Agricultural land values have remained remarkably stable through mid-2025, according to a news release from Farmers National Company. The resilience is mainly driven by the basic economic principle of supply and demand; there are simply more motivated buyers than willing sellers.
Rural America
Coke Cane Sugar Switch Threatens Ag Jobs, Corn Refiners Say
A possible move by Coca-Cola and other beverage and food industries to use cane sugar instead of corn syrup as a sweetener would be difficult and expensive to implement, while mostly negative for farmers in the United States.
Farm Bankruptcies Rising in 2025
Family farm bankruptcies increased by 55% last year compared to 2023 and are trending even higher this year as farmers continue to grapple with depressed agricultural commodity prices and high input costs.
Wheat Farmers Cut Losses as Harvest Lags
Farmers cut their losses early this year across the U.S. wheat belt, stretching from Texas to Montana. They were choosing to bale the wheat into hay, plow their fields under or turn them over to animals to graze. In Nebraska, wheat acreage is less than half of what it was in 2005.
No Plans to Close Any FSA Offices, Ag Sec Rollins Says
Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported that “U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at a Senate hearing on Tuesday defended downsizing the USDA and potential cuts to international food aid programs, but said the agency does not plan to close any of its 4,500 offices that serve farmers.” “The USDA has lost more than 15,000 staff to financial […]
White House Budget Plan Proposes Local FSA, NRCS Office Closures
Government Executive’s Eric Katz reported Tuesday that “the Trump administration is planning to severely scale back or outright eliminate funding for many programs across the Agriculture Department, according to White House documents obtained by Government Executive, as it slashes workers and closes offices at the local level.” “The ‘passback’ document from the Office of Management […]
USDA Releasing Frozen Rural Energy Funds — With Stipulations
Agri-Pulse’s Philip Brasher, Rebekah Alvey, and Noah Wicks reported Wednesday that “the Agriculture Department is lifting a freeze on clean energy funding programs but giving awardees 30 days to modify their proposals to remove climate and DEI considerations and bring the projects in line with the Trump administration’s policy for increasing U.S. energy production.” “The action […]
US Soybean Harvest Moving at Fastest Pace in 14 Years
Progressive Farmer’s Anthony Greder reported Monday that “both the U.S. corn and soybean harvests are now double digits ahead of their five-year averages as dry weather continued across most of the country last week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.” “Corn harvest moved ahead 18 percentage points nationally to reach […]
Walz Brings Ag Committee Experience as VP Pick
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, a politician who the Hagstrom Report’s Jerry Hagstrom reported “has deep roots in agriculture, having been elected to the U.S. House (in 2007) from a mainly rural district in southern Minnesota and serving on the House Agriculture Committee until […]
Republicans Represent 81 of Top 100 Ag Production Districts
Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks reported Wednesday that “Republicans are tightening their electoral grip on farm country, holding all but 19 of the top 100 congressional districts in terms of agricultural sales, according to an Agri-Pulse analysis of newly released data from USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture.” “Republicans control 21 districts ranked highest for the value of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Iowa Fertilizer Spill Killing Fish
The Iowa Capital Dispatch’s Jared Strong reported this past weekend that “state conservation officials have found no living fish in the East Nishnabotna River south of Red Oak — the result of a massive fertilizer spill at a farmers cooperative. The only living fish were discovered near Hamburg in far southwest Iowa, downstream of where […]
Ag Census Finds Fewer Farms
The United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service published data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture on Tuesday, a release that happens every 5 years. Among the most significant highlights was a decrease in the total number of farms in the U.S. from 2.04 million in 2017 to 1.90 million in 2022. Here […]
Ogallala Aquifer Depletion Threatening Rural Communities & Ag
The Kansas Reflector’s Allison Kite and Kevin Hardy reported Monday that “disappearing water” in the Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from South Dakota to Texas, “is threatening more than just agriculture. Rural communities are facing dire futures where water is no longer a certainty. Across the Ogallala, small towns and cities built around agriculture are facing […]
An Overview of Some COVID Related Impacts on Rural America from USDA’s Economic Research Service
Last week, the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released its annual report exploring characteristics and economic indicators associated with Rural America : “Rural America at a Glance: 2020 Edition.”
Rural America: Perspective from USDA Report, and Federal Reserve Ag Credit Survey
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual Rural America at a Glance report, which summarizes the status of conditions and trends in rural areas. In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis recently provided details of its third quarter Agricultural Credit Conditions Survey, which follows on the heels of recent third quarter agricultural reports from four other federal reserve districts. Together, the USDA report and Minneapolis Fed update, provide some interesting perspective on the state of non-metro America.
Rural Economy: Farm Income, Manufacturing- Both Important Variables
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) indicated in a news release last week that, “State personal income grew 0.7 percent on average in the second quarter of 2017, after increasing 1.4 percent in the first quarter, according to estimates released [Tuesday] by [BEA].” However, the release added that, “Farm earnings declined for the nation and in every state in the second quarter and was the leading contributor to slow earnings growth in many states.”
Rural Broadband Issues- Farms Connecting to the Internet
Today’s update discusses rural broadband issues and federal regulatory action that was taken this month to help close the digital divide in Rural America. The update also touches on a couple of legislative proposals regarding broadband expansion, and highlights a recent USDA survey that documents how many farmers are using the Internet and how they are currently connecting.