Ag News

• Secretary Perdue Commemorates 1st Year at USDA
• Secretary Perdue’s 1st Year Campaign (PDF)
• Secretary Perdue Discusses the State of Rural America at Senate Ag Committee Hearing- Focus on Trade, RFS
• ARC Improvement and Innovation Act Introduced by Sens Thune, Brown Wins NCGA’s Endorsement
• Texas Cotton: Managing Early Season Pests
• The End of Livestock Production?
• Senate Committee to Consider Rural Broadband Bill
• EPA Administrator in Political Trouble, Again
• SNAP Reforms May Win ‘Hard-Nose’ Conservative Support for Farm Bill
• Ag Markets Are Ultimately Consumer Markets
• Protecting Ag as the Trade Wars Rage
• Wheat Closes 15¢ Higher Wednesday

• Crop Insurance Performance in 2017
• Secretary Perdue Discusses the State of Rural America at Senate Ag Committee Hearing- Focus on Trade, RFS
• Perdue: RFS Waivers Wiped Out a Billion Gallons in Biofuel Demand
• Full Committee Hearing | The State of Rural America | April 24, 2018 (2 hr. 26 min. Video)
• ‘State of Rural America’ Update
• Donnelly Secures Commitment from Agriculture Secretary Perdue to Continue USDA Efforts to Combat Opioid Epidemic in Rural Communities
• Commentary: Asphalt is the Last Crop
• Pruitt Says ‘Era of Secret Science’ Coming to End
• Northey Announces Change to Livestock Indemnity Program
• Marshall: 2018 Farm bill Should Provide Certainty to Ag Producers
• Pending Crop Insurance Change Concern an Oklahoma Wheat Grower
• Latest Planting in Four Years
• Winter Wheat Prices Rebound Yesterday
• Trump Says NAFTA Talks "Doing Very Nicely"
• China’s Sorghum Importers Plead for Help on Tariff as Trade Tumult Deepens
• Is There a Round Baler Sell-Off?
• 1,500 Cattle Die in Oklahoma Wildfires; Death Toll Could Increase
• Texas: Cotton Farmers May Face Increased Bollworm Pressure This Season
• Cotton Research Project Wins Spot on International Space Station
• Sorghum Prices Falls Three Times Lower After China Tariff Announcement

• Rural Mainstreet Index Hurt by Trade Concerns
• The Trade Policy Shift: Are US Farmers Losing Their Competitive Edge?
• DTN Grain Close: Spring Wheat Tumbles Lower
• Ag Trade: Issues with China Escalate – Closer Look at Sorghum, Soybeans
• The Power of a Job in Town
• April 23, 2018 Crop Progress Report (PDF)
• Market Update for April 23, 2018 (Audio)
• China Ag Trade Issues Continue to Percolate- Closer Look at Sorghum, Soybeans
• Fire Comes Sweeping Down the Plain Lives, Livestock, Homes Lost to Oklahoma Wildfires
• Cattle on Feed Report US Cattle on Feed Up 7%
• How the Section 199A ‘Fix’ Will Work
• Criticism of House GOP Farm Bill Grows
• Iowa Records No Corn Planting Progess, USDA Says
• Successful Farming Covers: 12 Issues of Today and Yesterday
• Dicamba Debate Continues As Uncertainty Lingers
• Treasury Secretary Optimistic on Settling Trade Dispute

• Shurley On Cotton: “A Chip Shot Away From 80 Cents”
• Farmers Make Their Voices Heard in Farm Bill Debate
• Fire Comes Sweeping Down the Plain Lives, Livestock, Homes Lost to Oklahoma Wildfires
• Farmers Brace for Whirlwind Planting Season as Trade Concerns Loom
• Traders Remain Nervous About U.S. Planting Activity
• Planting 2018 versus Planting 2017
• Wildfire Livestock Losses May Qualify for Financial Assistance Program
• Large Increase for Cattle on Feed, Highest April Report Since 2006
• U.S. Grain Ships Change Direction Mid-Voyage After China Tariffs
• Washington Week Ahead: Trade, RFS Get Focus as Perdue, Pruitt Testify
• Trump Still Not Ready to Join TPP
• List of Insprirational Women in Agriculture

• Perdue Announces New Senior Leaders at USDA
• U.S. Sorghum Growers Concerned With Tariffs
• Farmers Brace for Whirlwind Planting Season as Trade Concerns Loom
• Support to Curb Farm Suicides Proposed: Senators Introduce Bill to Provide States With More Resources to Help Farmers Cope With Stress
• Basis Outlook–Here’s Who’s Buying Your Crops Right Now
• Trump’s Looming Trade War Gives Democrats an Opening in Farm Country
• Trump Still Not Ready to Join TPP
• Federal Reserve: Observations on the Ag Economy- April ’18
• Wildfire Aid Amendment Added to Farm Bill Proposal
• Wheat Market: Competing for Acres – 2018/19 Global Production to Fall
• Suspicious Organic Grain Intercepted at U.S. Port
• How Many Days Does It Take to Plant the U.S. Corn Crop?
• Kim Anderson Say Upward Movement in the Basis Good News for the Wheat Markets and Farmers

Martin Barbre, RMA Administrator

Martin Barbre owns and operates Chestin Farms and grows 6,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum, and alfalfa, as well as specialty crops. He is a past president of the National Corn Growers Association Corn Board and a member of the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), having served on the board of directors from 1995 to 2006. Barbre served as vice president of the ICGA in 2003 and president in 2004. He graduated from Southeastern Illinois College in 1974 with a degree in Ag Business.