Members in the News: March 9, 2026

 Zach Rutledge, Michigan State University

• “Survey Finds Raids Impacted California Farm Production”
  By: The Sun Gazette – February 25, 2026
• “California Survey Links Enforcement Fears To Farm Labor Losses”
  By: Fresh Plaza – March 6, 2026

---

Ian Sheldon, The Ohio State University

• “Trump Blamed For Imminent ‘Widespread Collapse’ of US Farming”
  By: AlterNet.org - February 6, 2026
• “Farmers Squeezed By Trump Tariffs Press Lawmakers For Action”
  By: The Hill - February 6, 2025
• “Supreme Court Tariff Ruling Clouds the Future of U.S. Trade Deals”
  By: Brownfield - February 23, 2026

---

Gabriel Lade, The Ohio State University

“Data centers Bring Money and Pushback”

By: Spectrum News – February 19, 2026

“A lot of cities negotiate pretty large upfront cash payments in lieu of future property taxes. So instead of collecting taxes over 15 years, they get money right away to build community facilities or bolster school funding,”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Spectrum News

---

Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

• “China And the United States: What Can We Learn From Each Other?”
  By: Rochester Business Journal – February 27, 2026
• “Clean Water’s True Price in Rural India”
  By: Basis Point – March 4, 2026

---

Shadi Atallah, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“When Sustainable Foods Come With Unexpected Environmental Costs”

By: Discover – Februay 7, 2026

“A lot of the work on sustainable agriculture focuses on what the government can do to support farmers to adopt something, and that is good for the transition. But we cannot rely on government support for the longer term, which is where the importance of consumer studies comes into play.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Discover

---

Ricky Volpe, California Polytechnical State University

“Wait-and-See Mode': The Conflict in Iran's Potential Impacts on Global Food Production”

By: KSBY – March 3, 2026

"I want to stress, we certainly have not seen food price impacts yet, but that's what I'd say we'd start to see in the next say one to three months. At this point, it's too early to see an impact, but that he and other industry experts are monitoring potential impacts down the line.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: KSBY

---

Jada Thompson, University of Arkansas

• “Egg Price Drop Benefits Consumers, Threatens Farmers’ Livelihoods”
  By: WishTV – February 20 2026
• “Egg prices Collapse As Once-Empty Shop Shelves Now Overstuffed”
  By: Farm Progress – February 20, 2026
• “Egg Prices Have Plummeted. That’s Great News For Consumers — And a Crisis For Farmers”
  By: CNN – February 20, 2026

---

James Mitchel, University of Arkansas

“Winter Storm Deals $30M+ Blow to Arkansas Farmers”

By: Swift Times – February 25, 2026

“Cattle prices are historically high, so losses reflect higher values… the figures do not represent unusually large numbers of cattle deaths.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Swift Times

---

Brian Coffey, Kansas State University
Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University

“Beef Prices Continue to Increase With Consumer Demand”

By: Ag Update – March 2, 2026

“Microeconomic assessment shows consumer preferences have become a powerful driver of market outcomes, even during a period of historically tight supplies. Since 2019, the number of beef cows in the U.S. has gotten smaller and smaller. That’s been front and center when we think about the cattle and beef supply chain.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Ag Update

---

Leah Palm-Forster, University of Delaware

“Saltwater Intrusion Has Environmental, Financial Ramifications”

By: Cape Gazette – March 4, 2025

“Between 2011 and 2017, an estimated 20,000 acres of farmland were converted to marsh across Delmarva, causing between $39 million and $109 million in losses… The question is, when are things going to be bad enough to change behavior. Prevention and the mitigation of risk need to be done in advance because waiting to respond won’t be effective.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Cape Gazette

---

Michael Langemeier, Purdue University

“Indiana Farm Income Projected to Decline in 2026 After 2025 Rebound”

By: Agrinews – March 4, 2026

“Cash farm receipts increased $232 million from 2024 and 2025, but are expected to decline by $1,033 million in 2026. The large drop in crop receipts in 2025 was offset by a large increase in livestock receipts and government payments.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Agrinews

---

Do you have international, national, state or local news to share? Submit your
'Members in the News' now!

