USDA

When you set a record ag trade deficit for the third consecutive year, the decline isn’t an aberration or a coincidence. It is growing proof that your national ag policy is headed in the wrong direction.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting offers for more than 2.2 million acres through this year’s Grassland, General and Continuous Conservation Reserve Program sign-ups.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces changes to the Farm Service Agency’s Farm Loan Programs — changes that are intended to increase opportunities for farmers and ranchers to be financially viable.

An innovative online tool available through farmers.gov allows agricultural producers to enter their farm operating debt and evaluate potential savings that might be provided by obtaining a debt consolidation loan.

Few states put on a show like the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, where 50,000 visitors from nearly 100 countries will see 1,800 owners exhibiting 2,500 or so of the best dairy cattle in the galaxy.

Whether they’re taken to heart to taken with a grain of salt, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly crop and livestock estimates are crucial for the entire farm supply chain.

Several tribal nations reported that a federal food distribution program they rely on has not fulfilled orders for months and in some cases has delivered expired food.

In our increasingly urgent quest to clean up our climate-altering, carbon-fueled culture, biodiesel and renewable diesel have become two new darlings of alternative fuel advocates.

Farmland values for the Seventh Federal Reserve District increased 2% in the second quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, marking the smallest year-over-year gain since the third quarter of 2020.

Confetti, traveling and fair food, oh my. Many people joke that my teammates and I are now “owned” by Illinois FFA.

Richard Lyons of Harvel is the recipient of the 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award.

A new Land Use Change Initiative is leading efforts to resolve inconsistencies in definitions, metrics and methodologies for quantifying land use change.

Rain makes grain, and two mid-August Department of Agriculture reports offered this year’s first in-the-field look at just how much corn, soybeans and wheat American farmers will grow this wet, grain-making year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded $22 million for projects in 36 states that expand access to technical assistance for livestock producers and increases the use of conservation practices on grazing lands.

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced that the farmer-led nonprofit organization will receive a $923,458 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The first survey-based crop forecasts for this growing season estimated record average yields nationwide and in the “I” states for corn and soybeans.

The season-average farm price projection continued edging downward as production out-paces demand, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

From a window blind to cell phones, security has changed over time, but keeping crop report data secret until its official release has been the goal for over a century.

Headwinds hit the soybean market, pulling prices below the $10 mark to a four-year low, driven by abundant supply and relatively low demand reflected in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reports.

Grazing sheep on utility-scale solar sites is not a new practice for some shepherds.

The more we learn about H5N1, the more we understand that good biosecurity is a critically important path to containing the virus.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has technical and financial assistance available to help farmers and livestock producers recover from recent tornadoes, high winds and flooding in Illinois.

For the third year in a row, Hoosier farmers broke a record for the number of conservation practices in the state, according to the Conservation Tillage Transect survey.

Weeding through the alphabet soup of conservation funding opportunities — both known and unknown — is time-consuming and perhaps frustrating.

As soon as the large mahogany door in the congressional building was opened, the farmers were greeted with hellos and handshakes. “Do you want some Indiana popcorn?” the staff in Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Pence’s office proudly asked.

Along with solid sales of U.S. corn and distillers grains, ethanol exports are on pace to break an all-time record.

Three central Illinois farm families were honored for their conservation agriculture efforts.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn the Chevron deference was a business-favoring decision to upend 40 years of legal precedent and redirect federal power from agencies like the USDA to the courts and Congress.

Through the foresight of farmers campaigning for a sales tax exemption over two decades ago, biodiesel production in Illinois has increased fifteenfold.

This year, like last year, is a farm bill year — and this year, like last year, probably won’t deliver a farm bill. The reason is the oldest one in Washington, D.C.: politics.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture began accepting applications to provide financial assistance to eligible dairy producers who incur milk losses due to highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced an intrastate testing requirement for lactating dairy cattle participating in livestock exhibitions in Illinois to minimize the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

An unexpected reduction in old crop corn stocks thanks to increased demand surprised the market when the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report.

Updated data from the recent planted acreage and grain stocks reports were plugged into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new crop supply and demand balance sheets.

Illinois and Indiana statewide average winter wheat yield estimates were each bumped up by a bushel from last month in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop production report.

A fourth farmworker has been infected with bird flu in the growing outbreak linked to dairy cows, health officials reported.

In the last two years, bird flu has been blamed for the deaths of millions of wild and domestic birds worldwide. But it seems to have hardly touched people.

Deere & Co. is laying off nearly 600 workers as the farm equipment manufacturer deals with declining demand.

The Illinois Beef Association is focused on outreach to all sectors of the beef industry.

U.S. Department of Agriculture announced counties in Illinois are accepting applications for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program to address tornado and severe storm damage.

A resolution was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2026 as International Year of the Woman Farmer.

In another hit to U.S. farmers already dealing with low grain prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service grain stocks report held no good news.

Corn and the farmers who grow it weren’t having a good day. Two U.S. Department of Agriculture reports both brought negative news for corn supplies and corn prices.

A second quarter U.S. Department of Agriculture Hogs and Pigs report held few surprises for producers and traders.

While U.S. and Illinois hog numbers remain high, there are indications that those numbers may start to come down, yielding some relief for producers haunted by red ink.

What is Steve Meyer’s prescription for the U.S. pork industry to get back to profitability? “Better demand, lower costs, fewer pigs,” said the senior economist with EverAg.

The Fourth of July is a highlight of the year on our family farm. Each summer, my family gets together for a traditional cookout, celebrating our nation with delicious food and the company of loved ones.

As the U.S. dairy industry confronts a bird flu outbreak, the egg industry could serve as an example of how to slow the disease, but also shows how difficult it can be to eradicate the virus.

A longstanding complaint here is the utter incomprehensibility of federal milk pricing policy. For years we’ve joked that only four people in the world understand its complexity.

Brazil has hundreds of millions of cows, but one in particular is extraordinary. Her massive, snow-white body is watched over by security cameras and an armed guard.