Agriculture

High grain, low milk prices leave dairy farmers struggling
Burdened with high grain costs and low milk prices, some dairy farmers have racked up enormous debt, unequaled since the farm crisis of the early 1980s.
Last week's powerful windstorm interrupted a favorable week for finishing up the fall harvest in Minnesota.
In its weekly crop weather report for Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the soybean and sugarbeet harvests were 99 percent complete as of Sunday -- well ahead of the averages.
The U.S. Agriculture Department will commit hundreds of millions more dollars to boost biofuels production, including ethanol. The announcement could mean big investments in Minnesota, which ranks fourth in ethanol production.
September was a good month for most milk-producing states, but not Wisconsin or Minnesota.
The government and American Indian farmers who say they were denied farm loans have agreed on terms for a $680 million settlement of a long-running lawsuit.
Beef industry woes may mean poorer meat
Bob Sears and other ranchers say the domestic meat market has withered to the point where they often receive only one reasonable bid for their cows.
Corn harvest piling up in SW Minn.
Schmitz Grain's 1 million-bushel corn pile in the southwestern Minnesota is longer than a football field and is worth about $5 million.
Minnesota's corn harvest is speeding ahead thanks to the third dry week in a row.
EPA approves boosting ethanol limit in gas to 15 pct.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday gave the ethanol industry a long awaited boost, approving 15 percent ethanol blends in gasoline, up from the current limit of 10 percent. But the decision was roundly criticized.