Agriculture News
Arms Race Gets Unleashed Over Crop Data
Ag Web | Posted on July 16, 2018It’s the sort of edge any trader would covet -- and one the authorities were actually hoping to prevent. Yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture may well be clearing the way for some Wall Street speed demons to trade on market-moving data before others. Abandoning decades of precedent, the agency has decided to only post its reports directly on the web, rather than also release them via accredited media. While that may seem like a democratic move, it actually could set the stage for a winner-takes-all arms race to grab the info first.
Struggling dairies get creative, hoping to stay afloat
American Farm Publications | Posted on July 16, 2018To rescue her father’s ailing Wicomico County dairy farm, 31-year-old Rebecca Harcum had emptied her savings, maxed out her credit cards and taken a loan against her 401(k). She’d poured nearly $100,000 into the effort, and her father, William Blan Harcum Jr., had also exhausted his savings and credit. It made little difference to the farm’s growing $600,000 debt load.So, in late January, Rebecca Harcum, a Baltimore financial analyst with the Social Security Administration, logged onto the popular crowdfunding website, GoFundMe, and posted a plea to the world, asking it to save Beechnut Farm.For decades, the Harcums had been releasing good karma into the Lower Eastern Shore, welcoming tens of thousands of students onto the centuries-old property to learn about farming.Maybe, Rebecca Harcum thought, people would care enough to donate.“I mean, it’s not just a place. It’s not just a piece of property,” she said in February, sitting inside her father’s cluttered office. “It’s what we know. And we’re doing everything we can to save it. And this is one of those possible Hail Mary—” “My dad had a saying,” her 70-year-old father said, jumping in. “He said, ‘To try where there is little hope is to risk failure. Not to try at all guarantees it.’ We’re going to give this our best shot. We’ll just see.”Seven months in, the Harcums have raised about $8,000.They are one of many families in Maryland and across the United States whose dairy farms have been pushed to the brink of collapse as several years of sunken milk prices have squeezed the state’s declining dairy industry. Though the number of dairies has been steadily shrinking since the early 1990s, agriculture officials said the last four years, following a brief 2014 peak in milk prices, have been particularly stressful as smaller, indebted farms have fallen deeper into debt, pushing some out of business and forcing many farmers to make difficult decisions about the future of their operations.
Missouri research still showa dicamba volatility
Brownfield Ag News | Posted on July 15, 2018University of Missouri researchers continue to find volatility of the newer dicamba products. M-U researchers are in their second year of studying soybean plants, placed 12 inches above the crop canopy, in fields that have been sprayed with dicamba during temperature inversions. Preliminary results show damages to the plants are highest in the first 24 hours they are placed in the sprayed fields but damages can occur up to 96 hours afterward. The plants have no direct contact with dicamba. At the Pest Management field day at Bradford farms near Columbia, Missouri, MU weed scientist Dr. Kevin Bradley said they don’t know how the soybean plant leaves can be cupped up (damaged) if not for volatility of the products.
Genome Editing in Agriculture: Methods, Applications, and Governance
Council for Agriculture Science and Technology | Posted on July 15, 2018The paper also presents an overview of the current landscape of governance of genome editing, including existing regulations, international agreements, and standards and codes of conduct, as well as a discussion of factors that affect governance, including comparison with other approaches to genetic modification, environmental and animal welfare impacts of specific applications, values of producers and consumers, and economic impacts, among others. Recognizing both that genome editing for crop and livestock improvement has the potential to substantially contribute to human welfare and sustainability and that successful deployment of genome editing in agriculture will benefit from science-informed, valueattentive regulation that promotes both innovation and transparency the paper aims to provide a conceptual and knowledge-based foundation for regulatory agencies, policy- and lawmakers, private and public research institutions, industry, and the general public.
