![Policymakers are talking as though another extension of the 2018 is inevitable. Meanwhile, there is a growing risk of a steeper downturn in farm income while a lot of potential improvements to the farm-safety net would have to wait until at least 2026 to provide some relief. (DTN file image)](/mydtn-public-core-portlet/servlet/GetStoredImage?symbolicName=2024-farm-bill.jpg&category=CMS)
There is a lot of angst about farm income right now, but policymakers already seem to accept that another one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill is unavoidable. If a farm bill doesn't get done...
Oil futures closest to expiration on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange softened Monday morning...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday vacated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's denial of previously...
Weather continues to create interesting scenarios for DTN's View From the Cab farmers in Idaho and Kentucky. This week updates on some...
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Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton has been writing and editing for DTN/The Progressive Farmer since 2005 after working more than seven years as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald.
Chris has been recognized as writer of the year by the American Agricultural Editors' Association and won story of the year multiple times from the organization. He also has won the Glenn Cunningham Agricultural Journalist of the Year Award from the North American Agricultural Journalists and served as the group's president in 2012-13. The National Farmers Union and American Coalition for Ethanol also each have named Chris communicator of the year.
Chris graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1993 with a degree in journalism. He has worked for news organizations in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Nebraska. Chris lives in Glenwood, Iowa, with his wife and children.There is a lot of angst about farm income right now, but policymakers already seem to accept that another one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill is unavoidable. If a farm bill doesn't get done...
The country quickly weighed in Monday on social media, campaign calls and news releases about former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. The senator has...
EPA's Climate Pollution Reduction Grants will fund 25 projects across 30 states that lower greenhouse-gas emissions from a particular industry or sequester carbon. At least some of the projects also would help develop...
The country quickly weighed in Monday on social media, campaign calls and news releases about former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. The senator has little history in agricultural policy, but...
There is a lot of angst about farm income right now, but policymakers already seem to accept that another one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill is unavoidable. If a farm bill doesn't get done this year, then there is no chance...
Deere & Co. on Tuesday posted on social platform X that the company is changing some of its sponsorships, messaging and diversity policies following conservative backlash sparked by a social media critic of corporate diversity...
The country quickly weighed in Monday on social media, campaign calls and news releases about former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. The senator has little history in agricultural policy, but...
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and state Attorney General Andrew Bailey, both Republicans, are lending their support to a lawsuit filed against Tyson Foods on behalf of at least 45 chicken growers in Missouri and Arkansas. Officials have...
USDA announced $110 million for 57 various small processors nationwide through two different programs, the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) and the Local Meat Capacity (Local MCap) Grant Program.
What impact could Project 2025 have on the farm bill? Here are some of the recommendations made by the Project 2025 report and what impact they could have on agriculture and for farmers, especially regarding subsidies.
Iowa is now coping with 2,000 destroyed homes, business districts wiped out and $130 million in damaged public infrastructure. As a U.S. Senate hearing pointed out, small towns are often too strapped to develop recovery plans.
Farmers in Texas are reporting some damaged crops coming just as harvest was gearing up. Meanwhile, farmers in Plains states highlight a wide swath of hail that hit the region as well.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed a new rule on Tuesday meant to deal with heat-related illnesses and deaths. OSHA cites the rule would affect more than 105,000...
An Arkansas farmer explains how he uses ChatGPT on almost a daily basis. Having signed up for the AI tool when it came out in late 2022, Senter said it's become a reliable tool for finding quick answers. He also likes that the AI...
Deere & Co. reported Monday the company would lay off 813 workers at different facilities in Illinois and Iowa. In a separate announcement, Smithfield Foods announced it would close an Iowa facility later this summer, affecting...
USDA under the Biden administration has pushed to tighten enforcement of the 103-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act through a series of rules tied to fairness and market competition. The Supreme Court's ruling last week likely...
Speaking Friday at a summer meals program in Omaha, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said the House Agriculture Committee farm bill's commodity title gives the biggest increases in support to 10% of the country's largest farmers. The...
COFCO International Ltd. and Illinois-based Growmark Inc. on Thursday completed a deal announced last week in which Growmark sold its minority stake to COFCO for a grain-loading facility in Cahokia, Illinois. A pair of Illinois members of...
Starting Monday, July 1, dairy producers who have confirmed infections in their herds can apply for lost milk production at the Farm Service Agency under the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish...
For the most part, levees along key tributaries to the Lower Missouri River were holding true while crops and farms remained protected from the high waters. Some farmers with land along the Missouri River who do not have levee...
The Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets proposed rule would clarify the interpretation of "unfair" under the P&S Act and spell out in more detail conduct prohibited under the law. USDA stated the rule would...
Flood warnings remain in place Monday and areas south of those already hit are expected to see major rivers cresting through at least July 1. Communities are flooded in at least three states with highway access limited across the...
COFCO International Ltd. and Illinois-based Growmark Inc. announced a deal on Thursday in which Growmark will sell its minority stake to COFCO in a grain-loading facility in Cahokia, Illinois. COFCO and Growmark have partnered since 2017...
A pair of Black farmers in Arkansas and Mississippi share their stories about focusing on agricultural education for Black youth in both the inner cities and rural communities.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) and Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) filed a lawsuit Monday against EPA in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia over the emissions rule. Leaders from the two organizations said the...
The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) held its 17th annual Conservation in Action tour this week, visiting farms in northeastern Arkansas and focusing largely on irrigation technology for the state's rice production...
The grants to farms range from as small as $25,000 to as large as $1.72 million. Most of the grant awardees note the challenge of finding workers and labor shortages they face. While most of the farms are involved in fruit and...
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas issued an injunction based on a lawsuit brought by four farmers. The injunction prevents USDA from making or increasing payments or providing additional relief for...
