The renegotiated trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada is of little use to the dairy farmers President Donald Trump insisted on helping, Federal Reserve banks in the Midwest are reporting Gains from the new agreement are seen as "too small and too far in the future to help dairy farmers," the Chicago Fed reported in the central bank's periodic report on economic conditions across its 12 districts.The Minneapolis Fed reported that "a substantial number of dairy operations have exited the business since the beginning of the year." The report, called the "Beige Book," was release [node:read-more:link]

The federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging dicamba-based weedkillers have caused crop damage has denied requests by defendants Bayer AG unit Monsanto and DuPont that he dismiss several class action claims broader than those contained in the multidistrict litigation master complaint. U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh in Cape Girardeau, Missouri denied the companies’ motion to strike the claims from seven individual lawsuits, rejecting their arguments that allowing them to remain would harm judicial efficiency and violate civil procedure laws. [node:read-more:link]

Anyone who knows a dairy farmer, knows things are tough right now as they deal with the ramification of trade wars, collapsed prices of milk and other commodities. Wisconsin lost 47 dairy farms in August, putting the state on pace for its worst year since 2013. Since 2017, more than 650 Wisconsin dairy farms have gone out of business.  More than three decades ago, Culver's got its start with the help of Wisconsin dairy farmers and is committed to efforts that help dairy farmers today and into the future, according to a news release from Culver's. [node:read-more:link]

A glimpse at a small Pennsylvania town in the middle of a health crisis, all while the Trump administration moves to relax what regulations there still are on how their nearby plants operate. ut there are also thousands of smaller casualties of this effort to dismantle the EPA. The Flint water crisis increasingly looks to have been a harbinger, not an aberration, something that will not improve with looser water standards. [node:read-more:link]

It is too common a story line in farm country: The parents pass away, and the entire farm has to be sold to resolve inheritance disputes. In many states, when heirs can’t agree on how to split the property, one common option for a judge is to order a “partition by sale,” with the money then proportionally divided among them. 
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To fight climate change, General Mills is looking to its past. The 152-year-old food company is turning to “a throwback of classic, old farming practices” combined with new methods to contribute to a more sustainable future for the food industry, according to Carla Vernón, president of its natural and organic operating unit. That means expanding its organic acreage and implementing regenerative farming practices with perennial grains, cover crops, and pollinator habitats. [node:read-more:link]

Over the past few decades tornadoes have been shifting — decreasing in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas but spinning up more in states along the Mississippi River and farther east, a new study shows. Scientists aren't quite certain why. Tornado activity is increasing most in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and parts of Ohio and Michigan, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Climate and Atmospheric Science. There has been a slight decrease in the Great Plains, with the biggest drop in central and eastern Texas. [node:read-more:link]

A sharp cutback in Chinese fertilizer exports is responsible for the steep increase in prices for urea and other forms of nitrogen over the past year. Nitrogen is a major expense for farmers, with the price of such products as anhydrous ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate, or UAN, generally tracking the price of urea, a globally traded commodity.A ton of urea is now trading in the range of $310-$325 along the Gulf Mexico wholesale market, up from a low point of roughly $160 in mid-2017. [node:read-more:link]

The gusty winds of October howled across fire-scarred Gordon Ridge overlooking the Deschutes River, prompting Molly Belshe to shield her face from swirling dirt and debris. It was here last July that the 78,425-acre Substation Fire raced out of control across north-central Oregon through tinder dry grass and standing wheat. Farmers like Molly Belshe and her husband, Marty, lost an estimated 2 million bushels of what was expected to be a bumper crop of wheat in Wasco and Sherman counties. [node:read-more:link]

According to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, 497 dairy farms have called it quits year-to-date. That number is 630 year-over-year. While Wisconsin is a big dairy state, operations are closing throughout the United States. [node:read-more:link]