The No. 7 article of DTN's Top Ag Stories of 2025 revisits how the Trump administration used its DOGE initiative to slash government spending and eliminate staff. Agriculture and farmers were in the middle of the fallout as contracts were canceled or checks delayed while thousands of employees left USDA.
Southeast cattle producers faced a wet spring preventing hay production, then summer drought. Variable weather continues with winter cover crop grazing planned and a warmer spring forecast.
A new report from USDA's Office of Inspector General points out more than 20,000 employees across every agency left USDA in the first half of 2025. Most of the job losses were through a buyout program. The cuts hit some agencies harder than others.
DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton shares why a simple picture can help tell a complex story.
Christmas shortens the commodity market week, while temperatures point to more cold beverages over hot cocoa for the holiday refreshments.
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.7 million head on Dec. 1, 2025. The inventory was 2% below Dec. 1, 2024, USDA NASS reported on Friday.
Nebraska seeks federal court permission to pay farmers approximately $542,000 from Hansen-Mueller Co.'s $1 million surety bond.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is now tasked with deciding whether to greenlight the $85 billion Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, which is considered the largest railroad consolidation in history.
The phosphorus outlook looks to be somewhat cloudy in 2026. Limited Chinese exports and the continuing countervailing duties battle are major factors why global supplies are limited. The phosphorus price outlook appears to be steady into the new year.
Ethanol production in the United States averaged 1.126 million barrels per day (bpd) for the week ended Nov. 28.
Claas pushed its Omaha, Nebraska, factory to work overtime in the spring to produce the Lexion combine for the Canadian market, but with tariffs now in place, it's filling new Canadian orders from Germany. Nevertheless, the company is going forward with new construction in Omaha, and the United States is critical to the success of much of the new equipment the company is rolling out.
