USDA

Family farms accounted for 96% of total U.S. farms and 83% of the total value of production, according to the Agricultural Resource Management Survey.

The Indiana Ag Law Foundation hosted a new workshop focused on helping families work together to begin the farm transition process.

Global soybean supplies that are already at high levels are expected to grow in the first months of 2025.

Bolstered by surprises in the December supply and demand estimates report, corn enters 2025 with strengths in exports and ethanol demand.

Before 2024 slides into history, some noteworthy farm and food updates, please, to ensure these stories go with it.

Dairy replacement heifer numbers have fallen almost 15% over the last six years, reaching a 20-year low, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Two Indiana dairies, Risin’ Creek Creamery and JB’s Barnyard, received funding from the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance for value-added facilities on their farms.

As a farmer and rancher, I’ve learned to count on the seasons. They don’t wait. The crops don’t hold off until it’s convenient, and the livestock don’t adjust their needs to fit my schedule.

It Takes a Village is a nearly three-acre, urban nonprofit farm in Sauk Village, a suburb of Chicago, that opened in response to the last grocery store closing in the community in 2019.

Year-over-year winter wheat production declined, while oats were up in Illinois, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual production summary for 2024.

Low-moisture foods such as dried fruits, seeds, tree nuts and wheat flour were once considered to carry minimal microbial risks.

A newly formed institute at Purdue University is offering training and development support to agriculture producers with novel food and beverage product ideas.

Indiana Soybean Alliance Board Directors Mike Koehne and C.J. Chalfant were elected to leadership positions with the Soy Transportation Coalition during the group’s meeting in Alabama.

For the first time since the end of 2019, farmland values in the 7th Federal Reserve District did not see a year-over-year increase.

Nearly every autopsy of Vice President Kamala Harris’s stinging White House defeat begins with some variation of the phrase, “Voters pointed to the rising price of food as their chief concern.”

Pheasants Forever provides a program that works hand-in-hand with farmers to combine wildlife habitat with farming profitability.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service unveiled a new easement option that offers long-term protection of the land and ensures timely transfer of ownership to qualified producers.

Illinois State Conservationist Tammy Willis announced a statewide funding opportunity for the Conservation Stewardship Program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Marshall, Putnam and Stark counties in Illinois have been approved for funding to address damages from tornados and severe storms.

Illinois soybean farmers will now have additional assistance with evaluating field data to better implement practices that benefit the environment.

A University of Illinois project evaluating liquid dairy waste in childcare centers was among 14 grant recipients through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program.

USDA announced that one Illinois county will be accepting applications for the Emergency Conservation Program and two Illinois counties are accepting applications for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program.

Federal health officials called for more testing of employees on farms with bird flu after a new study showed that some dairy workers had signs of infection, even when they didn’t report feeling sick.

Even amidst the ever-present challenges that are part of farming, we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

Hoosiers can expect to spend approximately 2% less at the grocery store compared to 2023, according to Indiana Farm Bureau’s annual Thanksgiving market basket survey.

The Illinois Soybean Association commissioned a study to evaluate the economic impact of maintaining reliable bridge infrastructure to efficiently transport farmers’ products to market.

Activist-driven ballot measures were shot down by voters in Colorado and California on Nov. 5.

Calls for $20 billion in “emergency” farm program payments won’t go away now that the proposal’s principal audience, voters, have done their duty.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture backed off on its corn and soybean average yield projections in the Nov. 8 crop production report, but still maintains record high projections in the “I” states.

Production cuts provided a slice of support for corn and soybean prices after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand estimates report was released Nov. 8.

Lower corn and soybean production estimates resulted in slightly tighter supplies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand estimates report on Nov. 8.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $1.5 billion investment for 92 partner-driven conservation projects, including one in Illinois and Indiana, through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

Charley Jordan retired from the Army as a Chief Warrant Officer 4 in 2017, after more than 28 years of service.

Farmers for Soil Health empowers farmers to lead the charge in sustainability, putting real money directly into their hands to drive change where it matters most — at the farm level.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin issuing more than $2.14 billion in payments to eligible agricultural producers and landowners — providing much needed support through key conservation and safety net programs.

A group of agricultural diplomats from around the world visited Indiana, including touring a family farm.

A new study revealed a tariff-induced trade war would have a serious impact on corn and soybean farmers via lost global market share.

Schools across the country are celebrating National Farm to School Month this October.

Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. took top honors in the National Milk Producers Federation’s annual cooperative communications contest, winning five categories and the competition’s Best in Show: Writing award.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an additional $250 million in automatic payments for distressed direct and guaranteed farm loan borrowers under Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $58 million available for marketing assistance to eligible organic dairy producers through the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program.

The Beef Quality Assurance training and certification program will be offered at 11 sites in Indiana.

Indiana Farm Bureau will focus on issues like property taxes and water rights during the 2025 legislative session.

Between harvest and preparing for the state corn-husking competition, From the Fields contributor Clay Geyer has a busy October ahead of him.

4-H has a greater reach than any other youth development organization — and young people need it now as much as ever before.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced up to $7.7 billion in assistance for fiscal year 2025 to help agricultural and forestry producers adopt conservation practices on working lands.

From this growing season’s first survey-based crop forecasts in August through now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to project record corn and soybean yield averages nationwide.

The updated marketing year-end grain stocks data provided a clearer picture of the beginning supplies for the new crop year in the agriculture supply and demand estimates report released Oct. 11.

There were no major discrepancies in the trade’s pre-report guesses and what the U.S. Department of Agriculture came out with in its Oct. 11 crop production and crop balance sheet report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the launch of the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network, an initiative designed to provide personalized support to financially distressed farmers and ranchers across the nation.