A new report from the Agriculture Department provides the first projections for the 2014-15 crop marketing year. But the more compelling story in today’s World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate is in the old-crop soybean and corn stock numbers, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Ending stocks for old-crop soybeans were reduced by 5 million bushels to a projected 130 million bushels. This is a projected stocks-use ratio of 3.8 percent or about a 14-day supply of soybeans available at the end of the 2013-14 marketing year. “If the projections are realized, we’re looking at a record-tight level of soybean ending […]

Oklahoma remains fourth in the nation in number of farms, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The agriculture census occurs every five years and takes into account details specific to the operations of farmers, ranchers and other ag producers across the United States. Farmer demographics is included in the data compiled.  The 2012 numbers reflect the average age of the Oklahoma producer is equal to that of the national average; 58.3 years old.  However, the age of Oklahoma producers has slowed since 2007; perhaps indicating an increase in young producers returning […]

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau voiced its opposition to a recently proposed rule jointly issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers that attempts to expand federal regulation of land areas as “waters of the U.S.,” during a field hearing today before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  Speaking on behalf of Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, beef and grain farmer Tommy Nagle testified that farmers are concerned about the possible consequences of the proposal on farms and the future viability of family businesses, especially when you consider that land features identified in the proposal are found extensively on farms […]

The American Farm Bureau Federation asked its members earlier this week to resist a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that it says will impose unworkable regulations on the nation’s farms. Published Monday in the Federal Register, the more-than-111,000-word “Waters of the U.S.” proposed rule reflects the EPA’s latest interpretation of the 1972 Clean Water Act. The rule could ultimately lead to the unlawful expansion of federal regulation to cover routine farming and ranching practices as well as other common private land uses, such as building homes. “This rule is an end run around congressional intent and rulings by […]