Agriculture

Legislation providing 150 million dollars in one-time state funding from the budget surplus to improve agriculturally important local roads that are often posted with weight limits has been signed into law. Governor Tony Evers tells Brownfield, “We had a nice group of Republicans and Democrats bipartisanship making this happen, and basically it’s going to be a long-term effort but making sure that our roads and agricultural parts in the State […]

Missouri’s Ag Director says extreme weather has caused a 70 percent decline for the state’s wine production this year.   Chris Chinn says farmers have faced a perfect storm. “Late last year in December, we had a really cold spell, and the weather fluctuated a lot in the last three months of the year.  It really came at a bad time when the grapes would have been budding.  Then in […]

A South-Central Nebraska farmer says timely rains have made a night and day difference for crop conditions. Eric Hausermann tells Brownfield he was going to only plant two-thirds of his crops due to drought and then plans changed.  “Because it was looking pretty bleak prior to starting to receive some rains. We did some planting prior to receiving some rains because we head already to committed to doing that with […]

Two extension specialists say proper planning and management can help beef producers minimize the longer-term economic impact of drought. Purdue’s beef specialist Ron Lemenager says forages are in short supply, and farmers and ranchers will likely need to implement more intense management strategies. “Creep feeding in the short term might be a consideration,” he says.  “In the longer term, if we think that the drought is going to last a […]

Nearly 40 proposals have been submitted to USDA to reform the Federal Milk Marketing Order. American Farm Bureau Federation economist Danny Munch has been tracking the process. “Some of those proposals fit under the same category, so they might be combined, but ultimately the Secretary is going to decide what is the full scope of what can be discussed at the hearing,” he shares. Munch tells Brownfield Farm Bureau supports […]

A new global forecast of oil demand indicates growth for biofuels in the next decade. Troy Bredenkamp with the Renewable Fuels Association tells Brownfield the report from the International Energy Agency suggests ethanol and biodiesel will provide 10 percent of new liquid fuel supplies by 2028. “As both ethanol and renewable diesel, biodiesel drop their carbon intensity, there’s just opportunity after opportunity not only here but abroad.” The IEA is […]

Across the Corn Belt, dry weather prevails, except in westernmost corn and soybean production areas from the Dakotas southward.  By June 18, topsoil moisture was rated more than one-half very short to short in all Midwestern States, except Ohio and North Dakota, led by Michigan (89%) and Illinois (87%).  On the same date, Michigan also led the U.S. in very poor to poor ratings for corn (28%) and soybeans (32%).  […]