SARL Members and Alumni News
Training video helps veterinarians treat opioid overdoses in dogs
AVMA | Posted on July 12, 2017Overdoses from extremely potent illegal opioids are on the rise across America – but not just for humans. These drugs are now endangering working dogs wh o encounter them in the line of duty. As a result, veterinarians are increasingly asked to consult by phone for dogs suffering from overdoses in the field. To ensure veterinarians have the resources they need to respond to this emerging health threat, and in response to law enforcement requests, the University of Illinois reached out to the AVMA and other organizations for help in creating educational materials. The result is a comprehensive training video to help veterinarians and law enforcement teams provide potentially life-saving treatment for dogs.Emerging opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil are so potent that even a small exposure can be deadly. To combat these drugs, many law enforcement officers have begun carrying naloxone, sometimes sold under the brand name Narcan, which can reverse the effects of a drug overdose. In the right hands, this drug can be used effectively to provide emergency treatment for working dogs, but the version carried by law enforcement officials is often a nasal spray rather than the injectable version commonly used by veterinarians.Law enforcement officials are encouraged to take a dog suffering from an overdose to a veterinarian immediately. However, available research indicates that administering naloxone on-site can be a proactive, life-saving option. This video provides critical information for veterinarians who have a doctor-client relationship with canine handlers and need to provide advice by phone.
Editorial: To clean up our water, go 'nuts' like this Iowa farmer
Des Moines Register | Posted on July 12, 2017Seth Watkins has impressive Iowa agriculture bona fides: He’s a fourth-generation farmer. He raises 600 cows and tends 3,200 acres east of Clarinda in southwest Iowa. His grandmother, Jessie Field Shambaugh, founded 4-H. Yet some Iowans have called him “nuts” for sowing grass where he could plant more corn, he told the Register.Watkins has broken out of the two-crop cycle in which so many farmers are caught. He grows corn but also oats, alfalfa and cover crops. He grazes his cattle on pastureland, and about 400 acres of his land have been restored to prairie or set aside for ponds and protection of wildlife and streams. And he’s seen better financial returns as a result, he said, even if it comes at the cost of huge corn yields.“My job as farmer is not to produce; my job is to care for the land. And when I do this properly, this provides for all of us,” said Watkins.
While Most Small Towns Languish, Some Flourish
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on July 6, 2017In several Western and Southern states, small towns are growing quickly as fast-growing metro areas swallow up more outlying towns, according to a Stateline analysis of census estimates.Between 2015 and 2016, the growth was particularly strong in small towns in Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Idaho, Delaware, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina, where small towns grew around 1 percent or more.During the same period, 54 percent of small towns across the U.S. lost population, and most others saw only limited growth. The reasons for growth can be varied, according to Frey and other demographers. Jobs in booming cities can draw new residents to nearby small towns, where quiet streets and good schools can be especially appealing to millennials ready to raise children. In some states, urban gentrification has pushed the poor and immigrants further into outlying towns, where housing is less expensive.
U.S. schools rethink ‘lunch shaming’ policies that humiliate children with meal debts
PBS | Posted on July 6, 2017The U.S. Agriculture Department is requiring districts to adopt policies this month for addressing meal debts and to inform parents at the start of the academic year.The agency is not specifically barring most of the embarrassing tactics, such as serving cheap sandwiches in place of hot meals or sending students home with conspicuous debt reminders, such as hand stamps. But it is encouraging schools to work more closely with parents to address delinquent accounts and ensure children don’t go hungry.“Rather than a hand stamp on a kid to say, ‘I need lunch money,’ send an email or a text message to the parent,” said Tina Namian, who oversees the federal agency’s school meals policy branch.Meanwhile, some states are taking matters into their own hands, with New Mexico this year becoming the first to outlaw school meal shaming and several others weighing similar laws.
Quebec pork producers get $1.4 million to mitigate market risks
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on July 6, 2017The Canadian government has announced some C$1.4 million in financial assistance to Quebec’s pork sector. About C$1.2 million will be used to improve the Market Risk Management Service, launched in 2000 by the producer group Éleveurs de porcs du Québec (ÉPQ) to help producers mitigate price fluctuations without having to individually secure financing required by financial markets.
