Author: staff

DAILY Bites President Trump has imposed tariffs of 10% on all Chinese imports and 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada, with a lower 10% rate for Canadian energy imports. Canada, Mexico, and China have announced retaliatory measures, with Canada imposing 25% tariffs on $155 billion worth of U.S. goods and Mexico implementing protective trade policies. U.S. farmers and economists warn of significant economic fallout, including higher costs for consumers, potential inflation, and disruptions to agricultural exports. DAILY Discussion Over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced a sweeping set of tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, igniting a…

One of the first things my wife and I did when we moved into our farmhouse more than four decades ago was dig a well. Our house, which was built by my grandparents in the early 1960s, drew its water from a cistern. This was good and bad. It was good because the cistern was supplied by naturally soft rainwater from the house’s roof; it was bad because no rain meant no rainwater. And birds, who aren’t known for their fastidious bathroom habits, often roosted on the roof. We didn’t personally dig our well, of course. That would have involved…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made a major push to scrub content related to climate change from its public websites. According to internal emails obtained by ABC News, web managers were ordered by the agency’s Office of Communications to identify, archive, and unpublish materials mentioning climate change by the end of last week. The effort comes as reporters around the nation have identified at least 8,000 U.S. government web pages that have been removed since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. Unlike with this latest move related to climate change data, the bulk of the federal pages that…

By Daphne Psaledakis, David Lawder, and Bart H. Meijer WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS, Feb 3 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will pause new tariffs on Mexico for one month after Mexico agreed to reinforce its northern border with 10,000 National Guard members to stem the flow of illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl, he said on Monday on social media. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the agreement also includes a U.S. commitment to act to prevent trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico. The two leaders spoke by phone on Monday, just hours before U.S. tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada were set to take effect. The…

By Jon King Michigan officials are responding to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump over the weekend that a recent report said will disproportionately impact Michigan’s economy, whose automotive industry makes it “particularly vulnerable.” On Saturday, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, set to become effective Tuesday, initiating a full-blown trade war.  An analysis by Fitch Ratings, which looked at U.S. Census Bureau trade data, highlights which states have the highest level of economic exposure to a “broad-based trade war” which it determined would “likely be disruptive” to U.S. states’ economies.  Of…

1. Soybean, Grain Futures Higher in Overnight Trading Soybean and grain futures were higher in overnight trading amid adverse weather in Argentina and strong demand for U.S. agricultural products.  Central Argentina is expected to be dry for the next 10 days before potentially seeing some relief, Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.  Moisture deficits from a dry January remain in about half of the South American country, the forecaster said. Still, some precipitation is expected to expand in the 11–15-day outlook.  Dry weather is forecast for the U.S. southern Plains where hard red winter wheat is overwintering…

By Tim Carpenter  TOPEKA — A coalition of agriculture and energy companies requested the Kansas House approve a $5 million annual state tax credit to incentivize reluctant gas station operators to expand distribution of E15 fuel made with homegrown corn or sorghum. Consumers commonly purchase E10 — a fuel with 10% ethanol — for use in cars and trucks, but champions of the income tax break for alternative fuel retailers said it could lead to better prices paid to sorghum and corn farmers, benefit consumers by expanding availability of lower-cost, higher-blends of fuel and provide trickle-down economic gains across the…

By Joshua Haiar PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota House of Representatives advanced a bill 49–19 that would ban the use of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines, sending the legislation to the state Senate. Eminent domain refers to the power to take private property for public use, with just compensation to the owner determined by a court. Supporters of the bill attended the House debate Monday at the Capitol and cheered when the vote was displayed. House Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, R-Canton, proposed the legislation and said it does not stop carbon pipelines from being built in the state. “They just don’t get…

By Peter Hall State and federal agriculture officials are working to prevent the spread of highly contagious bird flu from a Lehigh County poultry farm where the virus has been found in a commercial chicken flock for the first time in nearly a year. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has been on alert for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) infections since an outbreak across the United States in 2022. The infections in a 50,000 bird egg-laying flock in eastern Pennsylvania are the first in a commercial chicken flock since February 2024, the department announced Monday. The virus was more recently…

Rarely does an advance come along that has such an impact that it changes agriculture, let alone sets a standard for future tractor design. Such was the case with Irishman Harry Ferguson’s Type A tractor. Not that the Type A was an exceptional leap forward in tractor technology by itself, although it certainly was a solid machine. Rather, it was the device at work on the back of the tractor — a hydraulically powered three-point hitch — that made history. When the Type A and its hitch system were introduced in 1936, all of tractordom took notice. The chief admirer…