Climate Change

The number of monarch butterflies spending the winter in the western United States has dropped to its second-lowest mark in nearly three decades as pesticides, diminishing habitat and climate change take their toll on the beloved pollinator.

Zoe Kent hopes people get a little joy out of her talking about farming on the Internet. In one of her latest videos, she compares pesticide application to dry shampoo. “Farming is for the girls,” she quips.

Hours after being sworn in as the new U.S. secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy took aim at the way the government regulates miles per gallon for cars and trucks — a principal way it regulates air pollution and climate change.

When Russell Maichel started growing almonds, walnuts and pistachios in the 1980s, he didn’t own a cellphone. Now, a fully autonomous tractor drives through his expansive orchard, spraying pesticides and fertilizer to protect the trees.

The Fort Wayne Farm Show, to be presented Jan. 14-16 by Tradexpos at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, will feature daily educational seminars provided by Northeastern Indiana Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Purdue Extension.

Conservation practice adoption, pesticide regulations and biofuel tax credits are just a few of the issues for agriculture entering 2025.

The 2024 Fall Meeting of the Dairy Sustainability Alliance emphasized the industry’s collective efforts to meet sustainability targets through the adoption of new technologies, best practices and measurement tools.

The legacy of Mike Plumer’s soil conservation work continues to live on through those he taught.

Illinois State Conservationist Tammy Willis announced a statewide funding opportunity for the Conservation Stewardship Program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

McDonald’s USA, Lopez Foods and Syngenta North America announced a collaboration that aims to increase feed efficiency and help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released per pound of meat produced.

California will partner with a trade group representing major U.S. airlines to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels, state officials said.

Every preelection poll for the U.S. presidential race saw it as a too-close-to-call nail-biter. Not one predicted the sweeping victory posted by former, now President-elect Donald Trump.

The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Program released Environmental Stewardship Version 3 supporting the dairy community’s efforts to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $1.5 billion investment for 92 partner-driven conservation projects, including one in Illinois and Indiana, through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

A groundbreaking technology has been developed that could boost domestic corn demand by over a billion bushels.

Between harvest and preparing for the state corn-husking competition, From the Fields contributor Clay Geyer has a busy October ahead of him.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced up to $7.7 billion in assistance for fiscal year 2025 to help agricultural and forestry producers adopt conservation practices on working lands.

Like farmers and ranchers, veterinarians love to pour concrete. Many build customized facilities dedicated to their animal health mission: examination rooms, operating theaters, cattle chutes, holding pens, loading docks.

The story of the newly married couple and their dream of continuing the family farming legacy is a tale of determination and resilience in the face of challenges.

On the South Side of Chicago, students learn to work on Rivian electric pickup trucks and SUVs through a new technician program at Olive-Harvey College.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has selected 28 organizations to host members of USDA’s Working Lands Climate Corps, an effort that will train the next generation of conservation and climate leaders.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of what is referred to as the foundation of the modern crop insurance program.

On March 2, the 13th World Trade Organization ministerial ended like most previous ministerials. After its 164 member-ministers discussed the burning need to change two, key international trade rules, everyone went home without changing any key international trade rules.

Tractors are in the streets in Paris, Rome, Brussels and many other cities and towns across Europe this winter.

To make sure farmers’ voices are heard and their ideas are understood, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced the creation of an Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Climate-altering pollution from greenhouse gases declined by nearly 2% in the United States in 2023, even as the economy expanded at a faster clip, a new report finds.

Engine maker Cummins Inc. will recall 600,000 Ram trucks as part of a settlement with federal and California authorities that also requires the company to remedy environmental damage caused by illegal software that let it skirt diesel emissions tests.

The White House is lending its support to an auto industry effort to standardize Tesla’s electric vehicle charging plugs for all EVs in the United States, part of a broad effort to stimulate their sales to help combat climate change.

Its official name is the “United Nations 28th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change,” or COP28 for short. Given the news from the two-week gathering in the desert near Dubai, however, a better name might be “Shifting Sands, Shifting Blame.”

The old maxim, “the more things change, the more things stay the same,” might ring true for some facets of our lives, but it’s not true for climate change.

A two-year research project at Northern Illinois University is taking a deep dive — and a big listen — into farming and the impacts of climate change on farming in northern Illinois.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Indiana is investing up to $1.25 million in a Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership project.

A delegation from Illinois Farmers Union recently traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for family farmers as part of the National Farmers Union Fall Legislative Fly-In.

A shortage of food and energy should be coming sooner than later. I fully expect the final quarter of this year and into late 2025 to be a period marked by rising prices for those two basic markets.

Bipartisan legislation that creates the Healthy Soils Initiative and commits to improved coordination between the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Soil and Water Conservation Districts was signed into law.

To ancient Greeks and Romans, the “dog days of summer” began when Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major — Latin for “big dog” — “appears to rise alongside the sun.”

Well before it was warm enough to plant seedlings in the ground, farmer Micah Barritt began nursing crops like watermelon, eggplant and tomatoes — hoping for a bountiful fall harvest.

The late May to late June period this year was the driest and warmest in history for the United States. It was far worse than what was experienced in 2012, when grain prices rose sharply during the growing season.

Long before presidential campaigns cost a billion dollars and the Capitol Hill press corps obsessed daily over who’s up and who’s down, Congress worked together to resolve controversial national issues.

Winter cover crops could cut nitrogen pollution in Illinois’ agricultural drainage water up to 30%, according to recent research from the University of Illinois.

In my 10th year leading National 4-H Council, the nonprofit partner to Cooperative Extension’s 4-H Program, I’m reflecting on the significant role 4-H plays in preparing a diverse workforce in agriculture.

The Southwest continues to endure a “megadrought,” a term used to describe drought conditions lasting at least two decades.

In the final book of his “Annals of the Former World” anthology, writer John McPhee tackles the geology and geography of the still-young, barely holding-together Golden State. His title, like his writing, is brilliant: “Assembling California.”

I can think of no better way to kick off the spring season than by celebrating the hard work and commitment of America’s farm and ranch families. We are proud to grow the safe and sustainable food, fiber and renewable fuel we all rely on.

Illinois farmers traveled to Washington to tell Congress that the next farm bill must be a climate bill.

Indiana Farm Bureau’s priorities for the 2023 Indiana General Assembly will focus on four general topic areas: rural viability, energy policy, taxes and food security.

Bruce Rastetter, Iowa’s longtime agricultural and political power center, has a sixth sense when it comes to making money.

Many policy choices are made on politics alone while other key decision-making elements like cost, science and even common sense play a lesser or no role at all.

Recently, the 118th Congress was sworn in. These elected officials, chosen by the American people in November, will spend the next two years debating the issues that matter most to all of us.

The new House majority will keep the focus on farming in the next farm bill, said Republican Rep. Jim Banks.