August 23, 2024
Between hail, strong winds, floods and plant disease, US corn crops were put through some tough times this summer. But somehow, the fields of green blanketing America’s heartland have proved to be ever resilient. Those are the findings heading into …
July 17, 2024
Deere & Co., the world’s top farm machinery maker, is pulling back from diversity measures in the face of conservative criticism, the second agriculture-related company in less than a month to bend to such pressure. Deere said on the social …
July 2, 2024
Tractors plow the farm fields without drivers, guided by satellites and iPhones. Solar-powered robots tend to plants on the ground like giant outdoor Roombas, while drones fly overhead spraying the crops. It may sound like science fiction — perhaps Uncle …
June 21, 2024
US milk production is starting to get hit by the bird flu virus, which first made the jump to cows earlier this year. Output in Texas and Kansas — the first states where highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected in …
April 3, 2024
Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the biggest egg producer in the US, has culled roughly 3.6% of its flock after birds at a Texas facility tested positive for avian flu, adding to concerns over a widening outbreak. Nearly 1.6 million laying hens …
August 25, 2023
Sagging ears just short of maturity, cobs half bare of kernels as if nibbled, earth so dry that deep cracks criss-cross the fields: The US corn harvest is in trouble. The signs were already there in South Dakota. Scouts surveying …
May 15, 2023
America’s wheat fields have become so plagued by drought that farmers are now poised to abandon crops at the highest rate in more than a century. Producers are expected to harvest about 67% of their planted acres, the US Department …
July 26, 2022
US poultry producers Cargill Inc., Sanderson Farms Inc. and Wayne Farms LLC agreed to pay $84.8 million restitution for conspiring to lower wages for workers at chicken slaughterhouses as part of a settlement with the US Justice Department. The US …
May 6, 2022
A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys and with more deaths expected through next month as farmers perform mass culls across the …
January 26, 2021
A major food workers’ union praised President Joe Biden for withdrawing a rule that would have permanently allowed U.S. poultry producers to kill more chickens per minute. Industry trade groups said the speeds were safe. Donald Trump’s administration in its …