07/16/2010 07:04AM
Life has three inevitables -– birth, death and taxes. The only one that government has dominion over is taxes. And it’s the only one that gets screwed up regularly.
Changing the tax rate is a handy device to encourage or discourage certain activities. Want to improve a flat or declining housing market?
07/22/2010 02:39PM
Americans enjoy the safest food in the world. So why do we throw so much of it away?
07/19/2010 07:23AM
An open letter to Katie Couric: You do know what a journalist is, don’t you? It’s someone who doesn’t take one side of any story as the absolute truth.
07/15/2010 10:10AM
Proposed rule changes could unleash a wave of litigation, and prompt courts to overturn earlier rulings.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack poured gasoline on a smoldering controversy last month when he announced that the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) will publish a proposed rule that would provide significant new protections for producers against unfair, fraudulent or retaliatory practices.
07/23/2010 11:19AM
Senate Democrats on Thursday abandoned plans to pass an energy bill that caps emissions of carbon dioxide, saying Republicans refuse to support the measure.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said no Republican was willing to back a comprehensive energy bill, a development he called "terribly disappointing."
07/28/2010 09:15AM
The debate on the sale of raw milk continues across the country. Recent raids on raw milk clubs in California and in Minnesota continue to add fuel to the fire.
07/26/2010 10:47AM
With the federal government beginning its challenge of the Arizona immigration law last week, the employment of illegal immigrants in agricultural jobs gained momentum again.
07/27/2010 01:02PM
As a burgeoning world population pushes city boundaries outward, people increasingly come into close proximity with areas once exclusively the realm of farming.
07/19/2010 10:30AM
America still likes things big. They like big cars, big houses and big fast-food sandwiches! Big-sandwich lovers are in for a treat. Carl’s Jr. announced last week that it is test marketing a foot-long cheeseburger in southern California and Indiana this summer. If successful, the company will launch the new burger nationwide within three to six months.
07/20/2010 01:25PM
No one likes to think of the worst-case scenario much less plan for it, so we put it off. Of course, a crisis situation is not the most clear-headed moment to be making decisions for yourself, your staff, your animals or you business.
07/23/2010 05:46PM
The crude oil and the stock market have traded in very similar patterns for quite some time. The two markets don’t match each other every day, but generally if the stock market is trending higher, so is the crude oil.
07/16/2010 06:24PM
The September US Dollar Index finally found support at the 50% retracement of the move up from last November’s low.
07/21/2010 10:54AM
Value-added agriculture is often touted as a means toward economic development in rural areas. And who couldn’t use a few extra coins in their pocket?
07/19/2010 08:17AM
Slightly more than 5 months are left in 2010, but there are only 30 legislative days scheduled for Congress before the end of the year, when the current ethanol tax credits expire.
07/20/2010 07:36AM
AgSight previously addressed GIPSA's proposed rule to "increase fairness in the marketing of livestock and poultry" and address "unfair, unjustly discriminatory or deceptive" practices by meat processors.
07/16/2010 03:43PM
Fallout in the equities sector and profit-taking after three straight days of futures gains landed Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle in mildly bearish territory Friday.
07/16/2010 02:52PM
Iowa food companies and Iowa research institutions are leading the charge to overhaul the ingredient and packaged food industries to meet the demands of consumers for healthier, wholesome food that is accessible and affordable.
07/16/2010 06:54AM
The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame is a new program intended to honor the most innovative and influential individuals in the cattle-feeding business. The hall announced its 2010 inductees during a banquet in Denver Thursday night - the late Kenny Monfort of Colorado and H.C. (Ladd) Hitch of Hitch Enterprises based in Oklahoma.
07/16/2010 10:34AM
“A 2007 Congressional mandate to divert a substantial portion of the
U.S. corn crop - the chief source of food for the animals that we eat -
into corn-based ethanol to be burned as fuel instead of being used as
animal feed has pushed many in animal agriculture past the tipping
point,”
07/20/2010 03:25PM
America's growing interest in renewable fuels has spurred a robust discussion about the pros and cons of continuing or changing current U.S. federal government ethanol policies, specifically, (1) mandates to increase the use of renewable fuels like ethanol from approximately 13 billion gallons today to 36 billion gallons by 2022, (2) a 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit for "blenders" who add ethanol to gasoline, and (3) a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff, which increases the price of foreign imports.
