Agriculture

A new bill introduced in Michigan would allow farmers enrolled in the state’s farmland preservation program to rent land to commercial solar operations. Bill sponsor Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet tells Brownfield the legislation would pause tax incentives for farmers in the PA 116 program and allow land to be used for solar generation. “When you’re done using the land for the solar farm, you take that down and revert the […]

In this episode of Missouri Corn Talk, Jeff Wilkerson, the Government Policy and Regulatory Affairs Manager with Pearson Fuels, has an update on higher blends of ethanol on the west coast. ...

Beef supplies are tighter. The USDA says beef in cold storage at the end of March 2023 was 480.896 million pounds, a 10% drop from the record monthly high reported at the end of March 2022. That’s due to comparatively better demand than other proteins and a lower production pace because of tighter market ready supplies. Pork supplies were reported at 533.916 million pounds, 10% above a year ago, with […]

U.S. poultry production during March 2023 was 4.535 billion pounds, down 1% from March 2022. The USDA says that included 4.043 billion pounds of chicken, slightly lower than last year with a 1% decline in the slaughter pace to 826.335 million head enough to cancel out mostly heavier average live weights, with all chickens averaging 6.49 pounds per bird. Turkey production was 479.85 million pounds, 5% lower than a year […]

Kentucky is the latest state to block the enforcement of the Biden administration’s “Waters of the U.S.” rule.  The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals out of Cincinnati issued an “administrative stay” on enforcement of the rule until May 10th while it decides if it will issue an injunction.  If the injunction is granted, it would remain in effect while Kentucky and the other plaintiffs appeal the ruling from late […]

House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson says the 2023 Farm Bill will have significant implications for the future of production agriculture. “We’ve got a goal that we do the type of farm bill that we can take the productivity of the U.S. agriculture industry to 400% since the 1940s by 2035,” he said. “We can do that with the right policies we put forward.” Speaking at a farm bill […]

Fieldwork continues across Michigan and for many farmers, that means terminating cover crops to make way for the next rotation. In this Pods for Profit, field crops educator Eric Anderson with Michigan State University Extension explains some of the best methods. ...

While many farmers wait for warmer weather to plant annual crops, there’s a perennial crop that has growers up late monitoring the weather.  Tom Lochner with the Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association tells Brownfield the cranberry vines started coming out of dormancy during the unusually warm 80-degree weather two weeks ago, so growers are watching for overnight frost now. “Usually at night, you’ll find growers out, especially this time of year […]

Midwest lawmakers are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to be fair in its panel review of atrazine. In a letter sent on Friday, lawmakers asked for EPA’s Scientific Advisory Panel to meet in-person in August. Lawmakers said in-person provides higher quality discussions and better questions. Lawmakers also expressed concern about the narrow scope of atrazine studies the scientific advisory panel will consider and asked EPA to consider adding candidates with […]