Author: staff

Last week, North Dakota was hit with a deadly storm that caused immediate and apparent agricultural damage, with long-term impacts for growers now coming to light. North Dakota Meteorologist Dean Wysocki said in his 30-plus years in the business, he’s never seen a storm like this one. He shared in his Weather and Ag in Focus podcast on Monday, “It was literally a hurricane that was parked over the central and eastern part of the state. Never seen anything like that before.” Wysocki’s cohost, ag expert Bridgette Readel, estimated 100 miles by 100 miles of damage, based on the reports…

A tractor-trailer hauling livestock overturned on Virginia Route 40 in Sussex County, Virginia, on Monday, triggering a rescue operation for over 140 hogs. According to the Virginia State Police, the truck, which was carrying pigs for Smithfield Foods, went off the road and tipped over in the vicinity of Tyrus Road. The driver, Gregory Montez King of Clayton, North Carolina, was not injured but was charged with reckless driving and failure to keep proper control, reported local TV station 3WTKR. Due to the wreck, several of the hogs escaped from the trailer, and some were pinned inside. Virginia State Police,…

Texas is now the seventh state to ban the sale of lab-grown meat, following the recent signing of Senate Bill 261 by Gov. Greg Abbott. Set to take effect on September 1, 2025, the law will bar the sale of cell-cultured protein products for human consumption until September 7, 2027. Among supporters, the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association has championed the law and positioned it as a consumer protection measure that also reinforces the state’s commitment to traditional livestock production. “Ranchers across Texas work tirelessly to raise healthy cattle and produce high-quality beef,” said TSCRA President Carl Ray Polk…

The heat wave that rolled through the Corn Belt and pummeled the United States from Nebraska to the Eastern Seaboard over the last week was unique due to the early onset of summer temperatures and the amount of precipitation it produced, according to an AccuWeather meteorologist.  Temperatures in much of the top corn and soybean producing states soared into the upper 90s, and in Mitchell, South Dakota, the temperature reached a record 104 degrees on June 21. The wave shifted toward the eastern portion of the Corn Belt and the East Coast at the beginning of the week. The National…

By Sky Chadde This week, swaths of the U.S. are dealing with high temperatures and warnings of heat stroke, a potentially deadly condition. The heat wave comes just as federal regulators have convened public hearings on a Biden-era proposal aimed at preventing deaths related to heat illness among U.S. workers. Farmworkers are among those most at-risk, according to a study by the National Institute of Health. They often wear pants and long sleeves to protect themselves from pesticides while laboring, and some employers push workers to their limits. “I’ve had bosses who, if they see you resting for a few minutes under a tree to recover…

It begins innocuously enough: a synthetic fiber from a fleece jacket, a scrubby bead from exfoliating soap, or a fragment from a degrading water bottle. These microscopic plastic particles (colloquially called “microplastics” or “nanoplastics”) are carried on the wind or flushed down drains, making their way through our wastewater treatment facilities. But their journey doesn’t end there. According to a May 2025 study published in Environmental Sciences Europe, the ultimate fate of microplastics is far more complex and unsettling than we once believed. Evidence is rapidly mounting to show that these particles don’t just vanish … they infiltrate agricultural soils…

Ahead of 9 a.m. CT, September corn was down 6½¢ at $4.05¾ per bushel. November soybeans were down 10¢ at $10.27 per bushel. September wheat contracts were also lower. CBOT wheat was down 7¼¢ at $5.44¾ per bushel. KC wheat was down 8¼¢ at $5.41½. Minneapolis wheat was down 6¾¢ at $6.35. “Grain and oilseed futures remained in retreat overnight, pressured by favorable Midwest weather and soil conditions, technical selling, and a lack of friendly demand news as traders start to brace for Monday’s key USDA reports,” said The Brock Report. On Monday USDA is expected to release the annual…

AGDAILY Reporters · June 25, 2025 A new Drummond Ranch series is coming soon, with a trailer kicking off the announcement.  Ladd Drummond, his brother Tim, the kids, and the cowboys will show the inner workings of the family agricultural operation. This trailer shows a few glimpses, but the series will cover everything from cows and calves, weather factors, markets, family dynamics, and the work required to keep a cattle ranch functioning and healthy in Osage County, Oklahoma.   

In its Crop Progress report released Monday, USDA said four states wrapped up soybean planting during the week ending June 22.  Combined with Minnesota and Louisiana from the week prior, now six of the top 18 soybean-growing states are done planting the 2025 soybean crop. Here’s a closer look at progress and conditions in the states that just finished. Iowa Efforts by Iowa farmers pushed soybean planting across the finish line during the week ending June 22, up from 99% the week prior. Progress is just ahead of normal for the state. The five-year average is 99%, the same as…

By Michael Achterling and Mary Steurer  A severe weekend storm that claimed three lives also caused devastating damage to North Dakota’s agriculture industry. Total damage is still being assessed from the widespread storm, which included a tornado near Enderlin that killed residents Michael Dalton Dehn, 73; Katherine Ann Pfaff-Dehn, 73; and Marcario Machuca Lucio, 89. On Monday, officials were learning more about the impact of multiple tornadoes, hail, and straight-line winds, with gusts reported to the National Weather Service exceeding 100 mph. “It went all the way from southwest of Dickinson and just rolled across the state in different areas…