Rural

A fourth-generation farmer from western North Carolina is stoking the hopes of Democrats seeking to regain majority control of Congress next year. 

Sustainable aviation fuel is widely hailed by corn, soybean and ethanol groups as a future boon to the ag industry, but a raft of policy and market challenges must be overcome. 

As debate ramps up nationwide over the impacts of data centers, California legislators may impose strict controls on how new ones would operate in the state and who would pay to power them. The legislation comes as the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-capacity cloud computing is accelerating data center development nationwide.

Demand for major U.S. crops like corn is waning while harvests get bigger, creating an urgent need to develop new new biofuel markets for American agriculture producers, a new study says.

President Donald Trump announced a “deal” with Iran Sunday involving the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Circularity Fuels says it has completed the world’s first end-to-end conversion of raw agricultural biogas into sustainable aviation fuel, putting the California startup closer to making SAF at a cost rivaling standard jet fuel.

The costs states face in co-funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are comparable to the roughly $15 billion spent on transportation in fiscal 2025, the National Association of State Budget Officers tells Senate and House Agriculture committee leaders. USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Mindy Brashears says 7,000 inspectors with the Food Safety Inspection Service are “leading the animal health charge” in the fight against New World screwworm, and the parasitic pest does not pose a threat to the food supply.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins used her time with the International Fresh Produce Association to highlight the administration’s deregulation push, as well as efforts to reshape federal nutrition policy, expand export markets, lower labor costs and support specialty crop producers.

A new Cornell University study examines the tradeoffs involved for wine grape growers when trying to adapt to more extreme weather versus completely changing grape varieties or picking up and moving elsewhere. 

USDA has confirmed two more cases of New World screwworm in Texas and another in a dog in New Mexico, bringing to five the number of detections since the first two cases were announced last week.

It’s another big week as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins grapples with a threat to livestock, senators work on a farm bill, and President Donald Trump says he’s focused on ending war with Iran and lowering costs for ag producers and other Americans. A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction barring the Agriculture Department from withholding funding from a group of states through a terms and conditions framework that seeks to comply with Trump administration policies on gender, immigration and diversity.