Innovate Conference, Workshops Focus on Technology at AFBF’s 2015 Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 23, 2014 – Agricultural technology and innovation workshops will take the spotlight Saturday, Jan. 10 in San Diego, during the IDEAg Innovate Conference. The conference is one of the highlights of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2015 Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show, Jan. 9-14, at the San Diego Convention Center.... READ MORE

National Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge: Four Finalists Prepare for January Competition

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 22, 2014 – A lively round of competition is expected when four national finalists pitch their business ideas to a team of judges during the Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 96th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show in San Diego in January. A live feed of the finals competition will be available starting at 10:45 a... READ MORE

National YF&R Committee Members Appointed

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 17, 2014 – The American Farm Bureau Federation has appointed new members to its national Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee for the 2015-2017 term beginning in March. The committee is comprised of 16 positions representing all regions of the U.S. An individual or a couple may hold each committee position.... READ MORE

Yes, Reindeer Can Fly, Ask A Farmer

Farmers from Minnesota have finally answered the question “can reindeer fly?” Micheal Clements has the story... LISTEN

Normal Relations With Cuba Could Open Untapped Export Markets

New agricultural trade markets are likely to develop under the president’s plan for normalized relations with Cuba. Micheal Clements has more... LISTEN

Year-End Legislation Bars Sage Grouse Protection

Legislation passed by Congress will delay a potential listing of the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Micheal Clements has more... LISTEN

Rural Entrepreneurship, Alive and Well

Rural entrepreneurship got a boost earlier this year when the American Farm Bureau Federation, together with Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business Global Social Enterprise Initiative, launched the first-ever Farm Bureau Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge.

More than 200 applicants threw their hats in the ring to compete for prize money, totaling $85,000, to implement t... READ MORE

Ag Youth Programs Growing Next Generation of Leaders

They are eager to learn and getting ready to lead. They are the members of the National FFA Organization. Fewer and fewer are from farms, but their ranks are growing … a lot.

Millennials are often generations removed from any direct connection to farming. Yet, record numbers of young people are putting on iconic, blue corduroy FFA jackets, as the organization has become a pipelin... READ MORE

Pressure Easing on Farmland Conversion

The Great Recession had many economic consequences, most of them bad, some still lingering,   but the recession also helped slow the conversion of farmland to development. Typically, when farmland is developed it is turned into housing tracts, shopping malls, roads, other public works projects, golf courses and the like.

All of these activities were impacted by the recession. ... READ MORE