The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of the 2026 farm bill on Wednesday, the Agriculture Act of 2026, marking a major step toward a new five-year farm bill after years of delay. The committee approved the measure on a 12-11 party-line vote, sending it forward for further action in the House and Senate.

The latest USDA weekly Crop Progress Report, released Monday, showed soybean harvest kicking off ahead of both last year and the five-year average pace. Corn harvest also continued slightly ahead of normal.

More ranchers are taking a closer look at fall calving, drawn by a favorable price spread between spring- and fall-born calves. There's also a potential health payoff: calving during cooler, drier months.

The USDA's September WASDE report brought a notable shift for the 2026/27 corn outlook. USDA lowered its corn yield estimate to 178.5 bushels per acre (down from 180.7 in the August report, but still ahead of trade expectations) and cut corn ending stocks to 1.567 billion bushels, down 86 million bushels from last month's estimate.

Hilltop Preserve, a 58-acre working farm in Raritan Township, New Jersey, was transformed into a permanent memorial ahead of the September 11 25th anniversary. Sitting nearly 700 feet above sea level, the farm offered a clear view of smoke rising from the World Trade Center more than 45 miles away that day in 2001.

California's table grape harvest kicked off nearly three weeks ahead of a normal year, following an early spring warm-up, and shippers have held that faster pace all season. Volumes are tracking close to industry expectations, though July's heat put stress on some of the more delicate and heirloom varieties.

A new USDA rule under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changes how farm program payment limits work for LLCs and S corporations, and Sept. 15 is the date FSA will use to set your farm's structure for the 2026 crop year. Under the rule, qualifying pass-through entities can stack payment limits by each actively engaged owner instead of sharing one flat cap, meaning a multi-owner farm could see its limit multiply several times over.

As harvest season nears, Farm Rescue is now taking applications from farm families facing a major illness, injury, or natural disaster that puts this year's crop at risk. Founded in 2005 by Bill Gross, the nonprofit relies on volunteers, donors, and business partners to provide free planting, harvest, haying, hauling, and livestock assistance to farmers and ranchers across 11 states.

Diesel prices climbed to $5.61 per gallon on August 28, nearing the record high set in 2022, just as farmers move into fall harvest. Several factors are contributing to the spike, including distillate fuel stocks at near 40-year lows, Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries that are limiting global diesel supply and lingering effects from the earlier closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest USDA weekly Crop Progress Report, released Monday, showed corn conditions holding firm while soybean ratings slipped slightly. Crop development for both corn and soybeans remains ahead of last year's pace, and harvest activity across small grains and other crops continues to gain ground.