Daily News Radio Reports Focused on Agriculture!

Source: Penn State By Chris Kick UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Pennsylvania is the fourth largest wine producer in the United States, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The industry supports nearly 11,000 jobs and directly contributes $1.77 billion to the state economy annually. In an effort to produce more and better grapes at a lower cost and with less environmental impact, vineyard growers have increasingly planted grass between rows of vines. These "ground

Source: Virginia Farm Bureau BLACKSBURG, VA — Virginia farmers and landowners have a new opportunity this spring to be compensated for conservation practices that support soil health, pasture productivity and long-term farm resilience. Enrollment is open statewide for the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture , paying landowners either $100 or $300 per acre for implementation of approved farming practices. The Alliance is an initiative supported by the U.S. Departmen

Source: USDA news release Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced it has awarded over $26.8 million to grant projects through the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP). The program helps local and regional food entities develop, coordinate, and expand producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets, and local food enterprises. LAMP includes the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), an

Source: Virginia Farm Bureau Federation AXTON, VA — Deer grazing in crop fields and bears wallowing in rows of corn are creating costly headaches for farmers across Southside Virginia. Farmers in Patrick and Henry counties have grappled with wildlife pressure for decades. But bear and deer damage has worsened in recent years, prompting area farmers to meet with Department of Wildlife Resources officials to discuss the increasing threat to crops. Deer damage a wide range of fa

Annapolis, MD -(March 17, 2026) —The Maryland Department of Agriculture today announced that the sign-up period for its Small Acreage Cover Crop Program runs March 16 through April 24, 2026. This program provides grants to help small farms and urban growers plant cover crops on their production areas to build healthy soils, improve crop yields, protect local water quality, improve climate resilience, and provide other environmental benefits. This program is for urban and sma

By Jeff Ishee For decades, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has relied on a deceptively simple definition of a farm: “any place that produces, or normally would produce, at least $1,000 in agricultural goods in a given year.” The threshold, first adopted in 1975, was designed to standardize federal reporting and ensure consistent national statistics. But nearly 50 years later, the definition remains one of the most debated in American agriculture, influencing everything fro

Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service WASHINGTON, DC - Big, crunchy, flavorful Virginia-type peanuts are a snackable favorite, and ARS scientists at the Wheat, Peanut, and Other Field Crops Research Unit in Stillwater, OK, recently released a new heavyweight to the peanut family. ‘Contender’ is a new Virginia-type peanut that contains high amounts of oleic fatty acids, which can promote cardiovascular health and extend peanut product shelf life. Peanuts normally have a

Source: Kentucky Dept. of Agriculture FRANKFORT (Feb. 20, 2026) – The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved $700,317 for agricultural diversification and rural development projects across the Commonwealth at its monthly board meeting in February. “Diversity in our agricultural landscape spells success for our farm producers,” Commissioner of Agriculture and Board Chair Jonathan Shell said. “The projects awarded today by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board

Source: Univ. of Maryland by Graham Binder Seeking to combat diet-related illness in food-insecure communities across Maryland, Professor and Extension Specialist Hee-Jung Song is creating a produce-prescription program, backed by almost half a million dollars in funding from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The program will provide locally sourced fruit and vegetables to Marylanders at-risk of heart disease and associated illnesses and track both their

by Jeff Ishee February 19, 2026 - A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the nation’s agricultural landscape continued to contract last year, with thousands of farms disappearing amid ongoing economic pressures. According to the USDA, approximately 15,000 farms were lost nationwide in 2025, marking one of the steepest single‑year declines in more than a decade. Total land in farms, at 873,950,000 acres, decreased 2,510,000 acres from 2024. See the full re