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Machinery giant Deere & Co. delivered an unexpected increase in earnings and maintained its annual outlook as early signs of stabilization in the U.S. farm sector offset a slowdown in construction. Shares rose the most in three years.

Deere & Co. delivered a more cautious outlook than expected for the year ahead as simmering U.S.-China trade tensions and difficult growing conditions keep North American farmers from replacing large equipment.

WASHINGTON — China is lifting a five-year ban on U.S. poultry, a goodwill gesture at a time when the world’s two biggest economies are trying to finalize a tentative trade deal.

With U.S. grain exports expected to fall more than 20% in the 2019 crop year, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Bunge Ltd. and Cargill Inc. are making less money buying and selling crops.

Truckers doing business in counties under quarantine are playing an unwitting role in the spread of the spotted lanternfly.

Cargill Inc., one of the world’s biggest agricultural companies, plans to spend an additional $75 million to expand in pea protein in the U.S. as traditional meat producers continue a shift to alternatives.

China is stepping up its soybean buying in Brazil as growers in Argentina continue to hoard and the Asian nation avoids American oilseed after an escalation in trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Corn futures plunged by the exchange limit, heading for their worst day in at least six years, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported more of the grain was planted than analysts had estimated.

President Donald Trump on Aug. 2 praised a previously announced deal that will open up the European Union to more U.S. beef after the bloc carved out quotas previously granted to other nations.

Potential solutions to some of the vexing problems that truckers and law enforcement are facing regarding the transportation of legal hemp across state lines could be coming soon.