When the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced farmers would receive just a fraction of the water they normally do in the Klamath Irrigation Project in southern Oregon, Tricia Hill and her family, who grow potatoes in Malin, Ore., began to scramble. Like many farm families in the Klamath River Basin facing severe drought, the 15,000-acre J&W Walker Farms had many thousands of dollars' worth of seed and other inputs already in the ground. Surface water is a must for potatoes. "[We] thought we...

OMAHA (DTN) -- The waters of the United States rule will be put on hold nationally after the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday it must first resolve pending legal questions, including whether the court has jurisdiction to hear multiple lawsuits against the federal government on the rule. In a 2-1 ruling, the three-judge panel determined the court has no other choice but to issue a stay, as the court raised questions about the scientific justification for how key parts of the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy knows she has a lot of damage to repair in the agency's relationship with agriculture -- a relationship that continues to be strained by a gap between what she said was the intent of the proposed Clean Water Act rule and the outcry coming from rural America. McCarthy wrapped up a two-day tour across Missouri, first talking to farmers near Columbia and ending with a speech before the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City...

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Geoff Cooper remembers the open Wyoming landscape of Wind River Valley -- where his family farm dates back to the 1940s and the end of World War II. There, the new chief executive officer and president of the Renewable Fuels Association learned his work ethic from agriculture and patriotic service to country. The family grew alfalfa hay, oats, corn often chopped for silage, and raised cattle and sheep. Cooper was big into 4H. The former Army captain and diehard St. Louis...