News

Matthew 6:24-34 KJV “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA), in conjunction with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has detected the first cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in 2025. The first case was discovered in a backyard poultry flock in Kearney County and the second case was discovered in a backyard flock in Nance County.

All cattle and calves in Nebraska as of January 1, 2025 totaled 6.05 million head, down 3% from January 1, 2024, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. All cows and heifers that had calved totaled 1.60 million head, down 3% from last year.

All sheep and lamb inventory in Nebraska on January 1, 2025, totaled 74,000 head, down 2,000 from last year, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Breeding sheep inventory totaled 57,000 head, down 2,000 from last year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct the Cash Rents and Leases survey starting February 3. The survey provides the basis for estimates of the current year’s cash rents paid for irrigated cropland, non-irrigated cropland, and permanent pasture. Over 241,000 survey recipients across the United States have been selected to complete the survey, which can be completed online at agcounts. usda.gov, by mail or phone. If respondents do not complete the survey by February 20, they may be contacted for an interview.

“It is no secret Nebraska’s farm and ranch families are heavily dependent upon international customers for one third of their annual income. Nebraska’s exports of our top five agricultural products accounted for over $3.5 billion in 2024. Those sales helped support the largest segment of Nebraska’s economy, which hit a rough patch in 2024, falling 17% as compared to 2023. Today’s announced tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, some of Nebraska agriculture’s most important trading partners, only adds to the economic uncertainty which remains the top concern at dinner tables on farms and ranches across our state and nation.”