Monday, June 22, 2026

Members in the News: June 22, 2026

Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

What Did The Green Revolution in India Do To Farm Size-Productivity Relationship?

By: Basis Point Insight – June 17, 2026

“A dominant finding in development economics has been the inverse farm size-productivity relationship. Observed across multiple continents, this pattern shows that smaller farms tend to produce more output per hectare than larger farms. This counterintuitive finding (since larger farms should benefit from economies of scale) has been a central puzzle in agricultural development.”

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Read more on: Basis Point Insight


Zachariah Rutledge, Michigan State University
Junjian Zhu,
Michigan State University

Michigan’s H-2A Wage Offers in First Half of Fiscal Year 2026

By: Morning Ag Clips – June 17, 2026

“The DOL’s new H-2A wage methodology was developed in response to the discontinuation of the USDA Farm Labor Survey (FLS), which had long served as the primary source for determining AEWRs. The revised approach aims to establish more consistent, occupation- and skill-specific wage rates across states by relying on an alternative federal wage data source. By aligning wages with the skills and occupations required in agricultural production, the rule is designed to help employers maintain access to a stable workforce and help American consumers maintain access to an affordable food source.”

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Read more on: Morning Ag Clips


David Ortega, Michigan State University

  • 'Buckle Up': Inflation Pain Could Linger Even After the Iran War Ends, Economists Say
    By: ABC News – June 18, 2026
  • Higher Prices For Gas, Groceries and Flights Will Likely Outlast the Iran War
    By: The Associated Press - June 16, 2026
  • No Fat to Trim: Texas Beef Industry Profits Eaten Away By New Threat — The Screwworm
    By: The Texas Tribune - June 16, 2026
  • As Hormuz Crisis Eases, Gas Prices May Drop; Other Costs Like Groceries and Home Goods Could Stay High For a While
    By: CNBC – June 6, 2026
  • The Infuriating Rise of the $8 Ice Cream Cone
    By: Bloomberg – June 15, 2026

Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University

  • War Hangs Over US Farmers as Fertilizer Prices Rise
    By: GV Wire – June 16, 2026
  • Mosaic Loses $258 Million on Sulfur Shortage From Iran War
    By: Briefs Media – June 16, 2026
  • The ‘Beans, Beef and Boeing’ Show Sputters Back to Reality
    By: AGRINews – June 19, 2026

Francis Tsiboe, North Dakota State University

  • Prevented Planting Rule Narrows Farm Risk Management Options
    By: RFD TV – June 15, 2026
  • The Expanding Access to Risk Protection (EARP) Rule Reduces Farmer Flexibility in Production Risk Management by Eliminating Prevented Planting Buy-up Coverage
    By: Southern AG Today – June 11, 2026

Carlos Zurita, North Dakota State University

NDSU Highlights Trade Opportunities for North Dakota

By: North Dakota State Ag Connection – June 17, 2026

“Trade agreements today are no longer just about tariffs. They increasingly shape how businesses navigate standards, investment decisions, supply chains, and long-term market access.”

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Read more on: North Dakota State Ag Connection


Bernhard Dalheimer, Purdue University

Ag Economist Predicts Effect of Iran War in the Grocery Store

By: Lancaster Farming – June 15, 2026  

“Right now, the pain is mostly at the producer side and not so much at the consumer side. The U.S. and Iran reached a tentative deal Monday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, pending a signing ceremony in Switzerland on Friday, but it’s uncertain whether the agreement will hold after several starts and stops during the course of the war. If the strait were to reopen quickly, American consumers likely wouldn’t see much downstream effect on their grocery bills.”

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Read more on: Lancaster Farming


Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee
Charles Martinez,
University of Tennessee

Soaring US Beef Prices Likely To Rise Further Thanks To Trade Tensions And Disease Outbreaks

By: The Conversation – June 17, 2026

“It’s summer grilling season, but for many Americans, surging prices mean beef is no longer what’s for dinner. The cost of beef, having spiked since early 2025, is coming under even more pressure. The most recent is the screwworm outbreak that hit cattle in Mexico and has now spread to the United States, where the cattle herd has already fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s, due in part to drought.”

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Read more on: The Conversation


Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee

Tennessee Soybean Farmers Get Morale Boost From Better Prices, But Future Remains ‘Daunting’

By: Times Free Press – June 17, 2026

“Export sales to China from January through March are up 49% compared to last year. That's explained by an increase in sales to China during the off-season in response to the trade agreement.”

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Read more on: Times Free Press


Craig Carpenter, Michigan State University

A Trump Administration Policy Could force thousands of retailers to stop Accepting SNAP Benefits

By: WPR – June 5, 2026

“The new rule is meant to ensure SNAP shoppers have access to healthy foods at their preferred store. But in reality, many small retailers, like convenience stores and dollar stores, will struggle to meet the new standards and maintain their ability to accept SNAP dollars.”

