The AM for Every Vehicle Act has hit the magic number of voting co-sponsors it will need to ensure passage through the House of Representatives. Sponsors of the House legislation announced they had picked up the 218th voting supporter. The majority of votes is necessary because Kentucky Senator Rand Paul blocked a bipartisan-driven majority consent…… MORE
Category Archives: Agriculture News
Farmers Still Worry About Financial Outlook
The Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose modestly in February posting a reading of 111, five points higher than a month earlier. The modest rise in the barometer was attributable to producers expressing somewhat more optimism about the future as the Future Expectations Index rose seven points to a reading of 115. The Current…… MORE
Cattle Industry Urging Congress To Pass Spending Bill
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is calling on lawmakers to pass the minibus appropriations package announced over the weekend by congressional leadership. The bill prevents a government shutdown and supports several key cattle industry priorities. NCBA President Mark Eisele says, “While this legislation is not perfect, it advances a number of priorities important to cattle…… MORE
Number of U.S. Farms Falls Below Two Million
The USDA says the number of U.S. farms has dropped to under two million for the first time since before the Civil War. The numbers come from the 2022 Census of Agriculture. In 2022, there were 1,900,487 farms in the country, a 7% decline from the level in the 2017 Census. A farm is defined…… MORE
New Resource for Maximizing Cattle Profitability
A new resource developed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and CattleFax helps producers maximize profitability from their culling decisions. The resource is called “Right Way, Right Time – A Guide to Cull Cattle Management” and is now available at ncba.org. With effective planning, cull cattle can be a significant source of revenue and should…… MORE
No New Farm Bill Without SNAP & Climate Funds
For the first time, Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow says she’ll push a new farm bill further into the future rather than strike a deal with Republicans on SNAP and climate spending changes. The Fence Post says she won’t agree to limit any updates to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or cut any climate-smart…… MORE
Funding for Renewable Tech in Ag
The Department of Agriculture and the Energy Department launched a new initiative to help farmers cut costs and increase income using underutilized renewable technologies. Through the Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy initiative, USDA is setting an initial goal of helping 400 individual farmers deploy smaller-scale wind projects using USDA’s Rural Energy…… MORE
Farmers Ask for Stability in Milk Prices
The American Farm Bureau and National Farmers Union sent a letter to USDA asking for stability in Class 1 milk prices. The letter asks Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to issue an interim final decision to return the Class 1 mover formula to the “higher-of” the Class 3 or Class 4 calculations as it was before…… MORE
Food Continues to Get More Expensive
Eating continues to cost Americans more money. That’s even as overall inflation has backed off from the high pace of 2022 and 2023. Restaurant prices were up 5.1% last month compared to January 2023. U.S. Labor Department data shows that grocery store costs increased 1.2% during the same period. Relief isn’t on the immediate horizon…… MORE
California Proposal Leave Biofuels Behind
The nation’s largest Biofuels Association called Growth Energy submitted comments to the California Air Resources Board regarding the board’s proposed changes to California’s low-carbon fuel standard. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says, “While California has its sights set on the future, the state continues to overlook a significant challenge that it faces right now: decarbonizing…… MORE
