Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told the North American Agricultural Journalists in Washington, DC, today that in response to interest in Congress, the USDA is drafting legislation that could be used to put the Bush administrations farm bill ideas into the 2007 bill. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told the North American Agricultural Journalists in Washington, DC, today that in response to interest in Congress, the USDA is drafting legislation that could be used to put the Bush...

Not only did the amount of land that Ohio farmers devote to certified-organic crops, fruits and vegetables decrease from 2000 to 2005, according to recent data from the U. Changes in the process required to certify products as organic could have prompted some farmers who grow organic crops to forgo the certification, and recent data counted only certified operations. Given those factors, why have Ohio farmers devoted fewer acres to certified-organic food production in recent years? The...

April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Australia, the world's second- biggest exporter of raw sugar, may produce 8.1 percent more of the sweetener next year as the nation's crop recovers from drought and a cyclone. Sugar production in Australia plunged to the lowest in at least six years in 2006-07 after a cyclone damaged crops and the nation had one of the worst droughts in a century. Brazil is the world's largest sugar exporter. Australia Sugar Output to Rise After Drought, Cyclone (Update1) By...

Congress hoped for something different in the 2002 farm bill, when lawmakers required the Agriculture Department to prepare a long-range agricultural trade strategy. Auditors, though, believe that the Agriculture Department has hurt itself by failing to establish a "focused global strategy" despite congressional orders. It's an unresolved fight, escalating just as California lawmakers try to boost federal spending on fruit and vegetable exports. Agriculture Department officials retorted in...

That appears to be 12 million acres more than last year when 78 million acres were in corn. If the numbers are accurate (there is always the chance some acres might not be able to swim, Brother Jim) over 90 million acres are projected to be planted to corn. For at least six weeks prior to the release of the report, traders, hedgers, merchandisers, and farmers were trying to get a handle on the 2007 crop acres for corn, soybeans, and wheat. If you deduct 6-8 million acres for silage the...

The USDA said because soybean and corn are quite often interchangeable in parts of the Midwest and South, farmers have dropped beans to go with corn because corn prices have all but doubled over the last year. The USDA estimates US demand for corn for ethanol production will rise 50 per cent to 3.2 billion bushels of the possible record total figure of over 13. Why has this happened? The doubling in the corn prices over the past year and increasing yields means farmers get more from the...