Agriculture News
Carbon farming: What is it, and how can it help the climate?
Yale | Posted on October 21, 2016For produce farms, carbon farming generally means growing fruits, vegetables, and legumes with minimal disturbance to the soil. One important approach is no-till farming, which implicitly means less disturbance. As much as five times more carbon can stick around in the soil under no-till than with conventional tillage, according to Bernacchi’s study of corn and soybean fields in Illinois. His calculations suggest that if all farms in the U.S. stopped tilling, they’d cut national carbon emissions by 1-2 percent. Carbon farming may be a buzzword, but the practices themselves are not new – they were simply left by the wayside during the rise of modern industrial farming in the latter part of the 20th century. Today, they’re being rediscovered by some for their climate-friendly ways, but for most, simply because they’re practical once they are up and running. “None of the core carbon-farming techniques we have were developed for sequestering carbon,” Toensmeier says. “They were developed because they’re good for the farm.” Improving soil also boosts its water-holding capacity – which will become increasingly vital as drought and severe storms continue to increase. It can also potentially mean better yields. Still, it’s risky for farmers to adopt techniques that may be new to them. For example, moving to no-till can be challenging for organic farmers who rely on tilling to kill weeds, and also for cover-crop operations that use tilling to work the plant residue back into the ground.
DOJ queries farmers on Deere-Precision Planting deal
DTN | Posted on October 21, 2016It's not every day that the government comes a-callin', so when the Washington, D.C., phone number popped up on his cellphone on September 28, Illinois farmer Matt Foes couldn't resist answering. He's glad he did -- the phone call was from the Department of Justice, and they wanted to know how John Deere's plans to purchase Monsanto's Precision Planting would affect Foes, who farms in Bureau County, Illinois. The proposed acquisition has come under fire recently from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which filed a lawsuit in August to block it. The lawsuit argues that the purchase would allow Deere to hold a monopoly on high speed planting technology. John Deere's ExactEmerge technology accounts for 44% of this market, and Precision Planting's SpeedTube technology accounts for 42%, for a combined market share of 86%.
How will the Monsanto-Bayer merger affect everyday farmers?
Modern Farmer | Posted on October 21, 2016EPA has sent the final rule for the 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard blend levels to White House for its approval. The White House Office of Management and Budget is expected to complete its review of the final rule within the next 90 days to set renewable volume obligations in the RFS. The OMB received the final rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday. The notice indicates EPA is on track to finalize volumes by its statutory Nov. 30 deadline. For years the agency has struggled to meet RFS deadlines.
Another ammonia case dismissed, but the environmentalists will keep fighting
Farm Futures | Posted on October 20, 2016A second suit was filed in January, 2016 by HSUS, Association of Irritated Residents, Environmental Integrity Project, Friends of the Earth, and Sierra Club against EPA. Plaintiffs filed their original petition to regulate ammonia from CAFOs in 2009. On September 19, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the environmental groups’ second request to force EPA to regulate ammonia and other emissions of pollutants from CAFOs. The environmental groups are unlikely to stop their effort to regulate ammonia. The environmentalists say CAFOs are harmful to citizens living in the area, claiming that “Given the robustness of the data set, this demonstrates a statistically significant correlation between livestock [ammonia emissions] and infant death.”
Zearalenone reported in US corn crop
Watt Ag Net | Posted on October 20, 2016The first report of zearalenone (ZEA) in this year’s U.S. corn crop has come in, along with an additional report of deoxynivalenol (DON). DON has been found in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Indiana. Fumonisin has been found in corn from Missouri, Texas, Illinois and Oklahoma.
