US Corn Harvest Is in Trouble August 25, 2023 By Tarso Veloso, Millie Munshi and Michael Hirtzer Sagging ears just short of maturity, cobs half bare of kernels as if nibbled, earth so dry that deep cracks...
Farmers Set to Abandon Wheat Crops at Highest Rate Since 1917 May 15, 2023 By Michael Hirtzer and Tarso Veloso America’s wheat fields have become so plagued by drought that farmers are now poised to abandon crops at the highest...
U.S. Sues Chicken Producers, Alleging They Conspired to Keep Wages Down July 26, 2022 By Michael Hirtzer and Leah Nylen US poultry producers Cargill Inc., Sanderson Farms Inc. and Wayne Farms LLC agreed to pay $84.8 million restitution for conspiring...
Bird Flu Outbreak Nears Worst Ever in U.S. With 37 Million Dead Chickens May 6, 2022 By Zijia Song, Elizabeth Elkin and Michael Hirtzer A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over...
Biden Withdraws Trump Chicken Slaughter Rule Industry Says Is Safe January 26, 2021 By Michael Hirtzer A major food workers’ union praised President Joe Biden for withdrawing a rule that would have permanently allowed U.S. poultry...
Meat Packing Plant Owners Defend Operations During Pandemic July 27, 2020 By Michael Hirtzer and Isis Almeida As part of an investigation into the spread of coronavirus at U.S. meat plants, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory...
China Says Food Unlikely to Be Cause of New Virus Outbreak, but Blocks Tyson Imports June 22, 2020 By Marion Dakers and Michael Hirtzer China suspended poultry imports from a Tyson Foods Inc. plant where hundreds of employees tested positive for Covid-19, stoking concerns...
U.S. Cotton, Peanuts at Risk as Hurricane Makes Northward Turn September 4, 2019 By Marvin G. Perez, Michael Hirtzer and Brian K. Sullivan With Florida orange groves seemingly escaping major damage from Hurricane Dorian, concern now turns to soy, corn and cotton fields...
U.S. Farmers Face Insurance, Aid Decisions as Persistent Rains Prevent Planting May 28, 2019 By Michael Hirtzer Kansas farmer Mark Nelson has until Saturday to plant his corn or lose the insurance that protects him from a...
More Rain Forecast as Midwest, Great Plains Continue to Deal With River Flooding March 19, 2019 By Brian K. Sullivan and Michael Hirtzer The Great Plains and Midwest, struggling with flooding that inundated roads and farms and pushed rivers to record heights, is...