The U.S. has ended production of the penny. The last 1-cent coins were made Wednesday at the mint in Philadelphia. The penny was embedded in American culture for more than 230 years, but it has become nearly worthless. When it was introduced in 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit, a candle or a piece of candy. Now most of them are cast aside to sit in jars or junk drawers. Meanwhile each one costs nearly 4 cents to make. The last few pennies were to be auctioned off. Billions of pennies are still in circulation and will remain legal tender.

New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month. The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea. The 332,000 metric tons fell well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years.

The 208-year-old Maine-based Farmers’ Almanac says it will publish its planting guidance and weather predictions for the final time, citing financial challenges. The Farmers’ Almanac is not to be confused with its older, longtime competitor, The Old Farmer’s Almanac from neighboring New Hampshire. Both publications used secret formulas based on sunspots, planetary positions and lunar cycles to generate long-range weather forecasts. Studies found them to be a little more than 50% accurate, or slightly better than random chance. Still, many readers considered the almanacs a quaint relic with a special kind of charm. The Farmers’ Almanac said Thursday that its 2026 edition will be its last.

American farmers welcomed China’s promise to buy some of their soybeans, but Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt cautioned this won’t solve all the problems as farmers continue to deal with soaring prices for fertilizer, tractors, repair parts and seeds. The Chinese promise to buy 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for next three years will bring their purchases back in line with where they were before President Donald Trump launched his latest trade war. But the 12 million metric tons that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China will buy between now and January is only about half their normal purchases. China is the world's largest buyer of soybeans but it quit buying from America earlier this year after Trump imposed his tariffs.