Agribusiness

A consolidated market leaves ranchers wondering what’s next

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While consumers pay high beef prices at the grocery store, very little has trickled down to ranchers — in fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gap between the retail price for beef and the price producers receive is the largest it's ever been. In interviews, eight ranchers in seven states agreed their profits have stagnated or even decreased, while the meatpacking companies — which buy the animals for slaughter, then package the meat to be sold at grocery stores — have benefited.

Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Knee high by Fourth of July?

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The old term , "Knee high by Fourth of July" was used as a marker to gauge the year's corn crops, meaning that the height of a corn stalk should be at or above an average person's knee cap.

Agribusiness

For farmland conservation, it comes down to who owns it

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TOLONO — Lin Warfel puts farmland owners in central Illinois into two categories: Those with a deep connection and desire to preserve their land, and those obsessed with short-term money. The 80-year-old still owns the land that’s been in his family since his great-grandfather arrived in Champaign County in the 1800’s. After farming it for decades, he now rents the corn and soybean operation to his neighbors down the road.

Agribusiness

EPA watchdog: Trump officials interfered in 2018 dicamba decision

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Senior Trump Environmental Protection Agency officials changed career scientists’ analyses and conclusions in order to support the re-registration of the herbicide dicamba in 2018, according to a report from a federal watchdog published Monday.