Maine’s new food sovereignty law puts local control over local foods
Bangor Daily News | Posted on July 5, 2017Proponents of food sovereignty in Maine hope a new law, based on exchanging locally produced and grown food, will bring back some of that community-based commerce. On June 16 Gov. Paul LePage signed LD 725, An Act to Recognize Local Control Regarding Food Systems, June 16, legitimizing the authority of towns and communities to enact ordinances regulating local food distribution free from state regulatory control.“This is huge,” said Heather Retberg, who has helped craft ordinance language. “Historically this is how many people have always exchanged food, especially in rural areas.”Under the new law, any town or municipality in Maine may now adopt an ordinance allowing food producers to sell their products directly to consumers free from state regulations or licenses.“This law and the ordinance are not intended to create a retail market that simply circumvents the rules of food safety,” Richard Loring King, Maine food sovereignty advocate, said. “It’s to rejuvenate traditional local foodways where communities provided for themselves in an atmosphere of trust, not unlike having friends over to share a meal.”For a great many of Maine’s rural small farmers and poultry producers who operate out of roadside stand or directly from their farms, the new law does not change how they do business, as they are already free from state inspections.The real changes involve those who sell meat or dairy products, Retberg said, which are highly regulated by the state.
Pennsylvania Law Protects Veterinarians From Lawsuits
The Horse | Posted on July 3, 2017A new Pennsylvania law shields veterinarians from civil liability when they report suspected animal cruelty to law enforcement authorities. Initially introduced into the Pennsylvania State General Assembly by Representative Mark Keller in 2015, the latest reincarnation was included in HB 1238, which made sweeping changes to the state's animal cruelty statutes.Under the legislation any licensed veterinarian, certified veterinary technician, or veterinary assistant, “who reports in good faith and in the normal course of business, a suspected violation of (animal cruelty) to the proper authority shall not be liable for civil damages as a result of reporting the incident.”Keller believes the law will eliminate veterinarians' legal concerns about reporting suspected animal abuse and ultimately result in increased animal cruelty prosecutions.“HB 1238 is a huge win for those in the veterinary profession and the animals that receive their care,” he said. Michael San Filippo, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), said Pennsylvania is among 30 states with laws requiring veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse cases to local authorities. Of those states, 27 have statutes protecting veterinarians from civil or criminal prosecution if they report suspected animal abuse cases.
Sen. Ritchie says bills she sponsored to help North Country farmers are headed to governor’s desk
North Country Now | Posted on June 29, 2017Two measures sponsored by state Sen. Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, to help support the next generation of New York farmers have been approved by the Legislature and await the governor’s signature. Under the first measure, Senate bill 4021, a Young Farmers Advisory Board of 20 farmers from across the state would lend their expertise and insights on the impacts of potential legislation and programs on those new to the industry, according to a statement from the senator.The second measure, Senate bill 4900, would direct the commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the commissioner of the Office of General Services to work together to develop an inventory of state-owned real property that could be sold or leased for farming.“Agriculture is our state’s leading industry and if we want to ensure it remains as such, we need to take steps to encourage people to pursue farming careers,” said Ritchie, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee.“These two pieces of legislation will help those new to the industry overcome common roadblocks to success—like finding farmland—and ensure that the future of family farming in New York State is bright for many years to come.”
New AL House committee created for urban and rural development
WSFA | Posted on June 29, 2017Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon, R-House District 25, announced Monday the creation of the House Urban and Rural Development Committee.According to McCutcheon, the committee will focus its attention on the unique issues that impact Alabama’s rural and urban communities while working to combat the pockets of poverty that exist across the state.The committee could consider legislative topics like broadband access, infrastructure and development and other factors contributing to impoverished areas, McCutcheon said.Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Cullman, will chair the committee.
Washington Ecology seeks advisers on farm practices
Capital Press | Posted on June 29, 2017The Washington Department of Ecology will appoint an advisory group to evaluate ways farmers and ranchers can prevent water pollution, an exercise viewed warily by the state Farm Bureau. Ecology is seeking experts for the group, which is expected over the next year to help the department develop a set of best management practices. Ecology says the measures will be voluntary and won’t become new regulations.“I think it will be useful guidance for people,” said Ben Rau, Ecology’s manager of the effort.The initiative stems from criticism the Environmental Protection Agency made in 2015 about Ecology’s plan to control pollution from urban and rural runoff. The EPA said Ecology’s plan to prevent pollution from agricultural lands needed “greater specificity.”