For specialty crop farmers, 2025 has offered little relief from mounting financial pressures. Markets that once delivered stable margins are now marked by volatility, while production expenses continue to rise faster than prices.

One of the defining characteristics of a La Nina cool-water phase in the Pacific Ocean is its influence on dry conditions in the winter wheat areas of the U.S. Southern Plains. And as January 2026 gets underway, most hard red winter wheat areas are starting the new year on a very dry note after a parched month of December 2025.

To assess the potential skilled labor shortage related to new technologies in production agriculture, this article examines precision agriculture adoption across US states and how the use of these technologies correlates with employment and wages for farm service technicians.

The vice president of fertilizer with Stone X Group says recent events in Venezuela could have a long-term impact on the nitrogen market.

After a truly unprecedented year in 2025 where live cattle, feeder cattle and boxed beef prices all ran to prices unfathomable at the year's start, 2026 is also off to an aggressive rally as the market's bullish sentiment for the year ahead is undeniable.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today congratulated Dr. Seth Meyer for his years of service to our country and announced Dr. Justin Benavidez as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Chief Economist.

The USDA recently announced payment rates for row crops eligible for the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program. Acres planted to corn ($44.36 per planted acre), soybeans ($30.88), wheat ($39.35), and 16 other eligible commodities should expect to receive FBA payments by the end of February.

1. Marketing in the new year: We're watching for any momentum in the grains markets ahead of the Jan. 12 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report release.

This article examines labor hours per acre and labor efficiency for crop farms using FINBIN data from 2007 to 2024.

A weed science professor at the University of Illinois says the extent of waterhemp resistance to Group 15 residual herbicides is likely more common than previously thought.

It's been a big year for farm policy. President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January and quickly followed through on many of his campaign promises: an aggressive trade agenda, renewed focus on food inflation, and the use of a Republican-controlled House and Senate to enact a sweeping budget reconciliation bill that included major agriculture spending.

A passion for the beef industry and health care led Katie Biggins to add a new enterprise using a beef byproduct -- tallow -- to her family's already-growing ranch-to-retail beef business.

New World screwworm has been confirmed 197 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the first reported case in Tamauliapas, and the northernmost active detection to date.

Humans and farm animals share a common affliction: Inflammation.

The USDA has announced the per-acre payment rates for the $12 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program.

(Washington, D.C., December 30, 2025) – Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, signed a Secretary’s Memorandum (PDF, 909 KB) that puts forth a focused effort to establish new priorities for future research and development activities funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to strengthen national security, protect U.S. agriculture, and support American farmers and consumers.

The latest Rural Mainstreet Index says farm and ranchland prices have reached their highest level since April 2024.

2025 was a roller-coaster year in Brazil coffee production. USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) estimates that this year's Brazil coffee production will total 63 million 60-kilogram bags, according to the latest semi-annual report from the FAS (dated Dec. 2, 2025).

The senior vice president of strategy and logistics with GROWMARK says the cooperative’s planned state-of-the-art biological crop input manufacturing facility is aimed at meeting the demands of one of the fastest-growing sectors in the industry.

Retail fertilizer prices continue to be mostly lower, according to prices tracked by DTN for the fourth week of December 2025.

A crop insurance expert says growers can head into the 2026 season with increased confidence in federal coverage.

The last recorded outbreak of the New World screwworm (NWS) -- a parasitic fly that once devastated livestock, pets and wildlife -- in Oklahoma occurred in 1976.

A market analyst says she’s expecting the USDA to make little tweaks to the U.S. supply and demand picture in the January report.

An ag meteorologist says recent winter weather patterns could impact soil moisture levels across the Midwest heading into 2026.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's John Lovett reported that "beef prices are projected to continue increasing as U.S. beef production declines with no signs of a cattle herd rebuild.

The Trump administration and 12 states asked a federal court to set a trial date in a crop-loyalty program lawsuit against Syngenta Crop Protection and Corteva, in a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

A weed scientist at the University of Illinois says the first case of glufosinate resistance in waterhemp has been confirmed in the United States.

For many years, soybean oil and palm oil prices moved together, but since 2020, the close co-movement between soybean oil and palm oil prices has weakened. Prices now diverge more often and for longer periods.