Chris Clayton

The loans and grants to paper businesses that did not exist a year ago reflect some of the fraud that occurred as the Small Business Administration sought to provide immediate emergency relief to businesses affected by the...

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a report Wednesday proposing the best way to combat China's growing global influence is for the U.S. and Europe to improve trade and regulatory ties. The report comes as...

The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) unveiled on Tuesday a series of recommendations for federal climate policy involving agriculture and forestry. Groups involved in the plan highlight more demands are being placed on...

On a per-capita basis, the Midwest and Plains are getting hit the hardest by COVID-19. States that have resisted restrictions such as mask mandates now are installing tighter controls as hospital capacity fills up.

Randy Mittelstaedt, head of RJO Market Insights for R.J. O'Brien and Associates, broke down USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand numbers for soybeans, looking at Chinese imports and Argentina's drought situation, which could...

Farmers are recovering from the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus, as well as rising COVID-19 cases in rural America. President-elect Joe Biden coming to office raises a lot of uncertainty about regulations, as well as...

Joe Biden's agenda focused on a dramatic shift from President Donald Trump on issues such as immigration, trade and taxes. Some of that agenda likely gets tempered with the Republican-held Senate, but some farm leaders still...

Leadership in Congress will shake up with some retirements and the election loss by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Tuesday's vote also showed President Donald Trump continues to have strong...

The election was coming down to counting ballots in a handful of states that would carry into at least Wednesday and possibly later in the week to determine whether President Donald Trump or Democratic rival Joe Biden wins the...

Going late into the evening Tuesday, it became clear the high numbers of mail-in ballots in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- which collectively account for 46 electoral votes -- would carry the count over into at least...

Commodity Classic is among a string of major winter agricultural conferences that have shifted to on-line events or delayed their conference start dates. The American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention in mid-January will...

With the presidential election next Tuesday, federal agencies this week have released several rules supported by farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses such as chemical companies, and the logging industry. Cabinet members traveled to...

With now less than a week left until Election Day, President Donald Trump held three rallies on Tuesday and stressed familiar lines on trade and aid to farmers, as well as his support for ethanol. The president, though, spent more...

For most farmers, changes in Democratic nominee Joe Biden's tax plan would be negligible. But for farmers earning more than $400,000 a year, they would see higher income taxes, payroll taxes and the loss of some business and...

Seventeen cattle organizations have asked House and Senate Agriculture Committees to give the U.S. agriculture secretary more authority on regional cash trade sales.

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...

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...

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 models. The report is one of the first...

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...