 

Members in the News: March 2, 2026

 Jada Thompson, University of Arkansas  

“Egg prices have plummeted. That’s great news for consumers — and a crisis for farmers”

By: CNN – February 20, 2026

“On average, a farm spends 98 cents to $1.05 to produce a dozen eggs. That often doesn’t include operational costs like packaging and transportation, which have risen in the last year.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: CNN

---

Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology

“Artificial Intelligence: Why the Biggest Revolution May Be Surprisingly Ordinary”

By: Basis Point – February 19, 2026

“There is no gainsaying the fact that there is a great deal of hype about what artificial intelligence might mean for humanity. On one end of the spectrum lies the belief that AI will solve all human problems and perhaps even make us immortal. On the other is the dystopian fear that AI will immiserize society in ways that we have never seen before.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Basis Point

---

Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University

• “US farmers Are on High Alert After Losses Exceeding $50 Billion And Fear Widespread Farm Collapse Due to Tariffs, Blocked Exports, and Record Harvests Driving Down Prices”
  By: CPG – February 16, 2026
• “In The Year of Trump's Tariff, Farmers' Bankruptcy Filings Grow Nearly 50 Percent in 2025 in the U.S”
  By: Dnews – February 14, 2026
• “Minnesota Farmers Demand Trade Fix as $50B in Losses Has Potential to Push US Agriculture Toward ‘Widespread Collapse’”
  By: News Break – Febraury 14, 2026

---

Zachariah Rutledge, Michigan State University  

• “Survey Finds Raids Impacted California Farm Production”
  By: Ag Alert – February 25, 2026
• “ICE Crackdown, Especially Fear of Raids, Triggered CA Farmworker Losses, Survey Shows”
  By: Fresno Bee – February 28, 2026

---

Steven Deller, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Number of U.S. Farms Shrank by 15,000 in 2025”

By: Successful Farming – February 17, 2026

“Consolidation continues to be the biggest factor shaping the number of farms in the state. The high costs farmers face to produce milk continues to make it difficult for small and mid-size farms to be profitable.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Successful Farming

---

Cesar Escalante, University of Georgia

“Farmworkers Could Face Declining Wages in Vermont”

By: Valley News – February 17, 2026

“If the government allowed these deductions, they should also audit and check on housing. Only those implementing acceptable housing services should be getting those deductions.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Valley News

---

Success Amobi-Ndubuisi Okafor, North Carolina A&T University

“WI Economist: Farm Crisis Runs Deeper Than Tariffs”

By: Public News Service – February 17, 2026

“Tariffs are not the real issue. Tariffs exposed weaknesses; they didn't create them. If tariffs were the only problem, fixing trade policy would solve it. But even without tariffs, U.S. farmers are losing competitiveness."

(Continued...)
Read more on: Public News Service

---

Frayne Olson, North Dakota State University
Daniel O'Brien, Kansas State University

“Corn Holds Ground as US Farmers Eye 2026 Cuts”

By: The Pig Site -February 19, 2026

“The market is signaling, ‘We don't want you to cut too many corn acres.’ We don't need as many as last year, but with today's demand base, it's not like we need a huge drop.”

"The soybean market is more of a political football than the corn market right now,"

(Continued...)
Read more on: The Pig Site

---

Charles Martinez, University of Tennessee

“Recent Price Increases Offer Hope For Tennessee Soybean Farmers After Multi-Year Downturn”

By: WVLT 8 – February 19, 2026

“Farmers were receiving prices that didn’t cover production costs. It was essentially, as they were pulling off crop or if they were planting crop over the last couple of years, it was penciling out already to a loss.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: WVLT 8

---

Yifei Zhang, North Dakota State University
Brian Coffey, Kansas State University

“K-State Agriculture Today: 2127 – Livestock Risk Protection for Feeder Cattle…Kansas Cattle Risk Management”

By: Sunflower State Radio – February 26, 2026

“Starting the show is Brian Coffey, K-State agricultural economist, and Yifei Zhang, senior research economist with the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University, as they discuss research into Kansas producers using Livestock Risk Protection for feeder cattle.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Sunflower State Radio

---

Do you have international, national, state or local news to share? Submit your
'Members in the News' now!

 

Members in the News: February 23, 2026

 

Jada Thompson, University of Arkansas  

“Wholesale Egg Prices Have Plummeted. Will Shoppers See the Savings?”

By: USA Today – February 13, 2026

“What has happened to the industry and egg prices is classic supply and demand. Last year, with a significant part of the U.S. egg supply affected by the bird flu during a time of seasonal demand, shoppers grew concerned and started overbuying eggs.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: USA Today

---

Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University
Ian Sheldon, The Ohio State University
Daniel  Sumner, University of California, Davis

“Farmers Squeezed By Trump Tariffs Press Lawmakers For Action”

By: The Hill – February 6, 2026

“Production costs have been very, very high. This is costs for fertilizers, costs for chemicals, for machinery products, for machinery inputs. All these key inputs have been elevated, the production costs, much of it,  due to run up in inflation over the past few years.”

“The current administration’s range of tariffs, it’s exacerbated the original trade war that we had with China back in the first administration. I think it’s actually … hurting our soybean export market, in particular to China.”

