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Joseph Janzen, University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign “What the US-China Deal Means For Rare Earths, Soybean Farmers and TikTok” By: ABC News – October 31, 2025 “The agreement could ease a major fear among U.S. soybean farmers about a continued loss of Chinese purchases and the drop in soybean prices that would have ensued. The concern has been about expectations of the future and how things could get worse. This agreement realizes what some people in the trade were thinking: There’s got to be a resolution to this conflict that means we shouldn’t see dramatically lower prices for soybeans.” (Continued...) Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology “The Impacts of the Government Shutdown: How Do They Differ Across Regions?” By: Medium – November 10, 2025 “Under the Antideficiency Act, federal agencies are unable to either spend or obligate any money without an action, known as an appropriation, from Congress. When Congress fails to enact the 12 annual appropriation bills, federal agencies must cease all non-essential functions until Congress acts. This is known as a government shutdown.” (Continued...) Keenan Marchesi, Datassential “Fewer Shoppers, More $5 Chicken Plates: SNAP Cuts Ripple Through the Region’s Economy” By: Boston Globe – November 5, 2025 “Across New England, $364 million a month flows through SNAP… “It’ll be a trade-off of what can last, what can feed their families and what would be nutritionally beneficial.” (Continued...) Eric Belasco, Montana State University “Montana Ranchers Uneasy as Trump Plans to Import 80,000 Metric Tons of Argentina Beef” By: NBC Montana – November 3, 2025 “Imports can modestly lower prices. But he added the U.S. beef market is driven mostly by domestic production, which supplies 80-90% of consumer demand.” (Continued...) Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign “Machinery Costs Up, Unlikely to Soften” By: Iowa Farm Bureau – November 3, 2025 “Farm machinery costs remain elevated and aren’t expected to decrease. The supply chain impacts of COVID-19, general inflation, labor constraints and a more conservative approach from machinery manufacturers suggest costs will likely remain high. As a result, farmers may need to reassess machinery management strategies in the years ahead.” (Continued...) Madeline Turland, University of Alberta “California Surface Water Costs Can Triple During Drought, Underlining Need For Better Management” By: Phys.org – November 5, 2025 "The extreme volatility in prices surprised me. During dry years we have really high surface water prices and during wet years we have really low water prices, but we found that groundwater seems to have stable prices over time, despite precipitation swings." (Continued...) Andrew Hultgren, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign “New Climate Data: Sharp Crop Yield Drop Worldwide” By: Mirage News – November 7, 2025 "Places in the Midwest that are really well suited for present day corn and soybean production just get hammered under a high warming future. You do start to wonder if the Corn Belt is going to be the Corn Belt in the future." (Continued...) Paul Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison “China Has Resumed U.S. Soybean Imports. It Might Not Be Enough For Wisconsin Farmers” By: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – November 10, 2025 “The "randomness" of the Trump administration's trade policy has put additional stress on producers in the U.S. who are struggling to plan ahead due to economic uncertainty. You don't invest millions in domestic production based off of something that can change that fast, so a lot of companies are just waiting until it is clear what exactly the trade policy is and how long it will last.” (Continued...) David Ortega, Michigan State University “Low-Income Shoppers Cut Spending and Businesses Worry” By: The New York Times – November 10, 2025 “This is a shock to people’s income and their budgets. Food is a necessity. They’ll protect that part of their budgets. But that will cut into their discretionary spending and it couldn’t happen at a worse time for lower-income consumers as we head into the holiday season.” (Continued...) Richard Volpe, California Polytechnic State University “How Quickly Would Trump's Proposed Tariff Exemptions Impact Prices?” By: Marketplace – November 14, 2025 “Tariff exemption is welcome news because it could help slow inflation. It’s not likely to bring food prices down. There are so many other factors that influence the price of food, like cost of labor, transportation and warehousing. Plus, there are other tariffs. Pretty much every piece of capital that is necessary to get food from the fields to the supermarket is incredibly steel intensive.” (Continued...) Cesar Escalante, University of Georgia “Racial Profiling Is ICE’s New Norm. Activists Are Mobilizing in Response” By: Truthout – November 15, 2025 “The impacts of legalized racial profiling rippled out to the mental health of Arizona’s young people. During the period SB 1070 was in place, youth in Arizona faced isolation, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders due to the stress of either being undocumented or being assumed to be undocumented. Young [Latino] people who went to school, especially middle school and high school … were subjected to a lot of ostracism, labeling, and bullying.” (Continued...) Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University “US Farmers Face $44 Billion in Losses” By: Lincoln County Journal - November 13, 2025 “The tariffs are creating challenges, but it’s not fair to say they are the main culprit. Certainly, they are exacerbating the issue. The crop sector tends to follow trade cycles more closely than inflation trends. China is not going to start buying soybeans until they get something out of these negotiations.” (Continued...) Zach Rutledge, Michigan State University “Ag Labor Worries Discussed at Roundtable” By: High Plains Journal - November 14, 2205 “According to the most recent data from the National Agricultural Worker survey, about seven in 10 of our crop farm workers are born in another country, and most of those foreign-born workers are from Mexico. We also have a workforce that has a good share of workers that are not authorized to legally work here in the United States, and so that means that we rely upon a Mexican immigrant workforce, many of whom are not authorized to work here.” (Continued...) |
Monday, November 17, 2025
Members in the News: November 17, 2025
Monday, November 10, 2025
Members in the News: November 10, 2025
Zach Rutledge, Michigan State University
- “Migrant
Farm Work Has Boomed in Michigan. The Feds Just Cut Workers’ Pay”
By: IPR - November 6, 2025 - “Tariffs,
Trade Wars And Immigration Crackdowns”
By: Isthmus – November 10, 2025 - “U.S.
Farm Wage Increases Drive Higher Produce Imports”
By: Fresh Plaza – November 10, 2025 - “Research
Ties Rising Farm Wages to Growing Dependence on Ag Imports”
By: Brownfield Ag – November 6, 2025 - “US Farm
Labor Policies Don’t Work for All Farmers”
By: Van Trump Report – November 6, 2025
Jada Thompson, University of Arkansas
“Rollins: Border Cattle Remain on Hold as U.S. Battles Screwworm Threat”
By: RFD TV – November 3, 2025
“Prevention is always less costly than reaction. So if we’re being reactionary, it is going to cost us more and be less effective than if we can prevent that disease. So, if we can [stop] the disease from entering the U.S., if we can prevent it from spreading in Mexico, if we can prevent it from getting into Mexico more, and we can move — prevention is going to be less costly in general than reaction to it.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: RFD TV
Steven Deller, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Wisconsin Soybean Farmers Cautiously Optimistic About Trump’s Trade Deal With China”
By: WPR – November 3, 2025
“Farmers will likely need some sort of additional federal stimulus this year, even with the deal with China. They will need help to make the industry whole. Whether it’s Congress that’s going to act and do something, or whether Trump’s going to do it on his own, it’s not clear.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: WPR
David Ortega, Michigan State University
- “From Gas
to Groceries, Has Trump Kept His Promise to Tackle Rising Prices?”
By: BBC – November 5, 2025 - "Fact check: Trump Falsely Claims
It’s Only Beef, But Dozens of Groceries Have Gotten More Expensive This
Year"
By: CNN - November 7, 2025
Marin Skidmore, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“Wetlands Efficiently Remove Nitrogen Pollution From Surface Water, Leading To Cost Savings For Municipalities”
By: Eurasia Review – October 29, 2025
“Many of our solutions to reduce excess nutrients focus on the stage before the nutrients reach the surface water system. However, wetlands can intervene after the nutrients have already entered the system and help with cleanup and removal. Wetlands facilitate the nitrogen cycle and can help nitrogen undergo denitrification, releasing it as N2, a harmless gas that is abundant in Earth’s atmosphere.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Eurasia Review or Phys.org
Mykel Taylor, Auburn
University
Michael Langemeier, Purdue University
“Tight Margins, Tough Decisions: Farmers Face 1980s-Like”
By: Ag Web – October 28, 2025
“The numbers confirm what farmers already feel — cotton growers are deep in the red. Our Extension economists here at Auburn have put together some estimates of net returns above total costs, excluding land costs, and cotton is negative $236 an acre. And that means that if you’re paying rent, that’s even more.”