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Read more on: WPR


Andrew Stevens, University of Wisconsin-Madison

New USDA Rule Could Impact How Grocers Accept SNAP Benefits

By: WKOW – June 10, 2026

“The long-term impact of the rule remains uncertain. The big open question is how challenging will it be for these retailers to satisfy the requirements of the new regulation, and is that cost going to be significant.”

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Read more on: WKOW


Kashi Kafle, Texas A&M University

Commercialisation Alone Will Not Transform Agriculture: The Participation of Smallholder Families is Important

By: The Himalayan – June 9, 2026

“The future of Nepal's agriculture does not lie in choosing between subsistence farming and large agribusiness. It lies in helping millions of smallholders become productive market participants while maintaining resilience, food security, and rural livelihoods. Commercialisation should be a tool for empowering smallholders, not a pathway for replacing them.”

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Read more on: The Himalayan


Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, Cornell University

Got Milk? Climate Change May Be Hurting Both the Quality and Quantity of America’s Supply

By: Europe Says – June 18, 2026  

“The heat-induced dilution of these valuable milk components is happening a bit under the radar. When you account for the deterioration in milk composition, the economic loss ends up being of the same order of magnitude as the yield effect, so it just basically doubles the damage.”

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Read more on: Europe Says


Aaron Smith, University of California, Berkeley

Disbelief as California Drivers Can’t Buy Cheaper Gas Blend That State Legalized Last Year

By: New York Times -  June 19, 2026

“Expected savings may be overstated. In an analysis for the Energy Institute at Haas, Smith said that E15 has sold for about 25 cents less per gallon than standard gas in other states but argued the discount may partly reflect weaker consumer demand rather than lower production costs.

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Read more on: New York Time



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Monday, June 15, 2026

Members in the News: June 15, 2026

 Richard Volpe, California Polytechnic State University

Yahoo Finance Live: Daily Market Coverage

By: Yahoo! Finance – June 9, 2026

“Speaks at 1:30:00”

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Read more on: Yahoo! Finance


Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University

Deadly Screwworm Pest Spreads in US With Three New Cases

By: The Straits Times – June 9, 2026

“The detection of screwworm is probably going to further delay any efforts to expand the US herd. Tonsor said he was “pretty vocal” late in 2025 that more ranchers would start the process of expansion this summer, but increased dryness and now screwworm are creating more uncertainty.”

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Read more on: The Straits Times


Dustin Pendell, Kansas State University
William Secor,
University of Georgia

­Beef Consumers Don’t Need to Worry About the Screwworm Infections in Cattle, Experts Say

By: WEIS Radio – June 11, 2026

“Americans can continue to feel confident about consuming beef safely. The current drought conditions in the U.S. is making it difficult to expand herds because there isn’t enough grass available to feed on, hay and other supplemental feeds increase costs even more…. Cattle prices are going to continue to be high for quite a while because of these issues.”

“In addition, geopolitical issues, such as the war in Iran, are causing fertilizer and fuel costs to increase.”

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Read more on: WEIS Radio


Chen-Ti Chen, The Ohio State University

Birds of a Feather: The Economic Value of Birds in Agriculture is Coming Back into Focus

By: Fresh Plaza – Jun 11, 2026

“Bird‑watching has never been a bigger pastime, with millions of Americans traveling, dining and staying in local lodging to see migrating and nesting birds. Nearly 100 million Americans went birding in 2022, spending about $108 billion on trips and equipment according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That’s about six times more than the total revenue generated by the NFL in the same year.”

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Read more on: Fresh Plaza


Kenneth Foster, Purdue University
Ricky Volpe,
California Polytechnic State University

Farmers Were Already Hurting. The Iran War Made It Worse

By: Notus – June 11, 2026

“Many of the food price increases consumers are experiencing right now have primary explanations that predate the conflict entirely.”

“Higher energy costs and higher fertilizer prices have already impacted the planting and the early stage of the growing process for all these commodities.”

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Read more on: Notus


Brenna Ellison, Purdue University

New Study Reveals Which Ultra-Processed Food Regulations Americans Actually Support

By: PSY Post – June 11, 2026

“There is a lot of attention on ultra-processed foods (UPFs), particularly with the momentum of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative. Given this, we thought it was important to understand the public’s perspective on different ways that UPFs could be regulated.”

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Read more on: PSY Post


Trey Malone, Purdue University

From Data to Decisions: AI’s Growing Role in Agriculture

By: Hoosier Ag Today – June 12, 2026

“So, you have a really good undergraduate intern in your pocket now, and you never trust the final product of the undergraduate intern. What you do trust is the beginning stages of the project to the undergraduate intern, and then you polish it from there. And so, I think that’s for anybody in ag and food right now, it’s thinking about what I would have hired an intern to do before and how can I use this to make this a larger task?”

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Read more on: Hoosier Ag Today



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