The century's final year was one of frustration for U.S. agriculture - certainly not the way the industry had hoped to close the millennium. Farmers took pride in their productivity, turning out the fourth bin-busting crop in a row and more red meat and poultry than ever before. But the big...

The rural economy broke free from the reins of recession in 2004 with an especially strong performance in the farm sector. Net farm income easily surpassed the record high of 2003. And the weakness that plagued the nonfarm rural economy in recent years appears to have been replaced with stronger...

Markets for U.S. farm products took a sudden, unexpected turn for the worse in 1998, as supply and demand factors combined to produce a plunge in crop prices. Most parts of the nation had very favorable growing conditions in 1998, resulting in an abundant harvest of the major crops, and pushing...

An old maxim holds that too much of a good thing can be bad for your health. That maxim pretty well sums up U.S. agriculture's predicament in 1994. The nation's crop producers produced record harvests and livestock producers sent record amounts of meat to the nation's meat counters. The...

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U.S. agriculture formally entered a new era in April 1996 when a new seven-year farm bill was signed into law overturning 60 years of commodity programs. The new bill set agriculture on a new course where markets, not government programs, will determine agriculture's products and its bottom...

U.S. agriculture had a very good year in 1997, with profits widely shared among the nation's farmers. While few producers could boast of bell-ringer profits, as they did in 1996, nearly all could claim a good year. The year was especially welcome to the nation's cattle producers, who had...

Lean supplies, strong export activity, and vibrant demand both at home and abroad have pushed crop prices to record highs, offsetting today’s spiraling production costs. As a result, farm profits and investments have soared, and farmland values have boomed. ; But commodity markets in...

Farmland values in the states of the Tenth Federal Reserve District rose about 5.5 percent over the year ended June 30, 1997. Indeed, over the past two years prices in many parts of the country have risen sharply. The jump in farmland values comes at a time of dynamic change in the farm sector....