While these crops are important to America's food supply, they do not represent the majority of American family farmers. The proposed farm bill would target nearly $5 billion in funding to support specialty crop producers by increasing nutrition in food assistance programs, including school meals, through the purchase of fruits and vegetables, and funding specialty crop research. Shuler's letter offers six changes to the Farm Bill -- help specialty crop growers, provide a reliable and...

Department of Agriculture reported the choice grade boxed beef cutout value Wednesday up $0. The latest operating margin index for beef packers was minus $3. The number of loads reported for fabricated cuts was 301 and for trimmings and coarse grinds was 127. The index formula is derived using USDA pork cutout values and western corn belt hog prices. The projected value for the two-day average CME lean hog index for Tuesday was $71. CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--A summary of fundamental data for...

Among the findings are that USDA s data analysis of the largest farming operations lacked information on thousands of farms that failed to report all of the individuals or entities with an ownership interest in these operations, as required. Password:* Create new account. GAO also found fault with USDA regulations that allow farmers to insure fields individually, encouraging farmers to switch reporting of yield among fields to make false claims or build up a higher yield history on a field...

In the meantime, farmers will continue tending to their other crops -- soybean hasn't been affected as much yet -- and will keep hoping for rain. A lethal combination of no rain and abundant heat arrived at the time many stalks of corn in the Lower Shore's $35 million corn industry were undergoing the crucial pollination stage. Farmers who have irrigated their fields have managed to save portions of their crop. Geno Lowe, who farms 700 acres of corn near Hebron, said part of the trade is...

An extreme shortage of rain has prevented it from growing much and, in the process, caused a whole lot more work for the 75-year-old beef farmer. Due to the lack of rainfall, grazing lands are already depleted, causing local farmers to use hay harvests that normally would be used in winter. By Pullen s estimation, about half an inch of rain has fallen in his fields since June - not enough to do much of anything for his 275 head of Angus cows. Last month, the Culpeper County Board of...