Updated: 9:44 PM The Environmental Protection Agency's use of airplanes to scour for signs of improper disposal of livestock waste has angered ranchers and some members of Congress.

Posted: 1:09 AM The U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers planted 96.4 million acres of corn this spring, up 5 percent from last year.

Updated: 10:52 PM The Junior National Shorthorn Expo has made Grand Island their home this week, but it's been a week about more than just showing cattle.

Posted: 8:21 AM Nebraska cattle producers need to watch for signs of heat stress in their animals during periods of extreme heat like the state has been enduring.

Posted: 11:36 AM With temperatures hitting the triple digits, cattle producers need to take steps to ward off heat stress in their herds, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln beef specialist said.

Updated: 9:54 PM With Charolais last week, Shorthorn this week, and Hereford next week, the facilities at Fonner Park are busy with national cattle shows this summer, but local officials say they're working hard to get even more organizations to utilize Grand Island.

Posted: 1:54 PM Farmers have been irrigating row crops in Nebraska to offset the hot and dry conditions in much of the state.

Updated: 5:58 AM The Environmental Protection Agency plans to hold a public meeting in western Nebraska to explain how it monitors feedlots for pollution.

Updated: 4:47 PM Agribusiness professionals and crop producers will take a close-up look at field conditions, research and techniques at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's midsummer Crop Management Diagnostic Clinics July 17-18.

Updated: 9:34 PM The mild winter and spring weather allowed farmers across the state to get a head start on planting this year, but those same weather patterns are now bringing some complications.

Posted: 6:30 AM Congressman Adrian Smith is co-sponsoring a measure to stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency's aerial surveillance of agriculture operations, which have taken place in Nebraska and neighboring states.

Updated: 5:00 AM The Senate has passed a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that cuts farm subsidies and land conservation spending by about $2 billion a year.

Posted: 7:31 AM Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow is fond of saying that the five-year farm policy bill is "not your father's farm bill."

Updated: 9:40 PM 250 American International Junior Charolais Association members are in Grand Island this week competing to have the best of the breed.

Posted: 3:40 PM Valero Energy has temporarily halted production at its ethanol plant in Albion in eastern Nebraska because shrinking margins, due in part to rising corn prices.

Posted: 5:40 AM Parts of southern Nebraska have received some much-needed rain, but northern and western parts of state remain hot and dry, which is putting stress on crops and pastures.

Posted: 6:48 AM The manager of an apartment complex in the Nebraska Panhandle has won national recognition for her work.

Posted: 5:54 AM The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has opened an office in Beijing that officials say could spark new opportunities for joint research and faculty and student exchanges.

Updated: 2:47 AM A Nebraska-based ethanol company is temporarily stopping production to conduct regular maintenance and monitor the corn and ethanol markets.

Updated: 2:46 AM Farmers in parts of Nebraska are very happy after a storm dropped much needed rain in areas of the state.

Posted: 10:40 AM The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows some southern Iowa counties are experiencing moderate drought.

Posted: 10:16 AM U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns has introduced a measure to stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency's aerial surveillance of agriculture operations, which have taken place in Nebraska and neighboring states.

Posted: 10:09 AM U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson has introduced a measure that would increase fees ranchers pay to graze livestock on federal lands -- a move that would hit the pocketbook of a candidate seeking to replace him in the Senate.

Updated: 12:48 PM A letter from EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks addressed to Senator Mike Johanns includes answers to the more than 20 questions outlined in a letter signed and sent to the agency by Nebraska's congressional delegation two weeks ago.

Posted: 10:54 AM The latest federal report forecasts a big drop in the Nebraska winter wheat crop and yield.