AgClips
Recent AgClips
Checkoff lawsuit prompts Utah to propose reorganizing beef council
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsUtah officials are working to reorganize the Utah Beef Council as the state faces a lawsuit from a rancher arguing that the council’s collection of a checkoff fee is unconstitutional because it supports political speech and lacks transparency.
Why Trump’s effort to curb immigration could hurt US economy
WTOP | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Federal NewsNearly half the new jobs the government foresees emerging by 2026 will require only a high school diploma — or none at all. Those jobs share something else in common, too: Hundreds of thousands of them will likely be taken by low-skilled immigrants who are willing to do work that many Americans won’t. Lost in the immigration debate raging in Washington is the vital economic role played by immigrants who don’t have the education, training or skills that the Trump administration and many Republicans in Congress say should be a pre-requisite.
Give rural Americans broadband internet and clean water
Quartz | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Rural NewsTo make it in the digital economy, the first step is to plug in. Nearly 40% of residents in the rural US remain without access to broadband. That includes many of the small towns whose economic bottom felt out when manufacturers left. Stuck on the digital fringes, they stand little chance of attracting any kind of outside employer, says Roberto Gallardo, a regional economy specialist at Purdue University. It also puts them at risk of losing the little industry they still have.
Wisconsin Sets Another Record for Milk Production in 2017
edairynews | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsAmerica’s Dairyland stayed true to its name in 2017 as the state set another record for total milk production.
CME reverses course on addressing cattle market volatility
Agri-Pulse | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture NewsFour months after the CME Group “declared victory over cattle market volatility” the futures exchange offered yet another surprise for the cattle industry. On Feb. 1, the CME issued an advisory notice to the marketplace that stated three delivery points would not renew their participation on the Live Cattle Futures Contract: North Platte, NE; Columbus, NE, and Pratt, KS.
USDA-ERS Report: Farmland Values, 2000-2016
Illinois Farm Policy News | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture NewsEconomic theory suggests that farmland values will change in response to changes in the underlying factors that support them, namely, returns to farmland. One measure of returns to farmland is net cash farm income per acre, or the net return that an acre of farmland generates. Values for both cropland and pastureland, two major uses for farmland, increased substantially in 2004-14, nearly doubling in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms.But national trends in U.S.
Impact of genetically engineered maize on agronomic, environmental and toxicological traits: a meta-analysis of 21 years of field data
Nature | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThis meta-analysis aimed at increasing knowledge on agronomic, environmental and toxicological traits of GE maize by analyzing the peer-reviewed literature (from 1996 to 2016) on yield, grain quality, non-target organisms, target organisms and soil biomass decomposition.
The Environmentalist Case In Favor Of GMO Food
Forbes | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture NewsConsumers are deeply suspicious of GMO foods--products made from genetically modified agricultural crops. I was concerned about the environmental impact and the integrity of the food production. But then I decided to teach a class on "Food Law" at the University of Chicago, and in preparation I read the literature—not the pamphlets, but rather the underlying science. I was astonished to discover that my prior suspicions were deeply misguided.
'Cows lives matter' protest in meat section gets protesters kicked out of Madison grocery store
Wisconsin State Journal | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Food NewsProtesters chanting "cows lives matter" in front of steaks, roasts and ground chuck were kicked out of an East Side supermarket Saturday, the same store they protested in last Thanksgiving over turkeys.The protesters, one playing a guitar, loudly chanted "murder" and "cows lives matter" while filling the aisle in front of the meat display."The store manager said the protest prevented customers from making purchases, so she told the animal rights activists she was calling police," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.The protesters left the store and went across the street, where police talked
Judge orders California agricultural officials to cease pesticide use
The Los Angeles Times | Posted onMarch 1, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsA judge has ordered California agricultural officials to stop spraying pesticides on public and private property to control insects that threaten the state's $45-billion agriculture industry.The injunction by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge, issued late last week, could throw a substantial hurdle in front of efforts by the state Department of Food and Agriculture to control dozens of crop-damaging pests such as the Asian citrus psyllid, which carries bacteria that have decimated the citrus industry in Brazil and Florida.Farmers and other property owners will still be able to use ch