Monte Shaw, a spokesman for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, an industry trade group, said four or five biodiesel projects were in the planning stages late last year or early this year, but only one of those projects has moved forward because of profitability concerns due in part to higher input costs. Monte Shaw, a spokesman for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, an industry trade group, said four or five biodiesel projects were in the planning stages late last year or early this...

Experts say programs such as ALBA's, which bring new faces to agriculture, are becoming increasingly important at a time when farmers are aging and bigger farms are pushing out small operations. They're responsible for 75 percent of the value of agricultural production and tend to have more comfortable profit margins than small farms, according to the USDA survey. ALBA's training program works like a small-farm incubator, giving would-be growers the technical expertise and marketing savvy...

Growers in Illinois and Iowa showed the largest decrease in soybean acreage from last year, down 1.75 million acres and 1.35 million acres, respectively. Department of Agriculture forecast a huge increase in corn acreage from its March report and a big drop in soybean acreage. Farmers reported that 99% of the intended corn acreage had been planted at the time of the survey interview, which is slightly above the average for the past 10 years. Nationally, farmers reported that 88% of the...

farmers seeded more acres with corn than they planned in March and reduced soybean acreage, seeking the higher returns offered by corn, the government said. crop, may reduce costs for ethanol processors such as Archer Daniels Midland co. and livestock producers like Tyson Foods inc., which use the grain in feed. About 91 percent of the total soybean acreage was planted with gene-engineered seed, up from 89 percent last year, the government said. Today's report is based on a survey of about...

agricultural exports to Cuba by weakening demands the communist island pay for food deliveries before they leave port. The current policy began in 2005, when the Treasury Department published a rule clarifying the "cash payment in advance" requirement of a 2000 export act. Among the steepest drop-offs, lumber exports have declined by 100 percent, rice by 38 percent, and dairy products by 55 percent. Instead, they celebrated the fact that current sanctions did not come under broad attack,...