Ag co-ops thrive in Valley and beyond
Ag co-ops across the nation had a record $246 billion in sales last year, a 4% gain over 2012, according to a report released last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was the third straight...
View ArticlePrison Dairy Gives Inmates Job Skills — And A Sense Of Purpose
Making license plates is the stereotypical job for a prisoner, but in California’s Central Valley, a group of inmates are doing very different work, supplying milk to almost every prisoner in the state...
View ArticleValley raisin growers, packers agree on price after tough negotiations
After weeks of negotiations, California raisin growers and the industry’s packers have agreed on a price for the 2014 crop: $1,775 a ton, an increase of 7.5% over the previous year. Raisin Bargaining...
View ArticleWith Farm Robotics, the Cows Decide When It’s Milking Time
Something strange is happening at farms in upstate New York. The cows are milking themselves. Desperate for reliable labor and buoyed by soaring prices, dairy operations across the state are charging...
View ArticleDHM Numbers: California December Class 1 prices announced
California’s December Class 1 milk prices are $23.72/cwt. for the North and $23.99/cwt. for the South. Both are down 61¢ from November and the lowest since February. However, both are $1.99 more than...
View ArticleTomato harvest breaks California record
Not even an epic drought could stop the familiar convoy of agricultural trucks hurtling down Central Valley freeways this year, brimming with freshly harvested tomatoes. Defying the state’s devastating...
View ArticleEast? West? Which Has the Better Butter Stick?
Did you ever notice that butter is sold in long, thin sticks in the eastern part of the United States, while in the West it’s sold in short, stout blocks? Honestly, me neither. But a consumer who did...
View ArticleGrain, Soybean Futures Slide on Demand Caution
Prices for U.S. grain and soybean futures fell on Wednesday as harvest wraps up in the U.S. Farm Belt and caution over the demand picture lingers for some U.S. agricultural commodities. Corn and wheat...
View ArticleCalifornia wheat production may jump in 2015
Although California wheat acreage dropped significantly in 2014, farmers may be planting more of it this fall and winter, thanks in part to a record tomato crop. Much of the state’s wheat is planted in...
View ArticleFarm groups pitch Trump on picking former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado...
On the heels of Abel Maldonado’s visit with President-elect Donald Trump last week, major farm groups in California are urging the incoming president to pick the former lieutenant governor to lead the...
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California storms add 350 billion gallons to parched reservoirs
The powerful storms that soaked Northern California over the past week did more than trigger power outages, mudslides and flash floods. They sent roughly 350 billion gallons of water pouring into...
View ArticleBrown’s budget includes boosts for CDFA, ag education
Gov. Jerry Brown’s $122.5 billion initial state spending plan for 2017-18 calls for a slight boost for its main agriculture agency to fund efforts to regulate marijuana, fight plant pests and manage...
View ArticleCottonseed supply up 13 percent compared to last year
Total U.S. cottonseed production in 2016 is forecast to reach 5.1 million tons, up from 4.5 million tons in 2015, a 13.3 percent increase, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures National...
View ArticleAs Rains Soak California, Farmers Test How To Store Water Underground
Six years ago, Don Cameron, the general manager of Terranova Ranch, southwest of Fresno, Calif., did something that seemed kind of crazy. He went out to a nearby river, which was running high because...
View ArticleCalifornia farm labor board chairman quits in anger
William B. Gould IV, California Gov. Jerry Brown’s appointee to lead the board charged with protecting the rights of the state’s farmworkers, announced his resignation Friday, accusing the state...
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Trade War Truce Pushes Feed Higher
December 16, 2019 Over the weekend, China confirmed that a Phase 1 trade agreement could be signed very quickly. Though details of the agreement are scant, what we do know is that its 86 pages. New...
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Corn basis remains elevated soybean meal falls
Basis in the Eastern Corn Belt remained high this week as feed supplies in the southeast remains tight. According to Successful Farming, basis – the price paid above the Chicago board price – in...
View ArticleThe Bakersfield Californian – Study highlights sustainability gains in dairy
The report credited similar changes, as well as the use of ag byproducts, for a sharp drop in the amount of land, water, petroleum and overall energy consumed by dairy operations. The authors noted...
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toPNews – February 27th, 2020
On a week where the Dow Jones is off about 5%, oil nearly $4 down, and corn off nearly $6 per ton from its recent high, soybean meal manged to run up $14. It’s not often we see that kind of rally....
View ArticleWSJ – Coronavirus Snarls Trans-Pacific Shipping and Ripples Through U.S....
The coronavirus epidemic is upending the carefully calibrated logistics of global shipping, as plunging exports from China disrupt the trade of American goods, especially farm products such as fruit...
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