Federal funding powers development of waste-to-energy technology for poultry farmers
Technically Baltimore | Posted on July 15, 2018A Baltimore startup that spun out of research at Morgan State University is looking to turn poultry litter into power for farmers. Cykloburn Technologies is developing a low-emission combustion system that converts biomass into energy. CEO Rob Meissner said the technology is being designed as an option for poultry farmers who use chicken litter as fertilizer. On the Eastern Shore, nitrogen and phosphorous from excess fertilizer is pegged as a prime pollutant in the Chesapeake Bay. Using the company’s offering, Meissner said the waste could instead be used as energy to heat chicken houses and provide a renewable source of energy for other operations. That alternative source of energy generated can also help farmers save money.
Irish government puts additional restrictions on GMO production
Farm Ireland | Posted on July 15, 2018The Cabinet has agreed to enable Ireland to prohibit or restrict the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Ireland.The Government approved the transposition of an EU Directive, which will enable Ireland to opt out of cultivation of GMO crops approved for cultivation elsewhere in the EU. This will happen on a much wider range of policy grounds than had previously been the case.These grounds include where such cultivation would be contrary to environmental policy objectives, town and country planning, land use, socio-economic impacts, avoidance of GMO presence in other products, agricultural policy objectives and public policy.
Cargill reports one of its best results for fiscal 2018
Watt Ag Net | Posted on July 15, 2018Cargill reported $3.2 billion in adjusted operating earnings for the 2018 fiscal year, one of its best annual performances. The fourth quarter also was very strong for the company.
Stand up for Safe, Affordable Food
Coalition for Safe Affordable Food | Posted on July 15, 2018A uniform, national food ingredient disclosure solution was passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support. The law prevents the confusion and costly red tape associated with a 50-state patchwork of mandatory state labeling laws that could have raised the cost of food for families by up to $1,050 per year. The bipartisan law includes a consistent labeling standard will allow consumers to access more product information than ever before through tools such as SmartLabel TM, and will ensure that foods produced with genetically modified ingredients are not unnecessary stigmatized with an on-package label. However, the fight is not over. Federal regulators will now begin a long-term process to determine how the law is carried out across the country. Check back for more details about how you can stay engaged as this new law enters the rule-making process at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
FDA Adds New States to Cooperative Agreement Program to Support Produce Safety
U.S. FDA | Posted on July 15, 2018The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced new cooperative agreements with Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi and American Samoa, as well as renewed agreements with 43 other states, in support of efforts to implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. In this third year of the State Produce Implementation Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP), awardees are being provided with the resources to formulate and implement produce safety systems; develop and provide education, outreach, and technical assistance; deliver produce safety training; recruit personnel; and develop inventories of farms covered by the Produce Safety Rule to target outreach, education and inspection activities. The funding can also be used by states to support the On-Farm Readiness Review (OFRR) program, a voluntary program to help farmers learn about the Produce Safety Rule and determine how prepared they are to comply with the rule’s requirements. The availability of CAP funding was first announced in March 2016. Bids were open to all states and U.S. territories. The FDA announced the first cooperative agreements with $21.8 million for 42 states in September 2016, and the second-year agreements, which awarded $30.9 million to 43 states, were announced in July 2017. Today, the FDA is announcing $32.5 million in funding for the 46 states and one territory. Successful implementation of the Produce Safety Rule depends on partnerships between the FDA and the states, both to deliver education and technical assistance to farmers and to provide on-going inspections, compliance, and oversight. The Produce Safety Rule, which the FDA finalized in November 2015, establishes science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption.
Trump Falsely Claims It’s ‘Impossible’ for American Farmers to Do Business in Europe
The New York Times | Posted on July 15, 2018Mr. Trump’s suggestion that it is “impossible” for American farmers to sell their products to the European Union is wrong. In fact, the 28 countries of the European Union are the United States’ fifth-largest export market for agricultural goods, like tree nuts and soybeans, totaling $11.5 billion in 2017, according to the Department of Agriculture.But the United States did import about $10 billion more in agricultural products, like wine, beer and chocolate, from the European Union than it exported there. (Overall, the United States has had an agricultural trade surplus with the rest of the world since 1960.) The European Union does impose a higher average tariff on agricultural products (11 to 12 percent) than the United States (about 5 percent), but about a third of farm goods enter both the European Union and the United States tariff-free, according to the World Trade Organization.