AgClips
Recent AgClips
Farmland Values, Agricultural Prices, and Farm Income
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Agriculture NewsAn update on March 23rd from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis stated that, “Farm incomes and capital spending continued to decrease, according to lenders responding to the Minneapolis Fed’s fourth-quarter (January) agricultural credit conditions survey.
Oregon's second largest dairy wins state OK, still needs water rights
Oregon Live | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe development of what would be Oregon's second-largest dairy received approval from state agencies, despite an unprecedented amount of controversy and public concern about effects on business and the environment. The Oregon Department of Agriculture issued a permit with more stringent groundwater monitoring requirements than ever before, but environmental and small-farm advocacy groups say that the requirements don't go far enough to protect the environment.
Study: Grocery shoppers 'not informed at all' by labels
Food Dive | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Food NewsLabel Insight surveyed more than 1,000 consumers about their dietary preferences and how they use labels to make informed purchasing decisions, according to Label Insight. Of those, 67% said it was challenging to learn whether a food product meets their needs by simply reviewing the package label, and nearly half said they were "not informed at all" about a product even after reading the label.
Trapped by heroin: Lobster industry struggles with its deadly secret
Portland Press Herald | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Rural NewsMaine lobstermen are plagued by opioid addiction, leading to deaths, ruined lives and even fishing violations to pay for the habit. Some in recovery also recognize the challenge: Getting help to an intensely independent breed that rarely asks for it. For years, industry leaders and regulators ignored the drug use. They didn’t want to risk tainting the iconic image of the Maine lobsterman, that rough-and-tumble ocean cowboy who braves the elements to hunt lobster, the backbone of the state’s $1.6 billion-a-year industry.
Oregon set to double recycling rate to 10 cents a can
USA Today | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsOregon’s first-in-the-nation bottle recycling program will now double the payout for used soda cans and glass bottles, and frugal residents have been stockpiling for months in anticipation. With other recycling options now commonplace, this eco-trailblazing Pacific Northwest state is hoping to revamp the program with the increase from 5 to 10 cents for bottled and canned water, soda, beer and malt beverages — regardless what their labels say.Oregon’s 1971 Bottle Bill — groundbreaking for its era in combating litter — has been replicated in nine other states and Guam.
Investigation Into TB in South Dakota Cattle Herd Continues
WNAX | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Agriculture NewsSouth Dakota Board of Animal Health officials are continuing to investigate the discovery of bovine tuberculosis in a cattle herd in Harding County. Since February, 41 infected animals have been found. South Dakota State Veterinarian Dr. Dustin Oedekoven says a cow calf herd was quarantined in February after Bovine TB was found and traced back from a routine inspection at a slaughter plant of cull cows in Nebraska. He says the South Dakota Board of Animal Health is working with the USDA and the herd owner on how to dispose of the herd.
To aid ferrets, vaccine treats planned for prairie dogs
The Hutchinson News | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Rural NewsFeeding peanut butter kibbles to millions of prairie dogs – by flinging the treats from four-wheelers and dropping them from drones – could be the next big thing to help a spunky little weasel that almost went extinct. Slinky with a robber-like black mask across its eyes, the endangered black-footed ferret is a fierce predator. The up to 2-foot-long weasel feeds almost exclusively on prairie dogs, rodents that live in vast colonies regularly decimated by plague outbreaks.The disease keeps threatening the food supply of ferrets bred in captivity and reintroduced on the landscape.
New opioid rules largely silent on veterinarian concerns
Bangor Daily News | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe state has released new rules for doctors, veterinarians and pharmacies in support of a state law designed to curb drug abuse by setting limits on opioid prescriptions. Veterinarians hoped the rules would address a host of concerns about their role in the policing of opioid prescriptions.They don’t.“There aren’t very many changes that I could see,” veterinarian Amanda Bisol, legislative chairwoman for the Maine Veterinary Medical Association and owner of Animal Medical Clinic in Skowhegan, said.
The entire coal industry employs fewer people than Arby’s
The Washington Post | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Energy NewsExperts in the industry have already pointed out, repeatedly, that the coal jobs are extremely unlikely to come back. The plight of the coal industry is more a function of changing energy markets and increased demand for natural gas than anything else. The chief executive of the nation's largest privately held coal operation said that Trump “can't bring coal back.” Another largely overlooked point about coal jobs is that there just aren't that many of them relative to other industries.
DuPont sells part of Stine-Haskell to FMC, saving 600 jobs
Delaware News Journal | Posted onApril 5, 2017 in Agriculture NewsDuPont will sell the majority of its 600-employee Stine-Haskell Research Center in Newark to Philadelphia-based FMC Corp. as part of a multibillion-dollar asset swap. The Wilmington-based company also announced it has pushed back the expected closure date of its proposed $130 billion merger with the Dow Chemical Co. DuPont now expects the deal to be completed between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. Originally, Dow and DuPont said the merger would be finalized in the first half of 2017. FMC will acquire the 515-acre facility's agriculture research space, known as the Stine portion.