“You do see an uptick in farm retirements when you have low margins like this. We saw that back in the 2014 to 2019 period. We had some really good years in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and quite frankly, if you’re at retirement age, it’s just not as fun to farm when you have extremely low margins. We’ll have an uptick of retirements during 2025/2026.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Ag Web
Allen Featherstone, Kansas State University
“Conferences to Help Farmers Navigate Tough Economy”
By: KSAL.com – October 28, 2025
“The goal of this is to help crop producers deal with the struggling economy. In 2021, only 4.4% of Kansas farmers had a negative net farm income. But in 2024, that number jumped to 28.5%. Many producers are feeling the strain.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: KSAL.com
Alexis Villacis, The Ohio State University
- “Chocolate
Crunch Sends Halloween Candy Prices Soaring”
By: NBC News – October 29, 2025 - “Why Your
Halloween Candy Might Cost More This Year”
By: NBC 4i – October 23, 2025 - “OSU
Expert Unwraps the Reason Behind Halloween Chocolate Price Increase”
By: Farm and Dairy – October 9, 2025
(Continued...)
Read more on: Yakima Herald
Michael Langemeier, Purdue University
“Trade War With China Hits Indiana Farmers Hard”
By: WISH TV – October 29, 2025
“While low prices are not new to American farmers, the current situation is exacerbated by higher production costs. Our production costs are higher, and so that’s what makes this situation relatively tough.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: WISH TV
Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University
"US Farmers Face $44 Billion in Losses as Costs Rise and Markets Shrink"
By: Missouri Independent – October 31, 2025
“But this squeeze is made worse by the loss of key export markets — particularly China. The tariffs are creating challenges, but it’s not fair to say they are the main culprit. Certainly, they are exacerbating the issue. The crop sector tends to follow trade cycles more closely than inflation trends. China is not going to start buying soybeans until they get something out of these negotiations.”
Monday, November 3, 2025
Members in the News: November 3, 2025
Zach Rutledge, Michigan State University
- “New
Coalition Hopes to Elevate Stories of Farmers in the Ag Labor Crisis”
By: The Packer – October 27, 2025 - “Federal
Migrant Worker Program Proves Fickle, Agriculture Workers and Employers
Want Change”
By: Kansas Reflector – October 27, 2025
Alexis Villacis, The Ohio State University
- “Chocolate
Crunch Sends Halloween Candy Prices Soaring”
By: NBC News – October 29, 2025 - “Halloween
Candy Prices Have Nearly Doubled in Five Years As Sticker Shock Continues
to Hit America”
By: The Independent – October 29, 2025 - “Halloween
Candy Prices Rising, Spooked By Trump’s Tariffs and Climate Change”
By: The Guardian – October 30, 2025 - “Scary
Prices: Cost of Halloween Chocolate on the Rise”
By: Morning Ag Clips – October 2, 2025
David Ortega, Michigan State University
- “Fact
Check: Grocery Prices Are Up, Not ‘Way Down’ as Trump Claimed”
By: CNN - October 24, 2025 - “Wholesale
Turkey Prices Soar Ahead of Thanksgiving”
By: CBS News – October 22, 2025 - “Turkey
Prices Soar Before Thanksgiving”
By: Newsweek – October 24, 2025
Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology
- “Can We
Produce Aviation Fuel Sustainably to Meet the Rise in Air Travel?”
