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Producers have increased beef production largely by sending larger cattle to slaughter, while pork farms have boosted production largely by increasing the number and sizes of litters, according to a pair of economists. Lamb production has gone in the opposition direction.

Farmers with cotton, rice and peanut base acreage stand to get the biggest subsidy increases under the changes Congress made to farm bill commodity programs through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with payments for peanut and rice base jumping more than 200%, according to a new analysis.

Congress has returned to session after the August recess. House Ag Committee Chair Glenn "GT" Thompson has continued to vocalize his goals to take committee action on a “farm bill 2.0” in September to address elements not included in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. During an interview for Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, the chairman discussed what’s on his radar this fall: farm aid payments, tariffs, ag labor reform legislation, the USDA reorganization plan, and his vision for "farm bill 2.0." 

One day after the Agriculture Department lowered its forecast for net cash farm income this year, Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins took to the airwaves to predict that the farm economy was headed toward brighter days. 

The Agriculture Department is lowering its forecast for farm earnings in 2025 as declines in the crop sector more than offset soaring incomes for cattle producers.  

Farmer sentiment fell in August amid the downtown in commodity markets and uncertainty with exports for some commodities, according to the monthly Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Lawmakers return from their long summer recess to growing prospects for a government shutdown, and policy makers will get a fresh look this week at the state of the increasingly fragile farm economy.

The Trump administration is discussing some type of “bridge” financial assistance to help farmers make it into 2026, says Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden.

Justin Sherlock and other farmers in North Dakota are just a month away from combining their soybean crop, and their biggest market, China, has yet to order a single bushel. As a result, local cash bids in Sherlock’s area was down to $9.09 a bushel on Tuesday, $1.40 below the CME Group’s November futures price. That spread, or basis, would normally be about 70 to 90 cents a bushel,