Breaking News

Agriculture

More indoor farms are being built as many shut down, business struggles

CLEBURNE, Texas — Inside a bright greenhouse about an hour outside Dallas, workers in hairnets and gloves place plugs of lettuce and other greens into small plastic containers — hundreds of thousands of them — that stack up to the ceiling. A few weeks later, once the vegetables grow to full size, they’ll be picked, packaged and shipped out to local shelves within 48 hours. This is Eden Green Technology, one of the latest crop of indoor farming companies seeking their fortunes with green factories meant to pump out harvests of fresh produce all year long. The company operates ...

USDA to survey row crops county acreage and production

HARRISBURG — Beginning this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will survey a sample of producers in 37 states, including Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York as part of its 2023 Row Crops County Agricultural Production Survey. The survey will collect information on total acres planted and harvested and total yield and production of row crops to support estimates down to the county level. Producers can complete their survey securely online at agcounts.usda.gov. If producers do not submit their completed ...

Fun dairy facts from Juniata Dairy Miss

Hello. I am Jayde Sweger, and I am a Juniata County Dairy Miss. I want to remind everyone to get three servings of dairy every day. Some fun dairy facts: America’s favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla and cows can smell some things up to six miles away. October is Cheese Month. Cheese ...

Workshop offers chance to elevate calf management expertise, skills

UNIVERSITY PARK — Dairy farmers and dairy farm employees can enhance their calf management knowledge and skills at an upcoming Penn State Extension workshop. The “Calf Management Workshop” will take place Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rail Center, 184 Young Rd. in Lewisburg. Expert presenters will share their knowledge and experiences with calf management. Attendees can learn about a variety of topics related to calf management, including colostrum management, disease prevention, social housing and heifer-raising costs. Participants must register by 11:59 p.m. Oct. 18. The ...

USDA to survey farm chemical use, production costs

HARRISBURG — Beginning this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will gather information about crop production practices from producers across Pennsylvania and New York, as part of the 2023 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). “ARMS is a vital survey that tracks how Pennsylvania and New York farms use technology to manage production of their major field crops,” King Whetstone, director of the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office, said. “The data from this survey also help policymakers and farm groups ...

Pa. wheat production up, oats down, record high yield for barley

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania winter wheat production totaled 17.5 million bushels in 2023, up 14% from the 2022 total of 15.3 million bushels, according to King Whetstone, director of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Northeastern Regional Field Office. Area harvested for grain totaled 230 thousand acres, up 10% from the previous year. Yield was estimated at 76.0 bushels per acre, up 3.0 bushels from the previous year yield of 73.0 bushels per acre. Oat production was estimated at 2.87 million bushels, down 20% from 2022. Yield was estimated at 61.0 bushels ...