News Archives
Vilsack: USDA meat label plan won't spark trade dispute
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressed confidence Monday that the USDA’s plan for voluntary country-of-origin labeling of U.S. meat won't spark trade disputes with its North American trading partners.

United States and Kenya to hold first negotiating round under their Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership
The United States and Kenya will hold an in-person negotiating round under their Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) in Kenya from April 17-20, 2023.

Who's responsible for a carbon contract?
An ag lawyer is raising concerns about what landowners are committing to in carbon credit contracts.

UN: Ukraine grain export deal renewed
Russia, Ukraine and Turkey have agreed to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative and allow Ukrainian wheat, corn and other farm commodities to continue flowing out of Odesa ports as the war rages on, according to a statement by the United Nations on Saturday, the last day for the deal to be extended.

Protect profit as bearish concerns grow
DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman said this year is one that's likely to reward early marketing and increased crop insurance coverage.
Bennet, Marshall introduce bill to spur cutting edge research in American agriculture
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced the Advancing Cutting Edge (ACE) Agriculture Act to support high-risk, high-reward agricultural research and development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

February cattle placements drop 7% on year
The USDA says the number of cattle placed into U.S. feedlots in February fell sharply.

USDA announces $15.8 million in farm bill funding to protect animal health
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is awarding $15.8 million to 60 projects led by 38 states, land-grant universities, and industry organizations to enhance our nation’s ability to rapidly respond to and control animal disease outbreaks.

Bayer makes case on Roundup labels
Seeking to end Roundup cancer claims across the country, Bayer argued in a brief filed in a federal appeals court this week that federal law pre-empts state laws when determining whether product-warning labels are necessary.
Vilsack defends SNAP increase, CCC spending before Senate Ag
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack pushed back against Republican criticism of spending under the SNAP program and from the Commodity Credit Corp. at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Thursday focused on the farm bill.

Tyson announces new climate smart beef program
A new sustainability initiative aims to help address greenhouse gas emissions in beef production.

UNL releases preliminary farm real estate market survey results
UNL released the Preliminary Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey Results earlier this month.

South Dakota Governor signs nuisance bill into law
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has signed a bill into law to protect South Dakota farmers from nuisance claims.

Allendale survey shows bigger corn acreage
A survey of farmers by a major analytical firm is projecting higher corn, soybean, and wheat acreage in 2023.

Early spring features wide soil moisture swings in primary U.S. crop areas
Wide extremes from dry to wet dominate the soil moisture situation across most of the prime crop areas in the United States this early spring. This have and have-not status leads to questions about moisture availability to bring more than a fraction of the hard red winter wheat crop to fruition, while snow cover and wet soils show up from the Northern Plains to the Ohio Valley.

U of M students sequence genome of newly discovered soybean pest
University of Minnesota students conducted crucial genome sequencing for the newly discovered soybean gall midge — a pest that is threatening the soybean crop, one of the most widely cultivated and consumed throughout the world.

Shippers, port groups dissatisfied with Corps of Engineers proposed budget
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is requesting $7.4 billion for its Fiscal Year 2024 budget, but shipping and port groups are concerned the agency is not planning to put enough of its trust funds for construction and maintenance projects to use.

U.S. ethanol stocks close to one year high
The U.S. ethanol supply is the largest in nearly a year.

Americans planning frugal uses for their 2023 tax refunds
Americans likely are receiving smaller tax refunds than they have in recent years, and most people will not be going out to spend this money, according to the February 2023 Consumer Food Insights Report.

Russia agrees to extend trade agreement with Ukraine
Russia has agreed to a 60-day extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Ukraine.

Senators reintroduce E15 legislation
U.S. senators on Tuesday reintroduced legislation to allow year-round E15 sales nationally, as the ethanol industry continues to push for those sales to be allowed for the 2023 summer driving season that starts on June 1.
Experts caution avian influenza could be here to stay
The American poultry sector is awaiting a spring spike in detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza, leading industry and government officials to wonder if the disease has pivoted from an occasional concern to a permanent part of raising birds in the United States.

Johnson leads work requirements fight in the U.S. House
U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced the America Works Act, a bill to reform work requirements for able-bodied Americans receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Negotiations to renew Black Sea Grain Initiative underway
Russia and Ukraine began negotiations Monday to extend an agreement to export grain out of the Black Sea.

What does the failure of Silicon Valley Bank mean to ag markets?
On Friday, March 10, the Silicon Valley Bank with 17 branches in California and Massachusetts became the first bank failure since the Federal Reserve started its campaign to bring down inflation.

USDA requests public input on key water quality initiatives
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking for public input on two water quality conservation initiatives, the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) and the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI).

Food inflation continues to ease; consumers see relief on eggs
Supermarket prices rose another 0.3% last month, driven in part by jumps in the cost of beef and pork, but food inflation continues to ease from the spikes shoppers saw in 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

U.S. awaiting Mexico's response on GMO corn
The president of the National Corn Growers Association says he’s glad the U.S. is in consultations with Mexico on the GMO corn ban.


