Its not often you see a lot of harvest equipment going full speed ahead in late February, particularly when the fields full of nothing but desiccated 15-foot stalks. In between shooting photos, I answered questions for those who stopped to ask about all the activity (Brent was driving one of the boll buggies shadowing the harvester and didnt have a lot of time for PR work) And while much of agricultures emphasis today is on ethanol production, Brasher and the MSU engineers are running a...

His cotton fields have just produced a bumper crop of the white gold upon which millions of West Africans depend. But this Burkina Faso farmer who for 20 years has made a living on the plantations of the region s biggest cotton producer has yet to see his cheque. Six tonnes of picked and priced cotton lie heaped on his farm, ready to be sold. US cotton subsidies ruining farmers. Free-Market News Network does not represent, warrant, or endorse the accuracy, reliability, completeness or...

Weather so far has not been a determining factor for agriculture production in Texas, but lack of rain could alter the number of crop acres planted and yields. State agriculture producers are hoping there isn't a repeat of 2006 when crops across the state were ravaged by drought. Prospective corn plantings statewide are predicted to be 2 million acres compared to 1.76 million acres in 2006, according to estimates. The drop in Texas cotton acres is in response to the change in corn acreage...

With corn prices up and cotton at break-even levels, the northeastern Louisiana farmer considers corn his best bet and for the first time in more than a decade will plant no cotton. The sharpest decline is projected for Mississippi and Louisiana; farmers in Louisiana, where construction of at least one corn-based ethanol plant is planned, are expected to seed their fewest cotton acres since 1975 and their most corn in nearly a decade, according to the U. Powered by The University of Basel....

The recently released USDA crop planting prospects indicated, not surprisingly, that farmers intend to plant much more corn this year about 12 million acres more! That along with increases in wheat, hay, grain sorghum and barley acres are being offset mostly by 8 million fewer acres of soybeans and a 3 million acre drop in cotton. One of the reasons that dual-purpose wheat systems are so popular in Oklahoma is that all too often the conditions that result in good wheat grazing conditions...

will export less cotton than the government forecast a month ago as sales and shipments lag behind year-ago levels, especially to China, analysts said. exports to China were down 72 percent at 1.24 million bales in this marketing year from 4.56 million bales at the same time last year, according to the USDA. Unsold supplies at the end of the year may reach 9.12 million bales, up from 8.8 million projected last month, analysts said. Export estimates by analysts ranged from 13 million bales...

Increases in corn and wheat acreage are expected to come at the expense of soybean and cotton acreage, although intentions show a substantial increase in total acreage to be planted in 2007. For soybeans, supplies will likely remain ample even with reduced acreage in the United States due to large current supplies and record South American production. Planting intentions in western growing areas are down 4.7 million acres, while producers in the eastern Corn Belt intend to reduce acreage...

From staff and wire reports DES MOINES, IOWA Mississippi farmers are expected to nearly triple the acreage used for corn production this year because of the marketplace fueled with expectations of high corn prices. Cotton gins, dealers, aerial applicators, consultants and field laborers likely will have less work this year, Lawson said. An ethanol-fueled boom in prices will prompt American farmers to plant the most corn since the year the Allies invaded Normandy, but surging demand could...

New outbreaks of meningitis in certain health districts and the contamination of bore holes in the north are serious threats affecting household health status. On the whole, the household food situation in all livelihood zones is considered acceptable, despite anticipated problems in the following at-risk areas. Reuters AlertNet - Food security remains stable AlertNet (change) In the Sahel, a livelihood zone characterized mainly by transhumant pastoralism and pearl millet production...