U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today issued a statement providing clarification on the USDA’s oversight of plants produced through innovative new breeding techniques, which include techniques called genome editing.

Alfalfa is the third most valuable field crop produced in the U.S., valued at over $9.3 billion, $1.2 billion more than wheat, according to 2017 figures recently released by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). “Alfalfa needs to take its rightful position alongside corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and rice, which are often referred to as the “big five,” said Beth Nelson, president of the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA).

Late winter and early spring are the primary times when brown root rot, also known as snow mold, may be damaging northern New York alfalfa, a highly valued forage crop for dairy cows and other livestock.

And just when ag equipment sales had begun to turn around … President Trump tweeted in early March that “trade wars are good and easy to win. But every war has casualties,” regarding a proposed 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent tax on imported aluminum. 

In terms of total annual value to U.S. crop producers, hay remains third (behind corn and soybeans) despite three years of lower prices and declining dry hay acreage. What will 2018 bring?

Where does your state rank in national hay prices? With U.S. average hay prices ending 2016 at 70-month lows, presumably there was nowhere to go but up. However, it took until spring for prices to thaw out.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the Equipment Dealers Association (EDA) announced a new industry commitment to provide a comprehensive set of service information tools for tractors and combines put into service by model year 2021.

Old Man Winter’s job performance is again being called into question, as seasonal precipitation is not improving drought conditions in many important hay-producing regions of the U.S.