Category Archives: News

Farmers and ranchers spent $2.1 billion on expenses related to irrigation equipment, facilities, land improvements and computer technology, according to the 2008 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey. The survey, released today by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, showed that … Continue reading →

USDA scientists along with researchers at the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute have sequenced the genome of Brachypodium distachyon, a wild grass that will help reveal the genetics of other grass and wheat varieties for use as biofuel crops. … Continue reading →

Demand for corn to make ethanol is expected to increase by 17 percent, according to a report by USDA. Ethanol producers are estimated to use 4.3 billion bushels of corn this year, which is down from last month’s estimate of … Continue reading →

Orange production is down three percent from Jan. 1, according to a report released today by the National Agriculture Statistics Service. Florida orange totals are down four percent from last month’s report and 21 percent lower from numbers reported for … Continue reading →

Below freezing temperatures may have cost Florida farmers more than $450 million, according to a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. State officials estimate that 632,000 boxes of oranges along with 105,000 boxes of grapefruit and … Continue reading →

Comments from farmers and ranchers have moved USDA to develop a new, flexible framework for an animal disease tracking system. The original system, which was dropped by the Obama administration due to industry criticism, assigned each animal a unique identification … Continue reading →

Highlighting a U.S. focus on farming jobs to lure Afghans from the battlefield and curtail the opium trade, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated that Afghans would rather farm than fight. The statement comes after a visit to Afghanistan last month … Continue reading →

A report released yesterday by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service shows that organic farms and ranches have higher average sales and production expenses than U.S. farms overall. The 2008 Organic Production Survey — which is the first wide-scale survey … Continue reading →

The USDA announced that it will be seeking comments on its new Biomass Crop Assistance Program designed to expand the use of dedicated non-food crops for renewable energy and biofuel production. “Advancing biomass and biofuel production holds the potential to … Continue reading →

The USDA has designated 83 counties in Michigan as primary natural disaster areas due to a series of disastrous weather conditions that occurred throughout 2009. Several counties in the adjacent states of Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin also qualify as natural … Continue reading →