Michigan Agriculture Now
Tree fruit growers and representatives of industries dependent on locally grown fruit attended a roundtable Thursday to share the dire post-freeze situation they're in with an ear from Washington.
Growers and Others Survey the Loss
Condition reports on winter and spring wheat crops show some positive aspects for wheat producers - according to USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey - who says heading for winter wheat continues to advance quickly. Seventy-nine-percent of the crop is already headed - 20-percent more than the normal heading at this time…
Wheat Crop Condition
Like many others, Bruce Mackellar of the MSU Extension has been making the rounds of area fields this week looking for progress and potential problems.
May Field Scouting Report
Mark Longstroth summarizes what Southwest Michigan fruit growers are thinking at this point...
Growers Consider Path Foreward
Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in Dallas are schedule to end this week - and U.S. Trade Representative Chief TPP Negotiator Barbara Weisel says much progress has been made. That progress is helping reach the goal that was set by leaders - Weisel says - which is to make as much progress as possible this year…
TPP Makes Progress
Farmland is the foundation of American agriculture’s terrific productivity. American Farmland Trust believes farmland is America’s greatest natural resource and is important for the future of Americans and people around the world. AFT President Jon Scholl says to suitably meet the challenges placed upon the agriculture industry, AFT believes conservation programs have to be a priority for the 2012 Farm Bill…
Conservation Programs-Farm Bill
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk says if President Barack Obama is elected to a second term - he will not be part of it. The former Dallas Mayor says he will leave office in January one way or another.
Meanwhile - Kirk says negotiations over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal have been as open as possible. When there are nine nations bargaining for an agreement - Kirk says it’s impossible to do everything in public. But he says the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks have been as transparent as possible - and suggests the end result will put U.S. goods in one of the hottest markets in the world…
USTR Plans Exit
A consultant and former USDA official says timing, southern crop subsidies and the size of food stamp cuts will decide if a farm bill gets done this year.
Scott Shearer led Congressional Affairs at USDA during the first Clinton Administration and worked for former Illinois Senator Alan Dixon on the Senate Ag Committee. Shearer says Senate Ag leaders will have to deal with farm bill opposition from southern crops…
Farm Bill Hurdle
Mark Longstroth is along with our Monday fruit report...
Aftermath of the Freezes
Record corn numbers - higher soybean exports - a bigger wheat crop - all in the latest USDA Crop Supply and Demand Reports. World Ag Outlook Board Chair Gerald Bange says the market saw the bearish corn numbers coming - with planted area of nearly 96-million acres - harvested area just over 89-million - and a record 166-bushel yield
Report Bearish for Corn
The Humane Society of the United States turned up the pressure on Tyson Foods to eliminate gestation crates from its supply chain with the release of a video taken surreptitiously at a Wyoming hog farm documenting cruel and inhumane treatment of the animals. HSUS Director of Corporate Policy for Farm Animal Protection Josh Balk says the Wyoming operation was a Tyson supplier…
Turning Up Heat on Tyson
The farm bill hasn’t even hit the Senate floor and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says big fights lie ahead in both the Senate and the House when and if the farm bill moves to the Senate floor. There’s no word yet as to when that will be - but Grassley says it will be open season for amendments…
Amendments Likely for Farm Bill
