Author: staff

Eighty-five Ohio FFA students tied their sneakers up recently and stood at attention for four hours at this year’s Bobcat-A-Thon, an annual fund-raiser put on by the Penta-Bowling Green High School FFA chapter. The event put on by Penta-Bowling Green High School FFA  is a “party with a purpose” to make people aware of and raise money for the patients of Nationwide Children’s Hospital-Toledo. From the moment the first song played until the final raffle ticket was pulled, students filled the BGHS gym to benefit of children who lack the strength to leave their hospital beds. This year’s patriotic “USA…

By Cami Koons Iowa State University has been awarded more than $2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to carry out six research projects that will help prevent and combat animal disease outbreaks.  The Iowa awards were part of an announcement from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, of $15.3 million for research that enhances preparedness, detection and response to “the most damaging diseases that threaten U.S. livestock.”  Molly Lee, the associate director of ISU’s Center for Food Security and Public Health, said the projects will generate free resources for producers and animal health professionals.  “Animal disease…

By Roberto Samora SAO PAULO, April 7 (Reuters) – Showers last week and forecasts of more rain throughout April brought relief to second corn crop farmers in Brazil, according to an agribusiness consultancy and a weather forecaster. The main corn-producing areas started to receive showers this week, agrometeorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos said on Monday, adding the timing is good for growing plants. “Last week saw a new round of very welcome rains in several second-crop corn producing areas in south-central Brazil,” agribusiness consultancy AgRural said in a report on Monday. Brazil’s second-crop corn, which is expected to account for more than…

A 219.85-acre property used as a private hunting retreat for 20 years recently sold to a local farmer who plans to transition the land back into a row crop farm. Located in northeast Nebraska, close to Norfolk, the land sold at the beginning of this year for $8,429.94 an acre for a total of about $1.8 million. The new owner is working to have the land ready for this year’s planting season, according to Randy Oertwich, the agent who handled the sale for United Farm and Ranch Management. The Property “I advertised it as a hunter’s dream property and it…

By Tim Carpenter TOPEKA — Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas pushed back against President Donald Trump’s vision of a trade war by joining a dozen cosponsors of federal legislation restricting unilateral tariffs without consent of Congress. Under a Senate bill, a U.S. president would be required to inform Congress within 48 hours of issuing a new or modified tariff. A duty levied by the executive branch would expire unless the House and Senate passed a joint resolution within 60 days endorsing a tariff. Moran said he joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and…

By Cami Koons A bill that would further prohibit the ability of a remote-piloted aircraft, or drone, to fly over farmland needs final approval from the Senate before it can be sent to the governor.  Senate File 491 was amended on the House floor Tuesday to remove language classifying a “farmstead” as “40 or more contiguous acres.”  The bill builds on a 2024-enacted law that prohibited drones from flying over animal feeding operations and homesteads and created misdemeanor fines up to $2,560 if the drone that flew over these areas was equipped with recording devices.  The proposed legislation, which advanced from the Senate March 17,…

1. Soybean, Grain Futures Mixed Overnight Soybean and grain futures were mixed in overnight trading as investors weigh a declining dollar value that boosts the attractiveness of U.S. goods against further concerns about the escalating trade war with China.  The dollar was down 0.6% in overnight trading against a basket of its global counterparts after the U.S. imposed tariffs on several countries including a 104% rate on China, the world’s largest importer of soybeans.  Tariffs on Chinese products may mean fewer available goods to U.S. consumers, increasing chances of inflation or a recession, which in turn weakens the greenback.  China…

By Ayurella Horn-Muller, Grist and Izzy Ross, IPR This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan. Jim Lively wants to install rooftop solar panels on his family’s local food market, just minutes from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan. Those panels could help power the RV campground they want to open next to the market and offset other electricity bills. But even though Lively was awarded a $39,696 grant for the project through a U.S. Department of Agriculture…

By Naveen Thukral SINGAPORE, April 9 (Reuters) – China is set to receive about 3 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in April-May, according to sources and shipping data, despite new higher tariffs on American products that are poised to choke off flows of China’s largest U.S. farm import item. Most of the cargoes were purchased by state stockpiler Sinograin, said four sources familiar with the matter, which, they said, is likely to pay the higher duties but may nonetheless have to sell at a discount locally amid competition from cheaper beans from Brazil, the world’s biggest grower. “We don’t expect cancellations…

“It was a no-brainer.” That was the conclusion Rick Elnicki came to when he considered installing solar panels to power a new irrigation system on a 113-acre field in southeast Kansas earlier this year. He had already decided to install a NutraDrip drip irrigation system under the plot to encompass more acres than a pivot could cover. Plus, he figured drip would be more efficient, since the water drawn from a 23-acre pond is delivered directly to the root zone. The main reason Elnicki went with solar power was the cost savings, he related. “It was going to cost around…