Latest News From Associated Press

One would hardly know from Republican Sen. Pat Roberts' campaign speech that he is revered as a champion of Kansas' all-important farm economy.

Budding plant growth across northeastern Colorado's Pawnee National Grassland serves as visual evidence of recovery and relief brought by greater rainfall this year.

Former South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds says he did not approve $600,000 in state aid for an Aberdeen beef plant authorized by a Cabinet secretary in the final days of Rounds' administration — or even know about it.

A long-idle beef processing plant is getting ready to reopen in Tama, Iowa, later this month.

The founder of a Los Angeles firm that worked closely with Northern Beef Packers to secure $30 million in financing in 2009 and 2010 said the since-bankrupt Aberdeen, S.D., packing plant was under the complete control of Joop Bollen and lawyers from Hanul Law Firm, James Park of Los Angeles and Si-Il Jang of South Korea.

McDonald's wants to explain why its burgers may not rot and that there are no worms in its beef.

Like other western South Dakota ranchers, Mark Buchholz took a drubbing one year ago when a freak early autumn blizzard killed at least 43,000 cattle.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a Texas company is recalling nearly 91,000 pounds of ground beef products that might be contaminated with pieces of metal.

It's a challenge for Big Island ranchers to keep their cattle in the islands while beef prices climb to all-time highs on the mainland.

The McAlester Stockyards have seen lots of cattle walk through the sale ring.

A meat packer in the Texas Panhandle has recalled nearly 12 tons of beef trimmings products due to possible E. coli contamination.

Elko County sheriff's deputies are investigating the killing of five cows and shooting of more than a dozen others in the mountains northwest of Elko, Nev.

On land nestled against the Skagit River and surrounded by forested hills, a team of state and tribal staff took on the task of installing a 2-mile long, 6 ½-foot tall fence this summer.

A three-year study by Iowa State University on cattle performance at a confinement owned by Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter will be beneficial to all beef producers, Rastetter and the researchers say.

A Maine company is recalling more than 25,000 pounds of beef dating to last November for failure to remove tissues that could potentially allow transmission of mad cow disease.

The co-owner of a Northern California slaughterhouse accused of processing cows with cancer while U.S. livestock inspectors took lunch breaks has pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge.

A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says the number of cattle in large Nebraska feedlots is up 4 percent compared to August of last year.

The man in charge of resurrecting a scandal-marred beef plant that has sat idle since 2012 is optimistic about the Aberdeen, S.D., facility's future.

Two Massachusetts Whole Foods Market stores are recalling 368 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

A shuttered Kansas processing plant that produced a treated ground beef product critics dubbed "pink slime" plans to reopen next week with limited operations amid rebounding sales.

An animal science professor at North Dakota State University is leading a project that aims to boost beef cattle production on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

An Indiana feed mill is now selling more grain byproducts than ever.

A federal judge has refused to toss out the country's first lawsuit challenging an "ag-gag" law that criminalizes undercover investigations of slaughterhouses and "factory" farms.

A company's plan to open a horse slaughterhouse in Roswell, N.M., may be over.

If you don't think they're serious about sustainability out at the University of Georgia then you haven't seen the way they're tending to their cattle herd.

The Obama administration is moving to cut down on the thousands of foodborne illnesses linked to chicken and turkey each year with an overhaul of poultry plant inspection rules that are more than 50 years old.

Several food writers have been subpoenaed by a meat producer as part of its $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit.

Tyson Foods plans to sell its poultry businesses in Mexico and Brazil for $575 million in cash to help pay debt from its recently announced acquisition of Hillshire Brands.

Irrigation transformed this region known by early explorers as the Great American Desert into an oasis of sorts. In an area of limited rainfall and surface water availability, the Ogallala allowed farmers to grow corn, which attracted cattle feedlots, then meatpacking plants, ethanol plants and dairies. Now the nation's largest freshwater aquifer is starting to run dry.

State rural crime investigators, ranchers and agriculture officials say they suspect rising prices for cattle and beef as likely factors in livestock thefts in Alabama and elsewhere.

State officials say Raber's Packing Co. of Peoria, Ill., is recalling 21 pounds of its beef jerky because it was not inspected.

A Caldwell County, N.C., farmer doesn't understand why someone is shooting his cattle.

Farmers in pockets of California hardest hit by the drought could begin to see their wells run dry a year from now.

The last beef-packing plant in South St. Paul, Minn., says it's temporarily shutting down to an "extremely short supply of cattle."

A case of suspected mad cow disease has been found in Romanian beef, officials said Wednesday.

Texas ranchers have voted to establish a state-level program to promote and market beef in the nation's leading cattle-producing state.

Tyson Foods Inc. has signed a definitive deal to purchase Hillshire Brands Co. for $7.75 billion.

Pinnacle Foods said Monday it has scrapped its sale to Hillshire Brands, freeing Hillshire to be acquired by Tyson Foods.

Chipotle Mexican Grill's founder has agreed to talk over Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples' beef with the chain's decision to import some of its grass-fed beef from Australia.

Three years into a state program to help counties contending with wolves, the focus has been on preventing attacks on livestock.

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture is accepting applications from people interested in participating in a trade mission to Russia that will center on beef genetics.

A new report shows the number of cattle in Kansas feedlots is down 2 percent for the lowest June inventory since 1999.

A pair of Japanese farmers whose livelihoods were wrecked by the 2011 nuclear disaster staged a protest Friday at Tokyo's agriculture ministry.

A group of young Alabama cattlemen are helping in the recovery of the South Dakota beef industry one heifer at a time.

The Texas agriculture commissioner aired a beef with Chipotle and wants to talk with its founder.

Sales of a treated ground beef product that critics derisively dubbed "pink slime" have rebounded, according to two of its manufacturers.

Baltimore police shot and killed a steer that escaped from a city slaughterhouse on a downtown street Friday morning.

A nonprofit group that supports small and family farms in Kansas is trying to build support for a meat processing facility and food hub project in the eastern part of the state.

The Sunshine State will continue to play a key role in the record success of the beef industry.

While higher cattle prices may make ag producers more aware of thieves, authorities don't believe it will result in more theft.