Taxes

As Thanksgiving approaches, families across America are getting ready to gather with loved ones, share favorite dishes and reflect on the past year.

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

Farmer sentiment about the ag economy increased in October ahead of the election, rising 27 points from the month before, according to the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Across the industry, auto analysts say, an “affordability shift” is taking root.

Shares of General Motors surged almost 10% after the automaker posted a $3 billion third-quarter profit, slightly less than the same period a year ago. It was the stock’s biggest single-day percentage gain in more than four years.

Stubbornly high warranty expenses and lagging cost-cutting efforts are holding back Ford Motor Co.’s profits this year, causing the company to lower its full-year earnings guidance.

Calls for $20 billion in “emergency” farm program payments won’t go away now that the proposal’s principal audience, voters, have done their duty.

Voters chose to send Donald Trump, who served his first term as U.S. president from 2016 to 2020, back to the White House in the Nov. 5 national election.

National Farmers Union has sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump urging focus on policy priorities essential to the health and vitality of rural America and the sustainability of the nation’s agricultural system.

Mark Seib, a grain farmer in southern Indiana, has finished soybean harvest and is closing in on corn.

Let’s pause to consider the-above headline. First, it’s a quote; I didn’t write it. That’s important because the third rail of today’s ag journalism — the deadly, high-voltage topic that can burn your career — is Donald Trump.

Indiana Farm Bureau will focus on issues like property taxes and water rights during the 2025 legislative session.

Indiana Republican gubernatorial nominee U.S. Sen. Mike Braun shared a plan called the Freedom and Opportunity Agenda, aimed at supporting rural communities.

Every day, rain or shine, farmers rise to do their jobs. Whether we’re tired or stressed, we press on. If we disagree with a family member, we find a way forward. We don’t stall on planting or harvesting or caring for our animals.

With the farm bill, Next Generation Fuels Act and global trade discussions on the table in Congress, now is the time for farmers to make their voices heard.

An expanded display promoting state parks and recreational sites was featured in Conservation World at the Illinois State Fair.

More than 200 Indiana Farm Bureau members gathered to determine the organization’s policy positions for 2025.

Farmland values for the Seventh Federal Reserve District increased 2% in the second quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, marking the smallest year-over-year gain since the third quarter of 2020.

Now is a great time to purchase a used electric vehicle. The average price for a used EV has dropped about 20% compared to this time last year, according to Edmunds transaction data.

August is here, which means for Farm Bureau, our policy development process is heading into full swing.

Berkeley Boehne harvested an excellent wheat crop in July and his corn and soybean crops also look good at the start of August.

Corn farmers and the ethanol industry were recognized by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and United Airlines as a sustainable partner in lowering the aviation industry’s carbon footprint.

Members of Congress will return home for the traditional August recess. Then after a brief time back in Washington, they will once again be back home to campaign in October.

Through the foresight of farmers campaigning for a sales tax exemption over two decades ago, biodiesel production in Illinois has increased fifteenfold.

This year, like last year, is a farm bill year — and this year, like last year, probably won’t deliver a farm bill. The reason is the oldest one in Washington, D.C.: politics.

Some day, the passenger jets that soar 35,000 feet over Dan McLean’s North Dakota farm could be fueled by corn grown on his land and millions of other acres across the Midwest.

This month we celebrate the birth of our great nation. It was July 4, 1776, that the Declaration of Independence, calling for the 13 American colonies to secede from Great Britain, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

The Department of Treasury released guidance on its sustainable aviation fuel credit program that allows corn and soybeans to qualify as feedstocks for SAF with stipulations.

The announcement of guidance on eligibility for the sustainable aviation fuel tax credit was met with both concern and optimism.

Federal policymakers have a problem: Their hope to make corn and soybeans the feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel hit a wall when the aviation industry ruled biofuel from either crop did not meet its “sustainable” guidelines.

The easiest way to win any game is to rig the rules. That’s what Big Ag and its loyal boosters at the U.S. Department of Agriculture appear to be doing to make sure their new project, sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, flies.

Steve Hirsch has been involved with volunteer fire departments his entire life.

The first of three phases that move toward higher biodiesel blend sales tax exemptions was effective April 1.

Farmers were more optimistic about the ag economy in March, according to the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a long list of bills into law at the close of the state’s 2024 General Assembly.

Swings in fertilizer prices have been the norm the past several years, swayed primarily by global market issues.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will soon meet with farm officials from key trading partners Canada and Mexico.

To make sure farmers’ voices are heard and their ideas are understood, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced the creation of an Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

From a window atop my grandfather’s old barn, you can see my family’s whole farm, from the hayfields to the chicken houses to the pasture where the mama cows are grazing.

Farmer leaders and staff with the Indiana Corn Growers Association and the Indiana Soybean Alliance discussed hot topics with state lawmakers at the annual Bacon Bar and Brunch legislative breakfast.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Executive Committee approved the organization’s policy priorities at the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show.

State legislators from both sides of the aisle joined together to announce an effort to protect farm families and their land by updating the estate tax code.

One of the best jobs I ever had was at Scott County Nursing Center when I was a senior at Winchester High School. Through the co-op class, I went to school the first half of the day and worked in the office at the nursing center the second half.

With the 2018 farm bill extended until the end of 2024, and the timeline on a new measure uncertain, one factor that will be front and center is the cost of the new legislation.

U.S. consumers looking to get a tax credit on an electric vehicle purchase have fewer models to choose from under new rules that limit the countries where automakers can buy battery parts and minerals — a potential blow to efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions from autos.

The 24th annual First State Bank Ag Conference, a special forum for area farmers, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 25 at the Mendota Civic Center.

Brazil’s record high soybean production, depreciating currency and an expected boost in exporting capabilities through expanding transportation infrastructure will have important implications for U.S. international agricultural markets.

There’s nothing quite like the fresh start of a new year. After all the holiday decorations are put away and the college bowl games have wrapped up, many of us start making our resolutions for the year ahead.

There is a boom occurring for renewable diesel with several plants under construction in the United States.

Founding father Benjamin Franklin was spot-on almost three centuries ago when he noted — in print, no less — that two unavoidable facts of life were death and taxes.