Author: staff

When Class 8 combines were introduced, around 2003, it quickly became apparent that their combination of size and power were a good fit for many farms. Even as combines have grown into Classes 9, 10, and 10+, Class 8 machines remain in high demand.  “Back in the day, they were saying combines would never get above a Class 7, that the roads wouldn’t be able to handle them,” said Andy Campbell, Tractor Zoom director of insights. “But now, the 8s are the dominant size, and people are saying that about the 9s and up, that roads and bridges can’t handle…

This year’s National Farm Safety and Health Week will kick off on Sunday and go through September 21, shining a spotlight on one of agriculture’s most pressing issues: protecting the health and lives of those who work in farming, forestry, and fishing. Agriculture remains one of the most hazardous industries in the nation. While overall fatal occupational injuries decreased slightly in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 5.38 percent increase in deaths within agriculture-related industries from 2022 to 2023. That reality underscores the importance of this annual campaign, organized by the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.…

After peaking in 1920, Black-owned farms have dwindled. It hit a low of less than 20,000 in the late 1990s. After the Civil War, the U.S. government promised 40 acres, either from abandoned plantations or unused land, to formerly enslaved Black people. But then President Andrew Johnson intervened. He pardoned Confederates, returning their land. It became a common theme. In the following decades, some Black farmers gained land through deals with white landowners: After being tenant operators, they could buy acreage, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. But as Jim Crow laws proliferated in the early 19th century,…

October feeder cattle ended the day up $8.70 at $354.50 per hundredweight (cwt). December live cattle closed up $4.35 at $236.28 per cwt. December lean hogs were up 23¢ at $88.85 per cwt. Last Tuesday, October feeder cattle lost more than $9 per cwt, and by Friday the contract had fallen $6.55 for the day and $12.10 week-over-week. “Cattle futures recovered all of last Friday’s losses and then some today, as heavy buying took place in both feeders and live contracts,” said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting. “Much of this was technical, but strength in the cash market…

An Australian bio-agritech company is taking a different angle on managing herd health, reproduction, and sustainability … through measuring cow’s breaths. Using nano-sensors originally developed through NASA programs, Ascent is analyzing cow’s breaths to diagnose pregnancy in cattle in real time.  “Every breath tells a story,” the company says, and its technology is designed to make those stories measurable and actionable for producers. The Agscent Breath device, with its $10,000 price tag, enables farmers to detect pregnancy in cows from as early as day 16 to 18 post-insemination by analyzing volatile organic compounds in the animal’s breath. “We have developed…

Plant stem cells are crucial for the world’s food supply, animal feed, and fuel production. They lay the foundation for how plants grow. Yet, much about these mysterious building blocks remains unknown. Previous analyses have failed to locate many of the important genes that regulate how these cells function. For the first time, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory plant biologists have mapped two known stem cell regulators across thousands of maize and Arabidopsis shoot cells. Their research also uncovered new stem cell regulators in both species and linked some to size variations in maize. This method for recovering rare stem cells…

McDonald’s, which sells nearly 2.4 billion burgers annually, is joining a nationwide initiative to promote and accelerate regenerative grazing practices, habitat restoration, water and wildlife conservation on cattle ranches spanning 4 million acres across up to 38 states. The fast-food chain is pledging $200 million over the next seven years, marking this as its largest investment in “regenerative agriculture” ever through the Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative, which is being done in conjunction with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and some of McDonald’s U.S. suppliers. Through this initiative, McDonald’s says…

By Galen Bacharier Gov. Josh Stein is asking Congress and the Trump administration to send an additional $13.5 billion to North Carolina, his latest ask for federal aid as recovery from Hurricane Helene continues one year later. Included in that request is $8 billion in additional grants to rebuild homes and businesses, $2 billion in community loans from FEMA, $2 billion to repair roads and bridges and $400 million for forgivable loans to small businesses. “The next stage in recovery is going to require a new commitment from Congress and from the administration,” Stein said during a news conference outlining…

By Carl Zulauf, Gary Schnitkey, Nick Paulson, and Joana Colussi The implication of this set of four articles is that the U.S. grain and oilseed sector should focus less on South America and China (hereafter, SAC). This implication is consistent with the multivariable regression analysis in this article. It finds that production in excess of domestic consumption in SAC is not a statistically significant explanatory variable of the yearly variation in the U.S. composite grain–oilseed price. In contrast, production in excess of domestic consumption in the U.S. and rest-of-the-world (hereafter, ROW) are statistically significant. The implication is also consistent with the analysis of the…

By Emma Murphy YUKON — With no active cases of New World screwworm, the USDA is working to prevent its spread from Central America, a Trump administration official said Friday.  U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins outlined the Department of Agriculture’s plan to prevent the spread of screwworm to the U.S., including a partnership with the government of Mexico, during a stop at Express Ranches in Oklahoma.  New World screwworm is a fly that lays eggs in the wounds of living animals and its larvae burrow and feed on healthy flesh, causing illness or death. The insect usually infects livestock and is typically…