“What we have been hit with is retaliatory tariffs on the other side. So, it’s tariffs on farm inputs and retaliatory tariffs by other countries against us.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: The Hill

---

Shawn Arita, North Dakota State University

• “In the Year of Trump's Tariff, Farmers' Bankruptcy Filings Grow Nearly 50 Percent in 2025 in the U.S”
  By: MSN – February 12, 2026
• “How Trump’s Economic Policies Deepened the Divide: The K-Shaped Recovery Hits Rural America Hardest”
  By: The Berkshire Ridge – February 12, 2026

---

Jiyeon Kim, North Dakota State University
Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee

“How 2025 IEEPA Tariffs Affected Agricultural Inputs and Production Costs”

By: Southern Ag Today – February 12, 2026

“In 2025, the President imposed a series of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), reshaping U.S. trade policy. These measures, ranging from fentanyl‑related tariffs in February to broad reciprocal tariffs implemented in April, generated an estimated $130 billion in revenue by early December with implications for multiple sectors, including agriculture.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Southern Ag Today

---

Matthew Gammans, North Dakota State University

“Many Midwest Farmers Have Mixed Feelings About Upcoming USDA Payments”

By: MPR News – February 9, 2026

“That even though those areas may have been more disproportionately affected by trade disputes with China, they’ll receive the same payment rate as everyone else. So the losses for North Dakota soybean farmers can be really large, but they still get the same payment as the soybean farmer in Georgia or Iowa or anywhere else in the country.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: MPR News

---

Alejandro Gutierrez-Li, North Carolina State University
Dawn Thilmany, Colorado State University

“How Immigrants Are Catalyzing A Rural Economic Melting Pot”

By: Forbes – February 16, 2026

“The U.S. has been home to at least 10 million undocumented visitors for more than a decade and so industries that employ such workers have become reliant on labor force that is now quite vulnerable.”

“While discussions on the role of immigration in America take shape, what is often missing is an interrogation of the immigrant's role in our 250-year-old vision of the U.S. The vision of the nation as a melting pot.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Forbes

---

Steven Deller, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Paul Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Republicans Are Looking Past the Short-Term Pain of Trump’s Tariffs”

By: NOTUS – February 17, 2026

“We’re hemorrhaging thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, and they’re giving us pennies. Frmers want “fair markets” and a “level playing field.”

“They don’t solve the long-run problem of higher input costs and low prices; they are a Band-Aid to get us through this short-term problem.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: NOTUS

---

David Ortega, Michigan State University

“Trump’s Beef Trade Deal is a Lose-Lose Gamble That Won’t Lower Prices”

By: Grist – February 12, 2026

“Trade groups, lawmakers, and economists agree that the increased imports from Argentina are unlikely to lower the record-high beef prices in the U.S. That’s partly because Americans already consume so much beef.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Grist

---

Eric Belasco, Montana State University

“Beef Prices Soar as U.S. Cattle Herd Hits 75-Year Low, Experts Warn of Continued High Costs”

By: Yahoo Finance  – February 14, 2026

“Consistent dry weather has decimated grasslands throughout the West and Plains regions. This has left ranchers grappling with insufficient feed and water resources to sustain their herds, compelling many to prematurely sell off cattle, including breeding cows critical for the production of future calves.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: Yahoo Finance

---

Daniel  Sumner, University of California, Davis

“How Rain Could Affect California Almond Crop, Bees During Bloom Season”

By: NewBreak – February 12, 2026

“The almond is a crop that may hit $5 billion in revenue this year. And if you add the jobs connected to that, and the rest of the spreading of the economic output around, it'll be about 3 times that big to the economy.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: NewBreak

---

Bulat Gafarov, University of California, Davis

“California Gas Prices Have Risen 40 Cents in the Last 14 Days”

By: New York Post – February 15, 2026

“By August 2026 — when the full impact of refinery closures is realized — California gas prices could climb by as much as $1.21 per gallon if no major market changes occur. In 2000, the California gas price was approximately $0.25 higher than the national average, but by 2025 the difference increased to $1.50.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: New York Post

---

Hope Michelson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kathy Baylis, University of California, Santa Barbara
Chungmann Kim, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“The Leading Global Early Warning System For Food Insecurity Misses Millions in Crisis”

By: VoxDev – February 16, 2026

“The leading global early warning system for acute food insecurity systematically underestimates the scale of crisis-level hunger, missing around one in five people affected. As a result, global assessments significantly understate the scope of global humanitarian need, with serious consequences for the timing and adequacy of aid to vulnerable populations.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: VoxDev

---

Vishal Dagar, Great Lakes Institute of Management

“Why Withdrawing EPF During a Job Switch Can Be a Costly Financial Mistake”

By: India Today – December 29, 2026

“The moment you resign from a job, life feels lighter. There’s excitement about what’s coming next, a sense of progress, maybe even a quiet relief. Somewhere between farewell lunches and updating your LinkedIn headline, another message arrives—your Provident Fund balance. For many, this is when a small thought grows louder: “Should I just withdraw it?” The amount suddenly looks useful, even tempting. It feels like money you earned and money you deserve.”

(Continued...)
Read more on: India Today

---

Do you have international, national, state or local news to share? Submit your
'Members in the News' now!