Author: staff

By Cami Koons A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected in a commercial pullet flock in Buena Vista County Friday, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. This is the sixth detection of the H5N1 bird flu in Iowa this year, and the second 2025 detection in Buena Vista County. The previous detection in the county occurred in a commercial turkey flock and impacted more than 26,000 birds.  The current HPAI outbreak has been an ongoing problem for wild and domestic birds since 2022, though it has also spread to dairy cattle and more than 70 humans who…

By Gabriel Araujo SAO PAULO, March 14 (Reuters) – Brazil’s 2024/25 soybean crop is expected to reach 172.45 million metric tons, agribusiness consultancy Safras & Mercado said on Friday, lowering its forecast from a previous 174.88 million tons. The revised crop outlook remains above the 167.37 million tons forecast by state agricultural agency Conab in data released on Thursday. “The Brazilian crop continues to have great potential and is progressing well in the fields,” Safras analyst Rafael Silveira said in a note. “This scenario reinforces expectations for a large supply of soybeans in Brazil in 2025.” Safras said the downward revision was largely due…

By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, March 14 (Reuters) – Canada has resumed imports from the biggest U.S. pork-processing plant, a Smithfield Foods SFD.O facility in Tar Heel, North Carolina, after suspending shipments for about a week, the company said on Friday. The halt temporarily limited a market for American pork products at a time when U.S. farmers fear that agricultural exports will suffer from tit-for-tat tariff disputes with major buyers including Mexico, Canada and China. Smithfield CEO Shane Smith said this week that the facility’s suspension centered around a problem with offal products at the border and was unrelated to tariffs. Shares rose slightly on Friday. “Canada…

Susan Watkins joined Successful Farming at Commodity Classic to talk about transitioning the family farm to the eighth generation, implementing sustainable practices to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and working with the United Soybean Board to promote American soybeans. Listen to the Podcast Subscribe to 15 Minutes With a Farmer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please rate and review us! Meet Susan Watkins Watkins farms around 3,500 acres, growing soybeans, corn, and wheat in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. The farm is located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which means conservation practices like no-till planting and the…

Ahead of the North Carolina Association of Family and Consumer Science (NCAFCS) annual conference in February, I joined 22 teachers for a tour of Lewis Nursery and Farms in southeastern North Carolina to learn how strawberries are grown and marketed. Teachers attending the tour teach classes in food and nutrition, food science and technology, and culinary arts and hospitality.  Each of these classes has standards of learning that relate to agriculture.   The farmer gave teachers a historical overview of this third-generation farm. He described how strawberries are conventionally grown in the state on black plastic mulch, which was a new…

By Cami Koons Iowa senators advanced a bill Monday to provide farms 40 acres or larger with state protection against surveillance by drones.  Lawmakers approved a law in 2024 to prohibit remote-piloted aircraft from flying over animal feeding operations and homesteads and create misdemeanor penalties for those who operate a drone over these areas.  Senate File 491, would alter the law from protecting only “secured farmstead” — defined as an animal feeding operation and up to 400 feet surrounding it — to a “farmstead,” which is at least 40 contiguous acres used for farming or pasture and generates at least $15,000 in…

By Joshua Haiar Some ethanol leaders think it’s ironic that Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden brought his “Open for Opportunity” tour to an ethanol plant this week, after he signed a bill that negatively impacted a proposed multi-billion-dollar project for the industry. “The whole industry is very disappointed with how things went in South Dakota,” Walt Wendland, president of the Ringneck Energy ethanol plant in Onida, told South Dakota Searchlight. Rhoden visited the plant Tuesday, after launching his tour highlighting economic development on Monday in Sioux Falls. Wendland wants to connect the Onida plant to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed $9 billion, five-state pipeline that would capture carbon…

It doesn’t take long to realize just how much agriculture means to Phil Krieg. It’s not only his nearly five-decade stint in the ag industry that makes it clear. It’s evident in the way he cares about growers, in his goal to wrap up his career in the place he started it, and in his list of extracurricular activities. Krieg is an agronomic service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection, covering three sales districts in southern Illinois and one in southwestern Indiana. He’s also a contributing agronomist for Successful Farming’s coverage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Progress report. As…

USDA released its latest Milk Production report Friday, detailing the nation’s milk production for the month of February. Here’s a snapshot of what the agency reported for the major milk-producing states. February Milk Production According to USDA, total milk production across the 24 major states during February reached about 17.0 billion pounds, down 2.6% year-over-year. The 24 major states together contribute over 95% of U.S. cow’s milk production. The agency added the caveat that the production estimate was actually a 0.9% increase compared to last February after adjusting for the leap year. Taking a look at individual states, total production…

By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES, March 20 (Reuters) – A leading grains exchange in Argentina cut its forecast for the country’s 2024/2025 soybean crop by a million metric tons on Thursday as the impact of a drought becomes clearer. The Buenos Aires exchange now sees the crop’s output hitting 48.6 million tons, down from its forecast of 49.6 million tons published last week. Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil and meal. The exchange said the smaller than expected output was due to a drought that has reduced yields in the country’s northeast. “High temperatures and the prolonged water deficit…