Agriculture News
Blame Congress for immigration inaction that jeopardizes American agriculture
The Hill | Posted on July 17, 2018For more than 50 years, since the nullification of the Bracero Treatyand left-unprotected U.S. border, the issue of illegal immigration has vexed our democracy. If there is one thing worse than the byzantine immigration system left in its wake, it’s the unending blame game from the very people charged with providing sound immigration policy: Congress. On one side are the hardliners more than willing to cast the first stone at the illegal immigrant, yet completely unwilling to see their own neglect of leaving a border wide open to a poverty-stricken nation for so many years. On the other side of the aisle are the power-hungry politicians who hide behind the façade of compassion while taking votes from anyone, legal or not, to broaden their political base. mployers are blamed for hiring illegal immigrants but by law are not allowed to question their documentation, which places these employers in the crosshairs of conflicting federal and state laws. Wayward city leaders are blamed for protecting hard-working mothers and fathers and their children who seek to stay in America. Legal and illegal families believe they have nowhere to turn, and border security guards are forced to separate children from parents as they cross the open border with Mexico. The best response Congress can muster is half-baked, sound-bite solutions such as, “Build a wall,” “Give them citizenship,” “Finance the Dreamers,” “Legalize the Dreamers,” “Make them touchback,” or “Send them all back.”
Lawsuit: Blame Monsanto for widespread Kansas crop losses
Fast Company | Posted on July 17, 2018A new lawsuit alleges that Monsanto knew that a potent herbicide would harm crops that weren’t resistant, but sold a product based on it anyway. As a result, potentially thousands of acres of crops that weren’t resistant to the herbicide died, the lawsuit says. The legal complaint was filed by 4-R Farms, which lost 200 acres of soybeans. The herbicide, dicamba, has been used in the United States since the late 1960s, but only since 2017 in so-called over-the-top applications where it is sprayed on fields after the soybeans are already growing. It is the basis of Monsanto’s XtendiMax herbicide, which is meant to help farmers control weeds, including pigweed. It’s designed to be used on genetically modified soybean and cotton crops created to be tolerant to weed killers. The herbicide can reportedly drift, though, landing on nearby fields and destroying non-GMO crops. Monsanto isn’t the only company that sells dicamba-based products. The Kansas lawsuit also names chemical company BASF as a co-defendant. BASF is facing its own mounting pile of lawsuits over dicamba.
33 people were killed on farms in the last year
Eastern Daily Press | Posted on July 17, 2018The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says the number of fatalities in agriculture is 18 times higher than the average across other major UK industries. Among the 29 farm workers killed, the biggest cause of death was livestock, accounting for almost a quarter of all fatalities (24%), followed by being struck by a farm vehicle (18%), and trapped by a structure collapsing (15%). Other causes include being struck by an object, falls from height and contact with electricity. Only one death was recorded in the East of England – a 57-year-old worker who slipped and fractured his ankle in the farmyard, and later died from medical complications related to the injury. Four members of the public also died on farms between April 2017 and March 2018, says the report, including two children under the age of 16.
Farmers markets to lose access to EBT technology
USDA | Posted on July 17, 2018In response to the recent news about access to farmers markets for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Brandon Lipps offers the following statement: "The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) was recently informed by a major provider of mobile EBT technology for farmers markets and farm stands that it will discontinue this service. With few providers in this marketplace, this is of great concern. Farmers markets play an important role in providing Americans with access to nutritious foods. FNS is committed to encouraging farmers market participation in SNAP, to improve access for low income Americans while supporting economic opportunities for farmers and producers. Since being notified of the provider’s decision to discontinue service, USDA has been exploring all available options in an attempt to avoid a service disruption. Our number one goal is to mitigate the impact on our program participants as well as farmers and producers." Moving forward, FNS will continue to work with interested mobile payments providers, while seeking to modernize the approach by employing a bring-your-own-device model for accepting SNAP EBT transactions, Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI), and electronic payments from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (eWIC). Under this approach, business operators would purchase their own-point-of sale-equipment such as mobile phones and/or transaction terminals.
