While the amount of acres of soybeans and corn has remained stable for the past 25 years, the use of pesticides in Illinois has doubled. The state’s oldest trees are getting sick from the drift.
The Midwest and South continue to produce huge soybean volumes, yet their ability to sell them increasingly hinges on global politics and federal action rather than farm decisions.
In 2018 and 2019, the first Trump administration paid more than $20 billion to farmers who lost market access after tariffs were implemented. The money was unequally distributed.
After raising tariffs as high as 145% earlier this year, the U.S. and China have paused further escalation until November. Still, American farm exports dropped from June 2024 to June 2025.
Some Iowa growers opt for growing crops outside of the big corn and soybean markets. Farmers and experts hope that, amid the challenges, are potential wins for better health, stronger local economies and an improved environment.
If actions speak to the truth, the American Farm Bureau Federation cares more about cherries than children's health. In what is a truly shake-the-head, sad moment, the AFBF last month filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saying the Fed’s final ruling banning the pesticide c
Dave Dickey gives his perspective on an upcoming Big Ag mega-merger Cargill and Continental Grain which owns chicken-producing Wayne Farms. The two companies are teaming up to buy Sanderson Farms, the third-largest chicken producer in the US for a cool $4.5 billion.
According to a well-presented American Farm Bureau analysis released in October, U.S. farm income in 2019 will reach $88 billion, or the highest net farm income since 2014’s $92 billion, but it will still be a third lower than the record high in 2013.
