar An Iowa company proposing a carbon dioxide pipeline said it resubmitted its permit application to South Dakota regulators Tuesday with what the company described as “major reroutes.” A new route map was not immediately available from the company or state officials. The move comes more than a year after the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission rejected Summit Carbon Solutions’ initial application. At that time, the commission cited the route’s non-compliance with county laws mandating minimum distances between pipelines and existing features. Summit’s latest South Dakota route includes 700 miles with connections to 14 ethanol plants in the…

What once felt like a futuristic science fiction novel is here: Fully autonomous functions are coming to the farm. Skilled labor to operate heavy machinery can be hard to come by, and weather events are creating tighter windows for planting and harvest. Autonomy may be a solution to alleviate these pain points, with the possibility of running machinery 24 hours a day until work is complete.  Fuel savings are another possible outcome from autonomy. During AGCO’s autonomous tillage testing, the company found upwards of 7% to 8% in fuel efficiency savings by taking engine load from 100% to around 85%. …

“One in five farmers could be pushed out of business by the sharp drop in farm income this year,” said Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith at a Senate hearing on disaster aid, and Arkansas Sen. John Boozman asked how rural America could survive the combination of high production costs and lower commodity prices without “significant help” from the government. “It’s really dire in farm country right now,” said Boozman, with crop producers suffering in particular, although livestock prices have been stronger than expected. Federal intervention is needed because bankers are becoming reluctant to loan money to growers for 2025 crops, said…

It’s commonly known in the cattle industry that bovine respiratory disease is the most costly illness affecting cattle in North America. Despite extensive research and treatment efforts over the years, it continues to lead to high rates of sickness and death among livestock, according to Samantha Howe, a post-doctoral fellow for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in the animal science department. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Howe said bovine respiratory disease is estimated to be responsible for about 70 to 80 percent of feedlot illnesses, and between 40 and…

If you’ve ever thought angel hair pasta was too hefty, University College London researchers have just raised (or lowered?) the bar with spaghetti 200 times thinner than human hair. Measuring a mind-boggling 372 nanometers, this “nanopasta” is officially the skinniest carb in existence. But before you start planning a microscopic dinner party, this spaghetti isn’t meant for eating. Instead, it’s poised to revolutionize medicine and industry, potentially healing wounds and regenerating bones faster than your nonna can say “mangia!” The project, led by master’s student Beatrice Britton, involved using a technique called electrospinning. The researchers used an electric charge to…

Scenario [email from L.S.]: I am the farming son. We have a nice farm, and I appreciate my parents, but our farm lacks leadership, especially from my parents. They never have expressed any farming goals for themselves, but they tell me they want to help me keep farming in the future. They don’t want to make anyone in the family mad, so they don’t like to make decisions. Because of their lack of leadership, I feel like I’m in a bad spot for continuing the farm in the future. Can you help me? Solution: You are in a tough spot,…

Anah Higbie of Quenemo, Kansas, is the winner of the 12th annual National Cattlemen’s Beef Association National Anthem Contest. Higbie will sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at CattleCon 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. “Cattle have been a defining part of who I am from a very early age,” said Higbie. “My heart is, and always will be, deeply passionate about the cattle industry.” Higbie’s family owns a commercial Simmental cow-calf operation in eastern Kansas. Besides thriving on the day-to-day operations of running cattle, she enjoys showing cattle and considers being an animal agriculture advocate one of the biggest passions of her…

A 176-acre century farm located in Waterloo, Illinois, sold at an auction on Oct. 29 for about $3.18 million, averaging $18,075 an acre. Waterloo is in the southwest part of the state and about a 30-minute drive from St. Louis. Brad and Brenda Chandler, the husband-and-wife team from Property Peddler Inc. who sold the acreage, describe Waterloo as a bedroom community and a desirable location for people who work in St. Louis to live and raise their families because of the lower cost of living and good schools.   The Chandlers say the final figure from the sale was not unexpected.…

Discussion about plans for the “largest deportation effort” in U.S. history had been part of the national landscape for months leading up to the presidential election. While such an endeavor is sure to have a broad impact on several areas of society, it’s not hard to see that agriculture would shoulder a significant weight if folks here in the U.S. illegally would be sent back to their home countries en masse. Many anticipate that President-elect Donald Trump will address deportations shortly after taking office in January. His national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has said, “A majority of Americans want mass…