Harvest
Unlike reports of a Christmas tree shortage, the Real Christmas Tree Board, which is the checkoff for Christmas tree farmers, says growers from across the country have been able to meet the increasing demand.
The reference to chestnuts, let alone roasted ones, will trigger few remembrances even though Chestnut trees once dominated Eastern forests comprising as much as half the hardwood in those woodlands.
The USDA’s March all-orange forecast for the 2022-23 season is 2.62 million tons, up slightly from the previous forecast but down 25% from the 2021-22 final utilization.
Another round of lemon harvest will begin soon in southern California.
A scale-tipping harvest, a lack of bin space from last year and a shortage of rail cars have some farmers, and some elevators, pouring wheat on the ground because there’s no place to put it.
The ripening corn and soybean fields stretch for miles in every direction from Dennis Wentworth’s farm in Downs, Illinois.
Since farmers’ profits are dropping this year alongside crop prices, bridge-infrastructure needs have come into sharper focus.
BNSF, which has come under scrutiny this year from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board over late grain deliveries, has told some oil shippers its network can’t accommodate more tank cars.
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple opened a federal hearing in Fargo about rail service delays in the upper Plains by reading a letter from a grain elevator that said Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. was 525 cars behind in its service.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says farmers have been “tremendously patient” about rail delays, “but that patience is wearing thin.”
Minnesota officials and propane suppliers say they’re better prepared to avoid repeating the shortages that hit much of the Midwest last winter.
Gov. Mark Dayton is urging the federal government to step in on railroad delays hitting Minnesota grain farmers.
The Missouri Department of Transportation says private and for-hire motor carriers will be able to haul corn, soybeans and other grains at heavier than normal weights.
North Dakota’s congressional delegation is pressing Canadian Pacific Railway to provide details of its backlog of grain shipments, saying farmers need detailed information with fall harvest fast approaching.
Rail congestion and large bounties of crops have some worried about grain storage space as South Dakota’s harvest gets underway.
Nebraska drivers and farmers are being reminded to be careful during harvest because large equipment and trucks will be entering and leaving fields.
Minnesota farmers will face several challenges in shipping and storing what’s expected to be the state’s second largest corn crop in history.
A potential stoppage on the nation’s railways this fall is spurring concern, even after President Biden signed an executive order Sunday to keep U.S. rail traffic on track and the collective bargaining process going.
From the intense heat in the South to drought blanketing much of the U.S., weather stole headlines again in 2023. What caused such extreme conditions? One meteorologist explains the culprits of the heat and drought.
Grain shipments on some railroads could stop as early as Wednesday, two days ahead of a possible rail strike. A rail stoppage is growing more likely as the country’s main rail unions remain at odds with rail companies.