Chris Clayton

Agriculture has gone through four volatile years of trade wars, exacerbated by extreme weather events and a year wracked by COVID-19 that devastated livestock markets. Still, prices are recovering during this harvest and...

The senators, largely from oil-producing states, are calling for EPA to freeze the RFS volumes for 2021 while one of their GOP colleagues, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, is locked in a tight campaign battle in which ethanol policy is a key...

Presidential candidate Joe Biden's rural plan specifically highlights the Conservation Stewardship Program and calls for expanding funding and participation in the program as a way to help drive carbon markets. USDA just completed...

President Donald Trump talked about aid to farmers and the trade war with China, as well as E15 ethanol and blender pumps, mixing those topics into his campaign stump speech at an evening rally at the Des Moines Airport Wednesday.

In both New York and Colorado, the investment firm that owns JBS SA and Pilgrim's Pride found themselves facing hundreds of millions in federal fines after agreeing to a plea deal on bribery and submitting a plea deal on...

Ohio State University soil scientist Rattan Lal is this year's recipient of the World Food Prize for his work on carbon sequestration. With Lal's work based on rehabilitating soil health, several discussions this week with the Borlaug...

A slim majority of rural Americans, 51%, in the DTN/The Progressive Farmer poll conducted by Zogby Analytics, said they have adequate options to purchase affordable health insurance. A large number of farmers in the polls, 43...

USDA stated $22 million released this week would increase ethanol demand by nearly 150 million gallons annually. Among the investment goals is to spur fuel stations to expand the marketing of 15% ethanol blends across the country...

The National Pork Board has been working on preventive measures, such as contact tracing, to try to protect the U.S. pork industry's $6 billion export market should African swine fever ever make it into the U.S. One major...

The growing reliance on aid payments during the past three years has made government programs a higher share of net farm income. The aid payments have buoyed land values as well. Farm policy wonks recognize the aid payments...

Leaders from USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative's Office speaking at a conference Monday sounded alarms about Europe's Farm-to-Fork strategy, which they see Europe pushing to impose on other countries. The plan may focus...

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced her bill, the Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2020, on Tuesday. The bill comes as Congress is considering a continuing resolution that would extend...

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced her bill, the Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2020, on Tuesday. The bill comes as Congress is considering a continuing resolution that would extend...

McDonald's and Cargill announced a partnership Tuesday with the World Wildlife Fund and the Walmart Foundation to help promote sustainable grazing practices in an area of South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana. The cotton industry...

USDA announced a new $14 billion aid package for farmers based on planted acreage in 2020. That could limit aid for about 10 million acres of prevented planting, but USDA also allows all wheat crops to be eligible for aid.

President Donald Trump announced at a Wisconsin rally that USDA will provide another $13 billion in aid to farmers while the Trump administration is drawing scrutiny over reports that the oil industry could get direct subsidies from...

President Donald Trump will go into a Wisconsin rally to announce a new $13 billion aid bill, while at the same time, his administration is drawing scrutiny over reports that the oil industry could get direct subsidies from a USDA fund...

Addressing the issues with wildfire mitigation, the American Farm Bureau Federation and 13 state affiliates also are asking Congress to provide additional funds and programs to help prevent and recover from catastrophic wildfires...

A report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office shows MFP payments were weighted heavily to Southern states, and cotton received high payments even though cotton exports were not hit as hard as other crops...

Tobacco was a major cash crop for hundreds of small farmers around Weston, Missouri, which prided itself for having the only tobacco auction warehouses west of the Mississippi River. But after a lost tobacco allotment and growing...

A new report by a CFTC subcommittee warns that major climate events could lead to major shocks in the U.S. financial system that regulators and industries need to factor into their business...

The American Farm Bureau Federation on Wednesday released a questionnaire with responses from the campaigns for President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. With fewer than two months to Election Day, the...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue signed a USDA disaster declaration on Thursday for farmers in Iowa that will open up some further programs to producers. The secretary also said he is troubled by disparities in how...

Net farm income is projected to top $102.7 billion in 2020, USDA's Economic Research Service reported Wednesday. If that carries out, it would be the highest income for farmers since 2014. A main driver of the higher income is a...

Farmers for Free Trade is holding virtual town-hall meetings with leaders from different sectors and states voicing what they want to see for a trade agenda in the next administration, whether that's under President Donald Trump...

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue addressed the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture on Monday through a video conference as NASDA holds its annual meeting virtually this week. Perdue highlighted USDA's work...

The 2017 Ag Census reported just 22 Black or African American farmers in Nebraska, but a first-generation American, who is a former high-school and college wrestling star, is starting to build a farm legacy of his own at age 22.

The Democratic National Convention held events throughout Tuesday with its Rural Caucus and "Leaders of American Agriculture" where they highlighted former Vice President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan. Democratic leaders put a...

Vice President Mike Pence kicked off a "Farmers and Ranchers for Trump" event on Thursday in Des Moines and heard producers talk about damage from storms this week. Pence spotlighted the policies of the Trump administration...

A severe storm known as a "derecho" slammed into the Midwest Monday. Winds as high as 70 miles per hour were reported in Nebraska Monday morning. The storm continued to pick up speed as it moved across much of Iowa, hitting 99...

Family members, union representatives and advocates told a Nebraska legislative committee on Thursday about the struggles facing packing plant workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A state lawmaker is pushing for the state...

U.S. agricultural exports are down, and the overall ag trade balance set a record monthly deficit in June.

Microsoft, Land O'Lakes, Bayer and Smithfield Foods are some of the players offering more data gathering and analyzing options to producers, potentially across tens of millions of acres.

USDA released a report Wednesday summarizing volatility in cattle and beef prices following last summer's Tyson fire in Kansas and the loss of packer capacity during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic this spring. Both...