July 4, 2017

·A bit surprising: The USDA June Acreage report forecasts a 1.3 percent rise in U.S. alfalfa acres for 2017. All-hay acres rise by only 0.1 percent.

·USDA now estimates that corn planted for all purposes in 2017 will be 90.9 million acres, down 3 percent from last year. The area harvested for grain, at 83.5 million acres, is down 4 percent from last year.

·California may become the first state to require a warning label on products containing glyphosate that will indicate the chemical is a known cancer-causing compound. Glyphosate will appear on the state’s list of potentially cancerous chemicals. Monsanto, the producer of Roundup herbicide, has filed an appeal to block the labeling.

·Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has authorized emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in response to severe drought conditions.

·S&W Seed has named Mark Wong their new CEO.