FDA officials are raising more concerns about raw milk. With sales of raw milk allowed in some form in most states, FDA is calling on state and local health officials to distribute more information...
FDA officials are raising more concerns about raw milk. With sales of raw milk allowed in some form in most states, FDA is calling on state and local health officials to distribute more information to the public about health risks of...
The Iowa and Minnesota departments of agriculture have now reported positive cases of the H5N1 virus in dairy herds over the past two days. There are now at least 11 states and 86 dairies confirmed with infected cattle. There...
Ending Prop 12 through the farm bill remained the topic du jour at the World Pork Expo on Wednesday. Leaders with the National Pork Producers Council talked about the group's support for the House farm bill that cleared...
The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management and Trade on Tuesday heard from a Mississippi crop farmer, a Minnesota livestock producer and a Florida dairy farmer, as well as a Farm Credit lender. Each spoke about...
A 1.37-megawatt solar farm near Ames, Iowa, started generating electricity last month with a mix of fruits and vegetables growing between and under the panels. Such projects will draw more attention as solar leasing continues to...
Ruling that feeder cattle are different from fed cattle, a federal judge in Minnesota dismissed a complaint filed by cow-calf producers against the country's largest packers. The producers claimed their prices fell in 2015 because...
Several major corn-planting states are now in the crop-insurance late-planting window and planting could be further hindered by continued storms in the Midwest. That may end up lowering crop-insurance coverage levels each day...
Along with new funding, USDA is creating a pilot program that would designate dairy farms as negative status for the H5N1 virus if they test negative for the virus three weeks in a row using on-farm bulk milk or similar milk...
Elanco announced it has received FDA approval for a feed additive that reduces emissions for dairy cattle by 30 percent. USDA has already provided $90 million in grant funding to prepare dairies to take advantage of such...
Leaders at the U.S. Meat Export Federation meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, last week talked about some ways the group can use its share of the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP). USDA released $300 million last week...
As many as 1,500 other people were watching on YouTube at one point to see the House Agriculture Committee debate the farm bill. A lot of key votes all fell along the party lines of 29 Republicans and 25 Democrats. At times...
The bill, HR 8467, the $1.5 trillion Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024, passed out of committee on a 33-21 vote with four Democrats joining 29 Republicans to back the bill. The committee debate had a handful of key...
The 54-member House Agriculture Committee kicked off the marathon process of marking up and voting on a farm bill with nearly five hours of opening statements for the $1.5 trillion Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the House Agriculture Committee chairman are at odds over plans that will take away authority from USDA over the Commodity Credit Corp. fund, as well as just how many dollars that move frees...
The House farm bill plan would boost government spending on farm commodities, but it would also widen the gap in support for crops. Most farm groups largely like what they see in the bill, but critics of farm safety programs see...
High food prices sparked the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee to ask USDA to delay the CRP sign-up deadline so farmers could consider planting a crop on CRP acreage instead.
U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday held a call with reporters to highlight $300 million in trade grant awards to 66 organizations under the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP. On the call, the secretary also...
China vowed to retaliate after President Joe Biden imposed new tariffs on metals and technology as a way to defend his administration's investments in electric vehicles and semiconductors. Recalling 2018 and 2019, U.S. agriculture will...
The July Cattle report would take about $550,000 to fund while it would cost about $7 million to reinstate the county-level yield report this year. But a decision to fund them would need to be...
There is already an array of programs that pay farmers for planting cover crops and using no-till practices. The 45Z tax credit, which goes into effect next January, will likely require more focus on farmers' carbon intensity...
The July Cattle report would take about $550,000 to fund, while it would cost about $7 million to reinstate the county-level yield report this year. But a decision to fund them would need to be made soon.
Forty-two dairy herds have confirmed H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza infections across nine states. USDA now offers indemnity payments and incentives totaling $98 million to help farmers increase testing for dairy cows and...
Cary Fowler, U.S. special envoy for Global Food Security, and Geoffrey Hawtin, founding director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, were each named 2024 World Food Prize laureates at a ceremony Thursday at the U.S. State...
In a report released Wednesday, the EPA, FDA and USDA each explained some plans they have to reduce regulatory oversight or streamline approvals for some genetically modified crops while also coordinating regulations for food...
As USDA receives more industry complaints, NASS has now set up a May 8 webinar to spotlight available data for recently discontinued survey reports. A group of more than 70 members of Congress wrote USDA to reverse the...
Florida is the fourth state now to ban lab-grown meat from being sold in the state.
A provision in the Senate Agriculture Committee Democratic framework for a new farm bill would reduce the income eligibility for commodity programs from $900,000 adjusted gross income (AGI) down to $700,000 AGI. The House plan...
The Commerce Department announced plans to raise tariffs on phosphorous fertilizers imported from Morocco from 2.12% to 14.21%. This continues a battle over phosphate import tariffs going back to 2021.
After months of talks and delays, leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees each laid out separate farm-bill frameworks Wednesday with goals of pushing Congress to pass a new bill this year. The proposals still...
A collection of groups and interests immediately weighed in after the U.S. Treasury Department released its guidance Tuesday for U.S. biofuel producers to receive sustainable aviation fuel 40B tax credits. Some groups were...
Treasury Department officials on Tuesday released the rules for the first round of sustainable aviation fuel tax credits. To qualify, biofuel producers will have to show they can have at least 50% lower emissions than...
USDA's Animal and Health Plant Inspection Service added Colorado to its list of states with dairy herd infections. It's the first herd with a reported infection in the past week. USDA now shows nine states with a total of 34...
Nationwide, corn planting reached 23% complete and soybean planting reached 16% as of Sunday, April 28. Winter wheat conditions were rated 49% good to excellent, down 1 point from 50% the previous week.