There’s no question that agriculture has seen its share of consolidation across several sectors. The one major exception is beef production, more specifically as it relates to cow-calf and stocker production. A recent report from the Economic Research Service at USDA shows that all areas of livestock production, with the exception of beef, have fewer and larger operations. James MacDonald, …
Cargill Installs Controlled Atmosphere “Stunning” System in Canada Operation
Cargill announced that it’s installing a $22 million Controlled Atmospheric Stunning system at its poultry facility in London, Ontario. Cargill credits the investment to increasing customer and consumer demand for better animal welfare standards in food production. There are also electric stunning systems available to processing plants. Both electric and atmospheric systems are acceptable, approved, and proven as more humane …
Conaway Says Democrats Wrong to Oppose SNAP Changes
House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway says Democrats are not accurately portraying the changes he’s proposing to overhaul the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP). Politico quotes Conaway as saying that Democrats on the committee will see the difference between what he’s proposing and “what they’ve been told Republicans are doing,” and will see the value in the idea. Conaway’s proposals include …
Agri View: Long Range Weather Outlook
Everett Griner talks about the long-range weather forecast not good for parts of the United States in today’s Agri View. Long Range Weather Outlook You know one of the most difficult things for anybody to do is accurately forecast the weather. But here is what long-range forecasters are telling us about the rest of 2018. More droughts. More floods. And, …
USDA Expands Focus on Program Integrity Across All Nutrition Programs
As part of Agriculture Secretary Perdue’s strategic goal of ensuring that our programs are delivered efficiently, effectively and with integrity, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced an enhanced focus on program integrity, that will include renewed attention on transparency, payment accuracy, fraud and waste prevention, and improved quality control. “Where protection of taxpayer dollars …
MLB Fans Predicted to Eat More than 19 Million Hot Dogs in 2018
It’s a marriage of two American icons — baseball and hot dogs — and the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) estimates that baseball fans will consume more than 19 million hot dogs and 4.6 million sausages during the 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. The combined hot dog and sausage total could stretch the entire continental U.S. from …
U.S. Farmers Expect to Plant More Soybean Acreage than Corn Acreage
Planting Intentions Expected to be Down Slightly from Historic 2017 Record Year, USDA Reports Producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant an estimated 89.0 million acres of soybeans in 2018, down 1 percent from last year, according to the Prospective Plantings report released by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are down or unchanged …
Planting Intentions Indicate More Cotton in 2018
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its 2018 Planting Intentions Report. According to the numbers, there will be more acres of cotton this year compared to last year. Bianca Pruneda with USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has the details. Planting Intentions Indicate More Cotton in 2018 Sponsored ContentCIR Agriculture Harvester ProductsJuly 1, 2026FL Cattle Enhancement Board Wraps up Funding …
Fewer Peanut Acres in 2018
USDA’s 2018 Planting Intentions Report indicates less acres going to peanuts this year than what we saw last year. Tyron Spearman has the numbers. Fewer Peanut Acres in 2018 Sponsored ContentCIR Agriculture Harvester ProductsJuly 1, 2026FL Cattle Enhancement Board Wraps up Funding YearJune 30, 2026Florida Cattle Enhancement Board Awarded Researcher Discusses New World Screwworm OverviewJune 19, 2026Verdant Robotics Offers Growers …
Livestock Producers Pleased with Legislative Fix
Many in the livestock industry were pleased to see the omnibus appropriations spending bill passed by Congress and signed by the President, as one of agriculture’s wins in that bill ended the court-ordered reporting of manure air emissions as Superfund events. The measure overrides the courts and exempts farmers from having to report manure air emissions as a Superfund emergency. …