Syngenta Pursues Appeal
DTN | Posted on October 20, 2016Syngenta is challenging a federal judge's ruling that creates a major class of farmers who could have been damaged as part of the ongoing lawsuit on Viptera corn. Syngenta filed an appeal last week with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver over a case in which corn farmers are seeking more than $5 billion in damages against the company. "The decision below certified nine classes collectively seeking over $5 billion in damages on novel and dubious theories that Chinese rules on genetically modified (GM) traits for corn seeds should have dictated defendants' practices in the U.S.," Syngenta stated in its request for appeal. Syngenta is dealing with multiple lawsuits claiming the company should have inspected and prevented harvested Viptera (MIR 162) corn from being shipped to China in 2013 and 2014. Plaintiffs in the case allege Syngenta sold Agrisure Viptera and Duracade, causing significant losses to corn farmers across the country. All farmers in the United States who priced corn for sale after Nov. 18, 2013, were approved as a major class in the ongoing lawsuit filed against Syngenta, according to an order issued by a judge in the U.S. District Court in Kansas last month.
John Block: Ag Industry United
OFW Law | Posted on October 20, 2016In these times of low farm prices, it is encouraging to see farm associations and leaders stepping up to protect our farmers and ranchers. The CEOs of CropLife America, the National Corn Growers Association, and the American Soybean Association became a powerful agriculture industry leadership team, including the American Farm Bureau, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union, and many more. The leaders met with policy representatives of both the Trump and Clinton campaigns. Farm leaders of different crops and different priorities spoke in unison. Stop the regulatory overreach. Trade is important to us. We need labor to pick the strawberries. Regardless of who gets elected as President our industry needs to be heard. The Ag CEO council of leaders has also been meeting with Secretary Vilsack and the Administration. They have argued that the Administration (especially EPA) has been too quick to regulate, that they have ignored sound science, forced new rules on states, they have re-written the definition of waters of the U.S., and more. Agriculture is very concerned that the Administration follows sound science as their time in office ticks down.
Scientists create live animals from artificial eggs in 'remarkable' breakthrough
telegraph.co.uk | Posted on October 20, 2016Arrtificial eggs have been grown in a petri dish for the first time, and used to create living animals in a breakthrough hailed as 'remarkable' by British experts. Scientists in Japan proved it is possible to take tissue cells from the tail of a mouse, reprogramme them as stem cells and then turn them into eggs in the lab. The ‘eggs in a dish’ were then fertilised and the resulting embryos were implanted in female mice which went on to give birth to 11 healthy pups.
Farmers, antitrust activists are worried that Big Ag is only getting bigger
NPR | Posted on October 19, 2016Low commodity prices are rippling up and down the farm-economy food chain — from the farm to the boardroom — and it has many of the huge companies that control farm inputs looking to a new future. Most of the seeds and chemicals used to grow the world's crops come from just a handful of big companies, and the largest of those multinational companies — Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, and Syngenta — are trying to get even bigger. The prospect of fewer, larger companies controlling so much of the basic food supply is giving some farmers and antitrust advocates heartburn. With massive supplies of the world's most important crops, like corn and soybeans, prices have plummeted. Seed industry consultant Bud Hughes says that doesn't just affect farmers. The massive companies that supply farmers are hurting, too.
Dairy farmers in California say anti-flatulence law stinks
CNBC | Posted on October 19, 2016A new state law aims to reduce methane from cows, but the cattle industry thinks the regulation stinks. "I don't have a whole lot of hope that common sense will prevail," said Rob Vandenheuvel, general manager of the Milk Producers Council, a industry group in California. The Golden State has the most dairy cows in the nation with a herd of 1.7 million animals churning out milk. There are also nearly 4 million beef cattle. Vandenheuvel may not have much to worry about. The law leaves a lot of wiggle room, and it will take so long to kick in that there's a chance it could end up as little more than a burp in the road. "Any regulation is a ways off," said Dave Clegern, spokesman for the California Air Resources Board. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law last month to reduce "short-lived climate pollutants." Part of the law mandates cutting methane from livestock 40 percent by 2030 from 2013 levels. Methane doesn't "live" long in the atmosphere, but it is considered a powerful greenhouse gas