The rice and corn sectors are expected to exceed last year's production despite adverse weather conditions this year, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics said. Corn production is expected to reach 2.73 million metric tons, up five percent from 2.6 million metric tons last year, the bureau press release said. Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap earlier said the Department of Agriculture would try to put in place the needed infrastructure and post-harvest facilities before the onset of the...

Market prices set by the federal government plummeted almost 90 cents per gallon between May 2004 and May 2006, putting farmers behind the eight-ball. The Massachusetts farmer's position in this highly regulated industry has to do with a complicated formula that sets the market prices for milk across the country. Duffy and others say one way of helping the Massachusetts farmer for the long haul is to replicate a law passed in Maine in 2005 that adds a fee to the retail price of milk....

Borrowing technology used at Epcot's Living Seas aquariums, the pioneering Florida aquaculture farmer plans for a future where a mere 250 acres breeds a species of fish new to most American palates, while also signaling the changing times in the state's agricultural picture. Gene Evans' farm sprawls across 1,700 acres, but his family's agricultural future fits in just a fraction of that space. Borrowing technology used at Epcot's Living Seas aquariums, the pioneering Florida aquaculture...

The slow progress raises concerns that some intended corn acreage will not be planted and that yield potential will be negatively impacted by the late planting. Good added that the stronger basis likely reflects a slowdown in farmer sales of old-crop corn even as consumption continues at a rapid pace. Since then, prices have recovered by 50 cents, with the average central Illinois' overnight bid at country elevators quoted at $3. In addition to the stronger basis, cash prices have moved...

Two hundred pounds of crayfish were finished off in three hours. Although she didn't have final attendance numbers for Sunday's event, Holt took the butter and crayfish consumption as a sign that the size of this year's fiesta surpassed last year's attendance of 5,000. But the most important item sweet corn remained plentiful, albeit in dwindling amounts. Food dwindles quickly at Sweet Corn Fiesta. Sixty pounds of butter was ordered for today's Seventh Annual South Florida Sweet Corn...

The growing demand for wheat, a cheaper substitute for corn as animal feed, may pressure the corn prices, said analysts. The USDA data was supportive for soybeans as the agency's first look at the new-crop balance sheet cut stocks in half from the record 2006-07 carryout projections, analysts said. New-crop ending stocks were pegged at 320 million bushels, below the average analyst estimate of 337 million and the USDA's latest old-crop estimate of 610 million. Corn futures also settled...