But, on the positive side, genetically modified corn stops another pest, corn borers, in its tracks, and the technology produces towering plants that produce excellent yields, said University of Illinois entomologists Mike Gray and Kevin Steffey. URBANA The stacked corn traits farmers pay big bucks for aren't keeping rootworms from munching on their favorite food. Gray, Steffey and their student assistants this week started digging up corn plants in UI fields to look at their root system...

The law governs a range of politically sensitive programs and issues, including: agricultural subsidies, food tariffs and trade, environmental regulations, land conservation, disaster relief and Food Stamps. In Rhode Island, farm bill money helps restore marine habitat around Narragansett Bay, helps the Rhode Island Dairy Farms Cooperative sell Rhody Fresh milk, allows low-income state residents to buy fresh food, pays for school-lunch programs and allows private and state agencies to...

Spring wheat in those northern states remains superior, with only 8 percent of fields rated in the very-poor-to-poor category -- most of those acres are in Montana. corn fields were rated in good-to-excellent condition, but the information has been rendered obsolete by thundershowers moving through the Corn Belt since the figures were compiled, Kub said. Fifty-six percent of corn fields are silking with 6 percent of the crop in the dough stage, mostly in southern states such as Texas and...

It will be a challenge to continue to maintain the two bushel per acre yield growth that the state's corn crop has averaged over the past 40 years, Hicks said. Some producers, like Iowan Francis Childs, have been able to maximize corn yields on isolated plots, but there's no recipe for increasing field yields on a consistent basis, Hicks said. Weather has played a major role in increasing corn yields, particularly over the past decade. This year looks to be another terrific year for corn...

Farmers elsewhere in Kentucky also benefited from rains that could prop up yields in the autumn and possibly rejuvenate stagnant pastureland and hay fields to feed hungry cattle. For western Kentucky grain farmer Bill Clift, last week's heavy rains came just in time for his drought-stressed corn crop. Clift said he'll need everything he can get out of his crops to keep ahead of high production costs, which are due largely to the high prices of fuel and fertilizer. Now, he estimated that...