Agriculture News
NOAA Spring Flood Outlook: Moderate River flooding Likely
Weather Nation | Posted on March 22, 2018NOAA issued its three-month U.S. Spring Flood Outlook today, highlighting a moderate risk of flooding in the Ohio River Valley basin and lower Mississippi River where streamflows and soil moisture are well above normal after major flooding from recent heavy rainfall. Drought is forecast to persist or worsen in the southern and central Plains, Southwest and California, according to the NOAA forecast as warmer and drier-than-normal weather is likely to engulf the region this spring.
Can This Group of Farmers Finally Defeat Keystone XL?
Outside | Posted on March 21, 2018But for pipeline opponents in the Cornhusker State, the view from the ground is far from hopeless. Last November, in a perplexing three-to-two vote, the Nebraska Public Service Commission (NPSC) rejected TransCanada’s preferred route. Instead the commission okayed the company’s alternate choice, a path that differs from the original 63 miles in northeast Nebraska. Those 63 miles could make all the difference: a new route means new easements and likely a host of pricey new lawsuits. The decision was such a blow that the company requested the NPSC modify the wording of its decision. But the commission unanimously rejected the motion, a ruling that landowner attorney Brian Jorde called the “worst decision possible for TransCanada.”
Dairy targeted in February, fish in March - meat may be next
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on March 21, 2018As if our country’s dairy producers don’t have enough stress with the current economic situation of the industry, they also had to deal with being the primary target of extreme animal rights activist groups throughout the month of February. Now is the time for the meat industry to review the tactics used against dairy and prepare for its turn in the crosshairs. The primary group declaring war on dairy in February was Direct Action Everywhere. This name should be very familiar if you regularly follow this blog, but for those who need a refresher, Direct Action Everywhere is a network of activists across the country organized into chapters. It describes itself as “a platform, not an organization.” DXE believes in animal liberation and offering animals rights equal to humans. They work to advance that goal through direct action (protests, breaking into farms, stealing animals, disrupting events, etc.). DXE is most active in Berkeley, Calif., and Denver, Colo.
Hours of Service waiver for ag haulers
Brownfield Ag News | Posted on March 21, 2018An hours-of-service waiver has been put in place for agriculture haulers for 90-days. The waiver, issued by U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, gives that agency more time to release guidance on regulations related to agriculture.
Canadian beef producers applaud signature of CPTPP Agreement
Beef Producer | Posted on March 21, 2018International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne gathered with his counterparts from 10 other countries March 8, 2018 in Santiago, Chile to sign the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), also referred to as TPP11. Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) Vice President David Haywood-Farmer, a beef farmer from Savona, British Columbia, was present to witness the signing. Haywood-Farmer congratulates the Government of Canada for joining the new trade agreement, which provides beef producers with competitive access to Japan, Vietnam and other dynamic markets in the Asia-Pacific region. “This is an extremely positive development for Canada’s entire beef sector,” said Haywood-Farmer. “The CCA is very proud to have been a principal advocate for resurrecting the market access provisions of the TPP. I applaud and thank Minister Champagne and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay for their diligence and leadership in achieving this landmark agreement,” he said.
Court finds Foster Farms liable for $2 million of $6.5 million salmonella verdict
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on March 21, 2018In a precedent-setting food safety case, an Arizona federal court jury on March 1 returned a verdict in the amount of $6.5 million in favor of a 5-and-a-half-year-old child who suffered a brain injury in 2013 as a result of a Salmonella Heidelberg infection from what was believed to be chicken produced by Foster Poultry Farms.
FDA report on antibiotics sold for use in “food-producing animals”
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on March 21, 2018The report has been out for a couple of months, but I am just not seeing the press that it should have generated. Is that because the never-ever, organic, cage free and anti-CAFO groups have nothing to crow about? For the very first time since FDA started tracking sales in 2009, there was a drop; and not a small one either. The sales of medically important antibiotics, those used in both human and animal health, dropped 14 percent!Shouldn't there be a headline or two about this change? And this was for the year 2016, not 2017 when Guidance 213 went into effect. Sales of not medically important antibiotics — those that are never used in human medicine — accounted for 40 percent of total sales. Again.And these not important antibiotics are included when the anti-ag crowd says 80 percent of all antibiotic sales are to healthy animals and we will all die because of it.
Bayer wins EU approval for $62.5 billion Monsanto buy
Reuters | Posted on March 21, 2018German conglomerate Bayer won EU antitrust approval for its $62.5 billion buy of U.S. peer Monsanto, the latest in a trio of mega mergers that will reshape the agrochemicals industry.
Syngenta Agrees to Pay More Than $1.4 Billion in Corn Accord
Bloomberg | Posted on March 15, 2018Syngenta AG agreed to pay more than $1.4 billion to U.S. farmers who complained that the marketing of the company’s genetically modified corn seeds shut them out of the Chinese market, according to people familiar with the deal. The settlement with more than 100,000 farmers was announced Tuesday in a Minnesota class-action trial. It resolves all farmers’ litigation in the U.S. but doesn’t include Canadian lawsuits, according to Paul Minehart, a Syngenta spokesman. Minehart wouldn’t confirm the amount of the settlement, saying the terms will be made public when the deal is presented to a judge.The pact resulted from months of negotiations between a four-lawyer team representing farmers and Syngenta’s attorneys, according to the people familiar, who said they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the settlement. Syngenta halted the trial involving about 22,000 Minnesota farmers to announce the deal. Those farmers were seeking more than $400 million in damages over their corn losses.
Farm-income losses hurting Midwestern states’ budgets; no turnaround for sector in sight
CSG Midwest | Posted on March 15, 2018The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that real gross domestic product increased 2.3 percent nationally between 2016 and 2017, but agriculture subtracted from overall economic growth in every state in the Midwest — most notably Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. “It’s a big deal in Nebraska when our farmers are hurting,” says Tony Fulton, the state’s tax commissioner and a former state legislator. Last year, Nebraska had to close a nearly $1 billion shortfall for the biennium that began July 1, and lagging tax collections opened an additional $200 million shortfall.States whose agricultural economies are tied more to dairy haven’t had as many highs and lows over the past decade, says Mark Stephenson, an economist with the University of Wisconsin. Still, the dairy industry is clearly facing struggles as well. Federal court data shows the Western District of Wisconsin, which covers more than half the geographic area of the state, had 28 Chapter 12 (family farm) bankruptcy filings in 2017, the highest number in the country. The Eastern District of Wisconsin had 17 cases and the Minnesota District had 19. Farmers are trying various ways to make it through this difficult period — for example, planting more niche and organic crops, accepting wind turbines on their property, relying on off-farm income, or raising chickens or hogs on contract (this latter strategy, though, requires taking out loans of up to $1 million). According to Jay Rempe, an economist for the Nebraska Farm Bureau, a growth in livestock processing also should help stabilize the agriculture sector.