Giant pork pile awaits Americans as trade wars risk exports
Bloomberg | Posted on July 17, 2018Donald Trump’s trade wars are making pork a bargain. American production is poised to reach an all-time high this year, and output is forecast to surge again in 2019. The supply boom comes as tariffs from China and Mexico threaten to curb export demand, leaving Americans with a mountain of cheap meat. On Saturday in Dallas, as many as 30 people on a local bacon-focused food tour were set to traverse the city chomping down on bacon donuts, bacon brown sugar ice cream, bacon jam and candied bacon. While retail bacon prices are down in the past 12 months, they’re still up from six years ago, so any relief from higher costs will be welcome news to the pork enthusiasts. “It’s almost like a bonding experience,” said Jeanine Stevens, the owner of Dallas Bites! Tours, which takes participants to little known restaurants and other eateries. “Bacon is a kind of food that people just feel a little bit lighthearted about. It’s a fun food.” Other Americans might agree. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting overall pork consumption next year will climb to 53.3 pounds a person. That’s the highest since the early 1980s.
U.S. trade, immigration and biofuel policies hit farmers hard
U.S. News & World Report | Posted on July 16, 2018Even before the specter of a trade war with China and other countries threatened to cost them billions of dollars, American farmers were feeling the squeeze from fluctuating crop prices and other factors that have halved their overall income in recent years. The threat of counter-tariffs on U.S. farm goods and the impact of President Donald Trump's other policies on immigration and biofuels, though, have some farmers more worried than ever about their ability to continue eking out an existence in agriculture. "No matter where you look in ag right now, you see storm clouds on the horizon and some of those are a lot closer overhead than we'd care for," said Chad Hart, an agricultural economist with Iowa State University. Trump's tariff threats earlier this year against China, Mexico, Canada and European Union elicited quick retaliatory measures that depressed the prices of certain U.S. agricultural products, including corn, soybeans, pork. When $34 billion worth of tariffs against China took effect July 6 and China responded with tariffs of its own, U.S. farmers were already feeling the squeeze from lower crop prices, higher land prices and other factors. The Department of Agriculture predicted before the threat of tariffs and counter-tariffs that U.S. farm income would drop this year to $60 billion, or half the $120 billion of five years ago. That projection is likely high, given what's transpired since.
KS, MO Farmers Dealing with Drought
DTN | Posted on July 16, 2018In a growing season where some regions of the Western Corn Belt have seen too much moisture, other areas have seen very little of it. From east-central Kansas into north-central Missouri, scant amounts of precipitation have led to crops withering in the field, leaving livestock with little to eat or drink. Some areas are worse than others, but farmers in Kansas and Missouri said the drought area will grow in size the longer it doesn't rain. Moisture may still help soybeans, but it's too late for most of the corn.
California awards $69.9 million for dairy digester projects
Biomass Magazine | Posted on July 16, 2018The California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded $69.9 million in grant funding to 40 dairy digester projects across the state. These projects, part of the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from manure on California dairy farms. Financial assistance for the installation of dairy digesters comes from California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that uses Cap-and-Trade program funds to support the state’s climate goals. CDFA and other state agencies are investing these proceeds in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide additional benefits to California communities. Dairy digester grant recipients will provide an estimated $95.5 million in matching funds for the development of their projects.
Wisconsin dairy farms no longer burning, burying plastics, thanks to recycling company
Herald Times Reporter | Posted on July 16, 2018Wisconsin farms use and dispose of hundreds to thousands of pounds of plastic items each year, but only a small portion of it is accepted by many recycling centers. That is why Revolution Plastics has stepped up to accept agriculture plastics like silage bags, bale wraps and oxygen barriers that other recycling centers are unable to. "Ag plastics used on Wisconsin dairy farms come covered in silage, mud and sometimes manure." said Price Murphy, director of operations for Revolution Plastics. "Feed, in particular, leaves distinct aroma on the plastics that is hard to get out. So, many recycling centers just don't have the technology to clean these plastics, but we do." Revolution Plastics is a nationwide business with a chapter in Madison that collects those hard-to-clean agriculture plastics and re-purposes them as trash liners or other products for restaurants or hospitality businesses.
Key step forward for game-changing grass
Feedstuffs | Posted on July 16, 2018In New Zealand, an important milestone has been reached in AgResearch’s development of a new-generation grass that could prove to be a game changer for agriculture. With funding from the government of New Zealand and industry partners, including DairyNZ, the genetically modified, high-metabolizable energy (HME) ryegrass has been shown in AgResearch’s laboratories to grow up to 50% faster than conventional ryegrass, to be able to store more energy for better animal growth, to be more resistant to drought and to produce as much as 23% less methane from livestock