Rural

RSS

The desert locust, generally considered one of the most devastating pests in the world to agriculture, has been hitting farmers hard in the Horn of Africa as well as the Arabian Peninsula for six months, devouring crops and pasture. With COVID-19, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

COVID-19 brought a wave of new economic challenges that producers are still working through. But for beginning farmers, the pandemic has added a new level of stress that's making it that much harder to get started in agriculture, echoing the psychological toll of the 1980s.

Some specialty crop growers are concerned about labor shortages, increased COVID-19 costs, and future market demand.

E15, gasoline blended with 15% ethanol, saw modest growth over the last year as President Donald Trump's order to lift the ban on year-round sales approaches its one-year anniversary at the end of this week.

Deere & Company reported lower sales and net income for the second quarter, which ended May 3, 2020, but still beat some analysts’ expectations.

No-till farming increased yields consistently over about three decades on cropland in southwest Michigan, according to new research from Michigan State University.

Midwestern row-crop producers should expect a not-too-hot-but-wetter growing season from June through August, according to a National Weather Service summer outlook.

USDA is making $1 billion in loan guarantees available “to help rural businesses meet their working capital needs during the coronavirus pandemic,” the department said Thursday.

Former Vice President Joe Biden accuses President Donald Trump of reacting too slowly to the coronavirus-driven market disruptions that have forced farmers to dump milk and plow under crops while people were lining up for help from food banks.

At least one Facebook local farms group is growing exponentially, with over 123,000 members.