07/21/2010 03:59PM
Environmental and industry groups that frequently oppose each other on a broad range of policy issues are launching a joint campaign calling on Congress to require thorough and objective scientific testing before allowing an increase in the amount of ethanol in gasoline.
07/26/2010 03:09PM
Three major ethanol groups today called on EPA Administrator Jackson to formally approve the use of E12 in the nation’s gasoline supply.
07/16/2010 08:45AM
The Corn Farmers Coalition (CFC) is emphasizing the importance of family farmers to our leaders in Washington as well as to the consuming public in a unique new campaign.
07/16/2010 02:40PM
U.S. corn futures ended higher Friday on technical strength as the market shook off earlier losses in the session and closed above a key moving average.
07/20/2010 08:22AM
Commodity prices and demand are the bottom line for profitability in any operation, and the past four years have brought bullish markets, a recession, and now a bushel of market dynamics that Dad certainly never told you about.
07/15/2010 01:30PM
As of Friday, July 9, working gas in underground storage was 2,840 billion cubic feet (Bcf), which was 10.7 percent above the 5-year (2005-2009) average. The implied net injection into storage was 78 Bcf.
07/23/2010 11:02AM
As California dairy farmers anxiously await a decision by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a farm overtime bill, different people are voicing their opinions.
On Thursday, The Modesto Bee came out with an editorial against the measure.
07/16/2010 06:36AM
The once-popular ethanol industry is scrambling to hold onto billions of dollars in government subsidies, fighting an increasing public skepticism of the corn-based fuel and wariness from lawmakers who may divert the money to other priorities.
07/15/2010 08:13AM
“All uses of antibiotics improve animal health, and these improvements in animal health can substantially improve human health,” concluded one expert who testified yesterday at a congressional hearing on antibiotic use in livestock production and antibiotic resistance in humans.
07/24/2010 04:10PM
Most people like a good ‘whodunit’, and apparently so does Stanford University researcher David Lobell. If you follow environmental news, greenhouse gas alleviation seems to cause more consternation than revelation.
07/22/2010 02:47PM
Natural gas prices increased across all market locations, as high temperatures continued to envelop most of the lower 48 States.
07/21/2010 04:08PM
Farm Aid President Willie Nelson today declared his support of Shirley Sherrod, former director of the Georgia Field Office for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (the Federation), and called for her reinstatement as Georgia USDA State Director of Rural Development.
07/22/2010 08:01AM
Corn growers, the ethanol industry, and motoring public, and the rest of America are awaiting EPA’s decision on whether to allow ethanol to expand beyond the 10% blending limit, and if so, how much.
07/23/2010 08:16AM
In the West, scattered showers continue across the Four Corners States, boosting local moisture reserves. Warm, sunny weather elsewhere promotes development of summer crops, including rice and cotton, while supporting the winter wheat harvest and other seasonal fieldwork.
07/26/2010 01:32PM
Feeder cattle futures fell from a two-year high, and slaughter-ready cattle prices also declined, on expectations cash markets will erode this week.
07/22/2010 02:44PM
The untimely drowning death this week of Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture Rod Nilsestuen is a loss to all of those in the farmland protection movement.
07/22/2010 11:45AM
A growing global population has stock traders looking to agribusiness as the next hot investment sector.
07/22/2010 12:26PM
As part of an effort to persuade Congress to reject calls by some to mandate an increase in the amount of ethanol in gasoline by 50 percent, AMI and 14 other industry and environmental groups have joined forces to sponsor an ad with the tagline, “Say NO to untested E15.”
07/16/2010 10:32AM
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just announced its RFS2 (renewable fuel standards) blending mandates for 2012.
07/19/2010 07:18AM
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a study assessing the subsidies provided for producing different types of biofuels. The study also estimated the cost to U.S. taxpayers and analyzed the interaction of the tax credits and mandates to produce biofuels.