USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Aug. 12 the selection of 21 new members to the Planning Rule Federal Advisory Committee (FACA), which provides guidance and recommendations on management of implementation of the 2012 Planning Rule.

Alta Seeds will demonstrate the first herbicide-tolerant sorghum hybrids in their 2014 trials in Hereford, Texas. The first grain sorghum hybrids with the DuPont Inzen Z herbicide-tolerance trait will be introduced commercially by Alta Seeds in 2016.

According to Gregory Karp of the Chicago Tribune, John Deere will be laying off 600 of its employees in the next few months. The four factories affected are in Moline and East Moline, Illinois; Ankeny, Iowa; and Coffeyville, Kansas. John Deere is based out of Moline.

U.S. farmers spent $367.3 billion on agricultural production in 2013, a 2 percent increase from 2012, according to the Farm Production Expenditures report, published by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

In a recent report, “Land Values 2014: At the Tipping Point,” Rabobank warns farmland may be heading for an asset bubble. Only two states, Arizona and West Virginia, have experienced zero or negative change in land values from 2005 to 2013, while farmland values in the Corn Belt have experienced sharp increases.

The entry deadlines for this year’s World Forage Analysis Superbowl are quickly approaching.

The USDA announced continued progress in implementing provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill that will strengthen and expand insurance coverage options for farmers and ranchers.

The White House Rural Council has a plan to create a $10 billion investment fund for rural America. Pension funds and large investors who contribute to it will be financing agricultural projects such as wastewater systems, energy projects and rural America’s infrastructure development according to Alexandra Stevenson of The New York Times.