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5 days ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
After several years of USDA hearings with the dairy industry, changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Orders took effect over the weekend. Danny Munch, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the FMMO structure is intended to protect farmers. “The primary purpose of the federal order system is to set minimum prices milk handlers have to pay dairy farmers for the milk they purchase. This was really meant to avoid any abuse and pricing negotiations with farmers.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at or 843-540-4540. Volume has been very lackluster on this holiday shortened week. All weekly reports were delayed by a day this week so we got our first look at condition ratings for corn on Tuesday afternoon. Corn was rated at 68% good excellent vs 73% expected.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
The Natural Resources Conservation Service recently celebrated 90 years of protecting soil health and serving farmers to do so. Aubrey Bettencourt is the NRCS Chief and says connecting with farmers is something they talk about a lot. “We’ve got to meet our farmers where they are and, more importantly, meet them where they’re going.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, gets a lot of criticism in the news, but what are they really doing and how might it impact agriculture? Washington Representative Dan Newhouse says it’s worth watching, but he thinks it’s doing some needed things. “I just talked to Secretary Bergum from the Department of the Interior.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Farmers and ranchers are dealing with a lot of stress due to many factors. Dr. Larry Tranel, a dairy field specialist at Iowa State University Extension, says a lot of stress makes a challenging occupation even harder. “If I’m working with a farmer, I guess one of the biggest things is it helps to realize that if they’re under a lot of stress, their ability to organize and calculate, to think, to make decisions, to plan, is reduced.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
The U.S. Meat Export Federation Spring Conference took place last week in Fort Worth, Texas. Keynote speaker Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, said the cattle herd rebuilding may finally be gaining traction. “We’re still in tight fed cattle supplies. We’ve got more hooks than we have cattle to fill those hooks, and we see that not only at the fed cattle level but also at the non-fed level as well. So, non-fed slaughter, non-fed cow, and bull slaughter have declined significantly, as you would expect.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
As the weather begins to heat up, more and more fresh fruits and vegetables can be found at farmers markets across the state, including plants for your garden. Activity at farmers markets across the state is getting busier and busier with more fresh fruits, vegetables, food products and plants arriving every day. That means it’s a great time to visit a farmers market and discover what local goodness is all about.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
Ag organizations in SC host an annual Congressional Staff Tour where in state staff for the congressional delegations tour agribusinesses and hear firsthand about issues the industry faces. SCDA along with Palmetto Agribusiness Council plans and hosts a two day tour and we rotate areas around the state.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
It was Tuesday, May 20, when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testified before a Senate committee hearing. During the hearing, Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith from Mississippi grilled the leader of the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA Commission, about its report that is critical of farm chemical use. She asked Kennedy point-blank if he had been able to refute 50 years of U.S. government scientific reviews and if that would show up in the report.
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1 week ago | 
sfntoday.com | Mike Davis
A giant in North Carolina agriculture recently retired from active work, but his legacy lives on thanks to an initiative by the Corn Growers Association of North Carolina, NC State Extension corn specialist, Dr Ron Heiniger, assisted farmers of the state for more than 30 years before officially retiring on April 1. Rhonda garrison is the executive director of the North Carolina Corn Growers.
