The American Farm Bureau Federation’s Daniel Munch reported Tuesday that a new study from the US Environmental Protection Agency showed that “U.S. agriculture represents just under 10% of total U.S. emissions when compared to other economic sectors. Overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased from 2021 to 2022 by 1.3%, though agricultural emissions dropped 1.8% – […]
Ryan Hanrahan
Ryan Hanrahan is the Farm Policy News editor and social media director for the farmdoc project. He has previously worked in local news, primarily as an agriculture journalist in the American West. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri (B.S. Science & Agricultural Journalism). He can be reached at rrh@illinois.edu.
Ukraine Walked Away From New Black Sea Grain Deal
Reuters’ Guy Faulconbridge and Tuvan Gumrukcu reported Monday that “Russia and Ukraine negotiated for two months with Turkey on a deal to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea and reached agreement on a text that was to be announced by Ankara but Kyiv suddenly pulled out, four people familiar with the matter told […]
Community Benefits Agreement Reached for Nebraska Pipeline Project
The Iowa Capital Dispatch’s Paul Hammel reported last week that “the developer of a carbon-dioxide pipeline (across Nebraska) and an environmental group have struck a ‘one-of-a-kind’ agreement to ensure ‘community benefits’ from the pipeline as well as support for the project.” “Kansas-based Tallgrass, which is converting a 392-mile-long natural gas pipeline to transport CO2, announced […]
April WASDE Makes Few Changes
The April World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) Report was relatively light on changes yesterday, with the USDA only slightly lowering domestic corn ending stocks for the 2023/24 marketing year and slightly increasing domestic soybean ending stocks. United States corn ending stocks are now estimated at 2.122 billion bushels, down 50 million bushels from […]
Republicans Propose Crop Insurance Subsidy Boost
Successful Farming’s Chuck Abbott reported Wednesday that “Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee proposed a $4 billion injection into the crop insurance program so that the government would pay a larger share of the premiums on policies offering the highest levels of coverage.” The plan, known as the FARMER Act, “was estimated at $4.2 billion […]
USDA Cancels July Cattle Report, County Level Estimates
The United States Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that is canceling the July Cattle report and discontinuing the Cotton Objective Yield Survey and County Estimates for Crop and Livestock beginning with the 2024 production year. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a press release that “the decision to discontinue these surveys and reports […]
New Farm Bill Remains Unlikely as Congress Returns
Politico’s Garrett Downs reported Monday that “Congress is back to work this week, but a new five-year farm bill — set to determine the future of agriculture and nutrition policy — still seems like an afterthought.” “Last week, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley suggested that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could make the farm bill […]
Solar Eclipse Crossing U.S. Today
NBC News’ Denise Chow and Lucas Thompson report that “a total solar eclipse will cross North America on Monday (today), offering millions a rare opportunity to see afternoon skies temporarily darken as the moon blocks the face of the sun.” “The eclipse’s path fortuitously cuts across Mexico, 15 U.S. states and a small part of […]
Iowa Senate Votes to Limit Pesticide Illness Lawsuits
Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric reported Wednesday that “Republicans in the Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would bar Iowans with severe illnesses from suing pesticide manufacturers for failing to warn them of potential health risks like cancer.” “Republican supporters of the bill said it would ensure pesticide companies are not sued for following […]
Republican Study Committee Budget Targets SNAP, Crop Insurance
A proposed 2025 budget from the Republican Study Committee — the largest conservative caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives — would cap crop insurance subsidies a single farmer may receive to $40,000, provide PLC and ARC payments only to farms with gross income below $500,000 and convert funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program […]
U.S. Drought Area Smallest Since 2020
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Tuesday that “after a wet winter and early spring across much of the country, drought across the continuous United States had decreased to around 18% by the end of March, down from 20% at the end of February, and from about 36% at the beginning of winter.” “This […]
Bird Flu Detected in Texas Human
Just one day after reports of highly pathogenic avian influenza spreading to cattle in more states — including Michigan and Idaho — Politico’s Adam Cancryn and David Lim reported that “a Texas dairy worker has tested positive for the avian flu, marking the first identified human case of an illness in the U.S. that has sickened […]
HPAI Spreading to Cattle in More States
NPR’s Joe Hernandez reported over the weekend that “livestock at multiple dairy farms across the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — in an outbreak that’s likely spread to at least five states.” “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service […]
U.S. Cotton Mills Rapidly Closing
Bloomberg’s Ilena Peng reported Saturday that cotton’s “demand from US manufacturers is on an unrelenting — and accelerating — decline. There were nearly 900 US cotton mills operating around the time of the Chicago expo (in 1893). That number is today around 100, the National Cotton Council estimates, after eight closed in the last five months […]
2024 U.S. Corn Acres Predicted to Fall, Soybeans Increase
United States farmers are predicted to plant 90 million acres of corn and 86.5 million acres of soybeans this year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Prospective Plantings report released Thursday. The corn planted acreage of 90 million is “down 5% or 4.61 million acres from last year,” the USDA said in its […]
Maryland Bridge Collapse Could Affect Ag
NBC News’ Rob Wile and Shannon Pettypiece reported Tuesday that “customers from the East Coast to the Midwest who were expecting goods shipped in via the Port of Baltimore could see significant cost increases as a result of Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore” that has blocked access for ships to […]
FAA Exemption Expands Drone Use in Ag
Fox Business’ Michael Ruiz reported Sunday that “a new exemption for drone piloting from the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the airways for ‘drone-swarm’ agriculture, a method of seeding and spraying crops at a fraction of the traditional cost.” “Hylio, a Texas-based drone manufacturer, successfully applied for an exemption from the FAA to allow fleets […]
Illness Impacting Texas Cattle Confirmed as Bird Flu
AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan reported Monday that “a mystery illness that’s impacted dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle now has a diagnosis: Influenza A. USDA says genetic sequencing revealed it’s the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that’s been in the U.S. for two years.” “APHIS says the ‘National Veterinary Services Laboratories’ detected Influenza […]
Senate Resolution Blocks Paraguay Beef Imports
The Nebraska Examiner’s Jacob Fischler reported this past week that “the U.S. Senate easily passed a resolution Thursday to repeal a Biden administration rule allowing for beef to be imported from Paraguay.” “The resolution targets a final rule the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued in November that allowed for importation […]
Ag Disappointed in Tailpipe Emissions Rule
Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported Wednesday that “the Biden administration finalized national pollution standards for vehicles through 2032, leaving next to no room for ethanol and other biofuels as a tool to cut emissions.” “While the new standards give automakers some flexibility in how they reduce emissions, the standards do little to use ethanol and other […]