USDA

One of the first marketing lessons offered to me, a wet-behind-the-ears ag editor, by a steely and successful ag futures trader was as simple and useful as a feed bucket.

The pressure in the ag economy is real — and farmers are feeling it, said Natasha Cox, senior vice president of Farm Credit Mid-America.

Indiana and Iowa saw year-over-year decreases in foreign ownership of agricultural acres while Illinois increased, according a new report.

With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock.

Gov. Mike Braun announced Kyle Shipman as the new Indiana state veterinarian.

The National Institute for Animal Agriculture will host its 2025 annual conference “Securing Our Future: Don’t Just Talk … Act!” in Kansas City. The agenda focuses on maintaining trust across animal agriculture’s value chain.

As we bid farewell to February, I find myself aching for the warmth and promise of spring in the heart of middle America.

A freeze on federal loans and grants is creating turmoil for some rural U.S. business owners who fear they won’t get reimbursed for new, cleaner irrigation equipment or solar panels they purchased with the promise of a rebate.

The CattleFax Outlook Seminar, held as part of CattleCon 2025 in San Antonio, shared expert market and weather analysis.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture set its federal policy focus for 2025, prioritizing five key issues.

A professor at Purdue University is using particle science to improve grain facility safety.

Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that’s different from the version that has spread in U.S. herds since last year, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said.

Longer, more diverse rotations of crops fertilized with livestock manure have many environmental benefits, but carbon sequestration isn’t one of them, according to a new study led by Iowa State University researchers.

On rural Texas farmland, beneath hundreds of rows of solar panels, a troop of stocky sheep rummage through pasture, casually bumping into one another as they remain committed to a single task: chewing grass.

After a four-year run of substantial gains, agricultural land values in the Seventh Federal Reserve District saw a 1% annual decrease.

Other than a minor tweak in the wheat balance sheet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s domestic supply and demand estimates for the major crops were unchanged, but there were downward movements globally in the report.

During the final stages of building the world’s first atomic bomb, scientists worried their new weapon might ignite the atmosphere and wipe out every living thing. Farmers are experiencing similar anxieties as efforts slash federal spending.

America’s farmers and ranchers are no strangers to uncertainty, but the challenges they face today call for immediate attention and decisive leadership.

As the 2025 crop production season begins, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will contact producers nationwide to determine their plans for the upcoming growing season.

Just a couple weeks ago at the American Farm Bureau Convention in San Antonio, Texas, I reminded Farm Bureau members that it’s going to take all of us stepping up in 2025 to drive agriculture forward.

When you push markets one way with tariffs, you should expect an equal and opposite reaction from those same markets.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and partners in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan are seeking licensed and experienced grain and fiber hemp growers to conduct on-farm variety trials.

The trade’s focus continues to be on U.S. exports and South American weather as the market continues to wade through winter.

Just weeks into the Republican takeover of Congress and the White House, Project 2025 is the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s governing plans.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in Jay, Allen, Adams, Jackson, Shelby and Randolph counties, with emerging cases in other counties, affecting more than 400,000 birds so far.

The Waffle House restaurant chain is putting a 50-cent per egg surcharge in place because of the biggest bird flu outbreak in a decade.

With U.S. and Illinois pork producers being some of the first to be impacted directly by news coming out of Washington, D.C., Jennifer Tirey is ready to arm producers and allied industry with timely information.

Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the surge in demand as Easter approaches.

Illinois agricultural and forestry producers who want to address or improve natural resources are encouraged to sign up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

The Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, platform is generating a lot of interest in how our food is produced. Farmers and ranchers welcome a healthy discussion — we always have.

Indiana and Illinois winter wheat acreage increased slightly from last year.

My father began retiring long before the sale of our farm’s dairy cows in 1989. Began is the appropriate word because his exit from dairy farming was “slower than molasses in January,” as he liked to say. Years slow, in fact.

Sylvester and Sabrina Friend of Prairie Hills Farm in Selma were honored as a finalist of the 2025 Indiana Farm Family of the Year Award.

Brooke Rollins was confirmed as secretary of agriculture, placing a close ally of President Donald Trump into a key position at a time when mass deportation plans could lead to farm labor shortages and tariffs could hit exports.

Think water is not an issue in Indiana or the Midwest, like it is in Arizona or California? Think again, cautioned Brianna Schroeder, a partner at Janzen Schroeder Ag Law, during an educational seminar at the Fort Wayne Farm Show.

Government inspectors documented unsanitary conditions at several Boar’s Head deli meat plants, not just the factory that was shut down last year after a deadly outbreak of listeria poisoning, federal records show.

There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and not all of it is good. We need to be aware of what’s going on around us, especially with the important things like our food.

Dairy producers may see differences in their milk checks from changes that are included in the Federal Milk Marketing Orders referendum.

The Farm Service Agency reminds producers, including dairy producers impacted by H5N1, the deadline to apply for financial assistance is Jan. 30 for losses due to specific adverse conditions that occurred in 2024.

While the 2018 farm bill might be on its second extension, the subsidy for one crop insurance product will increase without the benefit of new legislation, benefiting farmers.

Smithfield Foods’ CEO hopes everything the company has done to make working in its plants more attractive since COVID tore through the industry will help it weather the impact of President Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations.

The new year always feels like a fresh start, a time to plan for the months ahead and think about what needs to get done.

llinois State Conservationist Tammy Willis announced a funding opportunity for Environmental Quality Incentives Program Landscape Conservation Initiatives and Urban Ag using Act Now authority.

Scott Halpin’s term as Illinois Farm Service Agency executive director concluded with the change of federal administrations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the 2025 enrollment periods for key safety-net programs — Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, as well as Dairy Margin Coverage.

Lower than expected corn and soybean production pushed ending stocks downward in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Jan. 10 supply and demand report estimates.

The quarterly survey of on-farm and off-farm storage found corn stocks lower and soybean and wheat stocks higher compared to 12 months ago.

The annual Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry will be held Feb. 1 at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds with a theme of “People of Purdue Agriculture.”

The 2024 crop production summary turned the corn and soybean price trade screens green, including larger boosts for old crop.

Corn and soybean yield records were not as widespread in the “I” states as was previously projected in late fall.