By: Rochester Business Journal - October 13, 2025 - “Why the
‘One Nation One Ration Card’ Scheme Still Falls Short in Practice”
By: Basis Point – November 1, 2025
Sandro Steinbach, North Dakota State University
“China’s Trade-War Playbook Keeps U.S. Soybeans Sidelined”
By: Ag Web – October 27, 2025
“China’s refusal to buy U.S. soybeans this fall is less about economics and more about politics. China is making a calculated move to limit its dependence on the United States. If Chinese leaders see Washington as a strategic threat, they have the resources to pay a little more for Brazilian soybeans or draw down state reserves. It’s about control and national leverage, not about getting the cheapest beans.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Ag Web
Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee
Trump’s Tariffs Have U.S. Soybean Farmers Looking for Buyers”
By: Sentient Media – October 20, 2025
“Even if you find yourself to be a farmer who sells to a biodiesel plant, you’re still going to suffer from the depressed prices from the extra soybeans lingering on the domestic market. Everybody’s negatively affected.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Sentient Media
William Ridley, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“U.S. Ag Trade Deficit Widens As Exports Decline and Imports Rise”
By: Brownfield Ag News – October 20, 2025
“Exports have largely been chugging along at the same levels for quite a while now. This year, however, exports have really nosedived. All of that’s driven by the current situation with China in the trade war. So, what was kind of a troubling situation has turned into a really serious, dire situation.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Brownfield Ag News
Jeff Luckstead, Washington State University
“Harvest at a Crossroads: How immigration is affecting the 2025 harvest in the Pacific Northwest”
By: Yakima Herald – October 21, 2025
“Reducing the wage could affect whether workers sign H-2A agreements. He also said that farmers have been looking for wage relief as agricultural wages have increased. H-2A wage rates have been growing around 20% a year on average. So this could provide some relief for the farmers but could have some longer run effects on supply issues.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Yakima Herald
Yizao Liu, Pennsylvania State University
“How Is Online Grocery Shopping Changing Our Eating Habits? Insights from Penn State University”
By: Newz9 – October 20, 2025
“Shopping has changed significantly. Many people, regardless of income or location, are now buying groceries with just a few clicks. The aim is to find out how this change impacts our eating habits. Grocery shopping plays a key role in our health and daily choices, so understanding online shopping’s effects is crucial.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Newz9
Christopher Bastian, University
of Wyoming
Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University
“Wyoming Ranchers Call For Help as Trump Turns to Argentine Beef Imports”
By: Gillette News Record – October 24, 2025
“In 2024, the U.S. consumed 27.8 billion pounds of beef. Relative to this figure, the increase, even up to 100,000 metric tons, is unlikely to cause beef prices to drop by dollars per pound. At the retail and cattle level ... it will have some impact, but it’s unlikely to be a big impact.”
“The likelihood of importing enough additional pounds of beef from Argentina to impact the market in a sizable way is pretty low. Argentine beef currently accounts for only about 2% of total U.S. beef imports.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Gillette News Record
Grant Gardner, University of Kentucky
“Has the Trade War Affected Bourbon Prices?”
By: Byteseu – October 25, 2025
“A bottle of bourbon can cost anywhere from between $20 to over $100 for more premium products. We are seeing higher supply, but we haven’t seen large drops in prices. That’s because alcohol is a perishable good, which means you can put it in storage and release it at a slower pace, keeping prices at their current levels. I think your long-term hope is that you can just hold onto that product…and you can continue to sell it at a higher price later on. But we’re not seeing prices move up as much as they used to as a result.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: Byteseu
Becca Jablonski, Cornell University
“Trump’s Argentina Beef Deal Angers America’s Struggling Farmers: ‘You’re Selling Us Out’”
By: CNN – October 23, 2025
“The price increase is fueled by multiple factors. Historically the livestock sector barely makes money, but is having a rare positive year, which allows farmers to pay down debts they accrued during unprofitable years.”
(Continued...)
Read more on: CNN
Andrew Hultgren, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“Why Your Beef, Bananas and Coffee Beans Have Gotten So Expensive”
By: CBS News – October 27, 2025
“Global prices for bananas and coffee will continue to be sensitive to extreme heat or drought conditions, especially because the products are cultivated in a relatively small number of regions around the world. These types of price sensitivities will look like inflation to the average consumer.”
