Though a grocery shopper may remain oblivious to the financial collapse of Dean Foods, a major milk processor and manufacturer, the industry is guessing how the firm's trip though Chapter 11 bankruptcy and expected sale to the Dairy Farmers of America will all shake out.

Sugarbeets are stuck in the ground across thousands of acres in the upper Midwest, leaving producers and policymakers wondering just how to handle an unforeseen and unfamiliar situation.

House and Senate negotiators will have to sort through some sharply different priorities and spending targets for USDA and other departments and agencies important to agriculture.

Federal dollars have been a major catalyst in advancing renewable power, but industry officials say that government support going forward could be affected by proposed federal regulatory revisions and possible action in Congress. 

Call it what you want — a “plateau” or a “slow-motion recession” — the ag economy is not performing well, and successful producers will be those who can innovate and manage their farms well, speakers at the annual Agricultural Bankers Conference in Dallas said this week.

A new report from a group of Senate Democrats outlines their frustration with the Trump administration’s trade mitigation package and the way it allocates relief to certain producers rather than others.