Farmers in several states will be resurveyed in an effort to update the acreage, yield, production and stocks estimates for barley, oats, Durum wheat and other spring wheat. According to USDA, producers in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming indicated significant unharvested acreage in a survey issued last month. The unharvested areas and expected production were included in the Small Grains 2010 Summary released Sept. 30. Any updated estimates from the resurveying effort will be posted in the Nov. 9 report. Read more or view the Small Grains 2010 Summary.

An overview of the U.S. dairy industry shows a decline in the number of total milk cow operations within the past eight years. Despite this decline, the number of large operations has increased along with overall milk production, according to a report by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Based on the report, there were 65,000 milk cow operations in 2009 compared to 97,460 in 2001, a 33 percent decline; however, milk production increased 15 percent to 189,320 million pounds in 2009 compared to 165,332 in 2001. The number of smaller operations dropped from 94,665 in 2001 to 61,650 in 2009, while larger operations with 2,000 or more heads increased by 128 percent. Read the report.

All wheat production totaled 2.22 billion bushels in 2010, a two percent drop from August estimates, but slightly ahead of 2009, according to a USDA Small Grains 2010 Summary report. The report, released today, shows a record-high yield of 46.7 bushels per acre, which is 2.3 billion bushels higher than last year and 1.8 bushels higher than the previous record set in 2008. Review the report.

The stink bug is quickly becoming the nuisance pest of the year. Once thought to be harmless to crops, the bug — which entered the United States 12 years ago — is damaging fruit, sweet corn and soybeans. Dairy farmers fear that feed with dead stink bugs in it will make milk that smells like stink bugs. Producers suffering from the foul-smelling pest are advised to use lethal broad-spectrum pesticides to protect their crops. (Lancaster Online) Read more.

Extreme weather patterns are on the rise globally. With flooding, heat waves and excessive rainfall becoming the norm, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that the rash of “whacky” weather is a result of climate change. Yet, legislators and other officials have ignored rural America when it comes to climate change legislation. “Rather than writing farmers off, we should be focusing our attention on them — and more importantly, listening to them,” said Commentator Jim Harkness. “We will depend on their wisdom to keep us fed as extreme storms become the new normal and on their good practices — like planting buffers along waterways and using cover crops — to hold the soil, filter our water and help keep flooding at bay when we're hit with the next round of torrential rains.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) Read more.

Officials in Vermont and New York are looking out for the safety of their farmers. Citing tractors as the number one cause of farming deaths, officials kicked off “Rebates for Roll Bars,” which offers to pay 70 percent of the cost to add roll bars to tractors or seat belts to older models. The rebate could add up to $700 in savings. (WPTZ.com) Read more.

Injecting liquid manure below the soil surface of crop fields could help dairy farmers reduce ammonia emissions, according to a study by the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Based on the study, the process — which injects manure into the subsurface of a field — increased nitrogen capture in the soil and produced a 65 percent lower emission rate than surface broadcast or shallow incorporation. Learn more.