Michigan Agriculture Now

Farmers who plan to employ workers this year need to keep this one on their calendars.

South Michigan residents can have the story of agriculture delivered to them on wheels.  That's what happend this week at Branch County Farmers Day.  Doug Bloom of Bloom Dairy in Coldwater is President of the Board of the county Farm Bureau...

Roberta Osborne -- extension dairy specialist shares some impressions of her recent visit to China.

A popular winter event is set for Monday...

With the execption of last Saturday morning it's been a mild winter, temperature-wise.  Still -- it only takes one event to do damage to crop prospects.  Mark Longstroth with the MSU extension isn't ready to ring the alarm bell yet, however he says there's a simple way for you to determine if your fruit plants received damage from the zero or below temps.

More than 80 agriculture, environmental and hunger relief organizations signed onto a letter that was sent to Capitol Hill Friday asking House and Senate Ag Committee leaders to write a new farm bill this year. The groups said an extension of current law would create tremendous uncertainty for farmers and fail to provide essential resources to prevent hunger and create jobs through rural economic development and investments in agricultural research.

Bush-era USDA Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner agrees the farm bill should be reauthorized this year - but says it won’t happen if farm and commodity groups don't iron out their safety net differences…

Winter meetings are a good time to prepare for challenges which may appear during the growing season...

One of those addressing the Michigan Corn Growers this week in Lansing was CEO of the National Corn Growers Association.  I visited with Rick Tolman about a wide range of issues the national and state groups are dealing with this year...

If you grow corn and soybeans here's a meeting you need to consider.

For 2012 - the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association will be led by J.D. Alexander - a Nebraska cattle producer. As he takes the reins - he says his number one goal is maintaining the strength of the organization…

The Labor Department’s already gone back to the drawing board on its proposed rule to  limit on-farm child labor for kids under 16. But lawmakers and farm interests heaped scorn - even ridicule - on labor’s efforts at a Congressional hearing.

DOL Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink insisted to a House Small Business Subcommittee her agency’s top priority is the safety of farm kids - whose injury and fatality rate - she claimed - is far higher than in any other industry…

Current hog slaughter levels are below recent weeks. Paragon Economics President Steve Meyer says there is a simple reason…