The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a new rule aimed at promoting fairness and competition in the livestock and poultry markets. The rule, titled Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets, seeks to address the stringent "proof of harm to competition" standard that currently requires farmers and ranchers to…
Families celebrating the 4th of July holiday will continue to find stubbornly high prices at the grocery store. An Independence Day cookout will cost $71.22 for 10 guests this year, based on the 2024 American Farm Bureau Federation annual marketbasket survey. The grocery bill is up 5% from 2023, and almost…
LINCOLN, NE – Today, Governor Jim Pillen sent a letter to Speaker of the Legislature John Arch, announcing his intent to call senators back into session starting July 25, to address the state’s worsening property tax crisis. Pursuant to the Nebraska Constitution, prior to that date, the Governor will issue a…
The taxable value of agricultural land in Nebraska rose 11.2 percent during the past year according to the Nebraska Department of Revenue. This follows a 6.3 percent rise in 2023 and marks the fourth consecutive year taxable values of agricultural land have risen (Figure 1). Residential property, including new growth,…
High interest rates, along with weak farm commodity prices and equipment sales, helped push a regional “rural mainstreet” economic index tracked by Omaha’s Creighton University to below growth neutral for the 10th month in a row. The Rural Mainstreet Index is based on a monthly survey of bank chief executives in 10…
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) are pressing the Biden administration on the steps it’s taking to address the recent surge of used cooking oil imports. Last year, the U.S. imported three billion pounds of used cooking oil, half of which came from China. That’s up from a…
A new ballot measure would ban slaughterhouses in the city and county of Denver. Pro-Animal Future is a political group that has introduced the measure. The group is opposed to the harvesting of animals and argues that the slaughterhouse odors are a “nuisance” to nearby neighborhoods. “There’s multiple signs from the proponents…
USDA released its June 2024 Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook that shows the 2024 beef production forecast is virtually unchanged. Heavier cattle weights are expected to partially offset tight cattle supplies. The 2025 beef production forecast is raised with expectations of continued high cattle weights and a shift in marketings…
MEAD, Nebraska — A pilot project to discover the best way to remove a 14-acre pile of pesticide-contaminated “wet cake” from the site of the now-notorious AltEn ethanol plant here has resumed after a delay that was blamed on equipment breakdowns and a change in the process. Two backhoe-like “excavators”…
June 17, 2024 (LINCOLN, NEB.) The Nebraska Department of Revenue, PropertyAssessment Division reminds property owners that valuation protests must be filed onor before Sunday, June 30, 2024. If there was an increase or decrease from the 2023 assessed valuation of a real propertyparcel to the 2024 assessed value, the county…
