Author: staff

Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are helping uncover new information about the Y chromosome in horses, which will help owners identify optimal lineages for breeding and help conservationists preserve breed diversity. “Because of its complex structure, the Y chromosome is much harder to sequence, making our knowledge of it far from complete,” said Dr. Gus Cothran, a professor emeritus in the VMBS’ Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. “In fact, scientists used to believe that the Y chromosome lacked genetic variety, which we believed meant that it didn’t contribute much to species diversity.” However,…

As of Nov. 17, eight of the country’s top 18 winter-wheat-growing states had planted 100% of the season’s crop, according to the USDA Crop Progress report released Monday. Here are those states, along with emergence progress and the condition of the crop for each. Washington Washington’s winter wheat planting has been done the longest of the top 18 growing states. Farmers in the state actually finished planting the crop the week ending Oct. 27, ahead of the five-year average (96%).  The state’s winter wheat crop has now completely emerged, too. As of the week ending Nov. 17, 100% of Washington’s…

This editorial was written by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and distributed to media. Living in Stephenville — the dairy capital of Texas — I’ve got a front-row seat to the heartbeat of our state’s dairy industry. Here in Erath County, we take pride in our dairy heritage, so much so that we’ve got a statue of a dairy cow named “Moola” right on the courthouse square. Raw milk, with its accompanying risks, certainly isn’t for everyone, but the fact of the matter is that the consumption of raw milk is as storied a tradition as any in rural America.…

Three women in the agriculture communications and marketing space are creating a new nonprofit called the Association of Females in Agriculture Media with the intent of better supporting women in all realms of ag media. The group, shortened to A-FAM, officially launches Dec. 1. It will seek to provide networking, professional development, mentoring, and personal support for women in this space, including broadcast, print, digital, podcasting, sales, and industry relations. The three founding trustees are: Sabrina Halvorson: She is the National Correspondent for AgNet Media, the host of the daily ag radio talk show The AgNet News Hour, and farm…

The effort from some automakers — like BMW, Audi, Volvo, and Tesla — to remove AM radio from their vehicles has loomed like a dark cloud over rural America for much of the past year. AM broadcasts are vital sources of news and emergency information in isolated communities that struggle with reliable broadband connectivity and other media access. For many of these people, the national AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act — which would require all new passenger motor vehicles to have devices that can access AM broadcast stations installed as standard equipment — can’t come quickly enough. “For those…

By Ryan Hanrahan Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill and Olivia Beavers reported Tuesday that “House Republicans confirmed during their closed-door conference meeting Tuesday morning that GOP lawmakers are rejecting Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow’s last minute farm bill push and will instead plan to pass a one-year extension of the massive bill by Dec. 31.” “During the Tuesday meeting, House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) dismissed Stabenow’s newly unveiled farm bill text, calling it ‘legacy protection,’ according to two GOP lawmakers and another person familiar with the meeting who were granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting,” Lee Hill and Beavers…

By Cami Koons Summit Carbon Solutions’ pipeline route was approved Friday morning in North Dakota, bringing the company one step closer to meeting conditions set by the Iowa Utilities Commission to begin construction.  The carbon pipeline would stretch across five states with over 2,000 miles of pipeline, to transport carbon dioxide from nearly 60 ethanol refineries to underground storage. The Iowa Utilities Commission approved Summit’s permit in June for over 600 miles of pipeline in the state, and granted the company eminent domain. The commission stipulated the company must secure permits in both North Dakota and South Dakota before it…

1. Soybean Futures Fall in Overnight Trading Soybean futures were lower in overnight trading on forecasts for favorable weather in parts of Brazil and on concerns about demand for U.S. products moving forward.  Rain was expected over the weekend in some growing areas of Brazil and improvements to dry regions are forecast for this week, according to weather reports.  Brazil is expected to produce a record 169 million metric tons of soybeans in the 2024/2025 marketing year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  If realized, that would be up from the 153 million tons produced a year earlier and…

Harvest season is wrapping up across the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Crop Progress report — and wild weather swings were a big factor in yields and crop condition across much of the Corn Belt.  Agronomists and experts from three states — Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois — provided their feedback and lessons learned from a chaotic growing season. Almost Done With Harvest All three states are on the cusp of finishing their corn harvests, according to state-specific Crop Progress reports.  Iowa sits at 97% complete with corn harvesting, according to data from USDA’s National Agricultural…

The government would send $2 billion to financially beleaguered farmers almost immediately under a mammoth farm bill proposed by Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on Monday — months sooner than the Republican-written bill awaiting a House vote. With only a few weeks left in the congressional session, Republican senators said Stabenow acted too late to enact a new farm bill, already 13 months late. “I firmly believe it is the best and probably only path to pass a five-year farm bill this year,” said Stabenow in an appeal for bipartisan support of her 1,397-page bill. “It puts more farm in…