AgClips
Recent AgClips
Destructive spotted lanternfly could be hiding in NYC Christmas trees, and Sen. Chuck Schumer calls on feds to act fast
New York Daily News | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsA pesky bug is wreaking havoc on Christmas trees across the Northeast — and it could soon hitch a ride to the Big Apple.The spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect native to China and Southeast Asia, has been destroying maples and pines across Pennsylvania — and it could ravage New York’s forests if the federal government doesn't act fast, Sen. Chuck Schumer warned Sunday.
HSUS Files Complaint with FTC over Pilgrim’s Pride “Natural” Claim
Chick-cite | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe Humane Society of the United States has filed an 81-page complaint alleging that Pilgrim’s Pride claims of “100 percent natural” and “raised as humanely as possible” are false and misleading. The issues raised relate to stocking density, growth rate, electrical stunning and mechanical slaughter. We have seen this movie previously and the document regurgitates the same set of allegations against almost all U.S. companies involved in intensive chicken production.
Wisconsin Dairy Task Force Proposing Changes To Loans, Education In Dairy Industry
Wisconsin Public Radio | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsWisconsin's Dairy Task Force recently passed two proposals aimed at shoring up the state's dairy industry, which is losing hundreds of farms each year. We talk to the director of the task force about why loans to farmers and more funding for education and research are considered so important. Nine subcommittees presented their findings at the meeting, and two brought forward proposals to boost farmers and stimulate innovation in the industry. On a vote, both proposals passed.
Disorderly Marketing in the Twenty-First Century U.S. Dairy Industry
Choices Magazine | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsDairy farmers across the United States are dealing with financial stress from several consecutive years of low farm milk prices. Farm stress has been exacerbated in traditional dairy-producing regions in the Midwest and Northeast by a relative lack of dairy-processing capacity, which has led to disappearing farm premiums, increased milk hauling and marketing costs, and—in some periods—dumping milk that has no better marketing outlet.Michigan, part of the Mideast order, has been averaging farm milk prices of $1–$1.50/cwt below their historic relationship to U.S.
Does Revenue Diversification Improve Small and Medium-Sized Dairy Farm Profitability?
Choices Magazine | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsDairy farmers are well acquainted with managing volatile input and output prices. In the past 5 years, dairy farms experienced record high milk prices in 2014 followed by devastatingly low milk prices. In Minnesota, farms that contribute financial information to the FINBIN farm financial database reported the lowest average accrual net farm income, $407, in 2009, while the same sample reported an all-time average high of $236,544 just 5 years later in 2014.
Dairy Sector Consolidation, Scale, Automation and Factor Biased Technical Change: Working through “Get Big or Get Out”
Choices Magazine | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsTwo trends: One is diverging trajectories for different dairy herd scale categories in the three Great Lakes states. Data in Table 2 presage the eventual exit of most operations with smaller herd sizes, stasis among most operations in the middle, and future expansion concentrated among larger operations. Those middle-tier farms may not be safe, however.
America’s Dairy Industry Facing Difficulties from Long-Running Structural Changes
Choices | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsWhere then will the future take the dairy sector structure? The crux of structural change is that a sector’s prospects are not strongly tied to those of its participants. Hard science is likely remain in the driver’s seat, with economic considerations defining the terrain and policy interventions seeking to level the bumps. Change will continue and it may continue to be wrenching, favoring consumers on the whole and some producers. This Choices theme deals with all of the above, although with emphasis on producers. But other forces, new and old, are coalescing.
Farm bill does not solve dairy farmer's financial problems
Edairy News | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Federal NewsJust like the former Margin Insurance Program (which we always referred to as being ill-fated and poorly conceived), the new program, if it does what it is supposed to do, it will leave over 50 per cent of the cost of production unaddressed. However, we want to thank Congressman Collin Peterson and others for giving the average dairy farmer much consideration.Right now you have two choices.
Virginia losing one dairy farm a week
Edairy News | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsBrubaker is far from the only dairy farmer in Virginia who struggled to make the business work amid falling milk prices, oversupply and growing trade pressure. In the first half of this year, dairy farms in the state closed at a rate of more than one a week.The industry has been struggling for years, but the past two years have been particularly bad, with the total number of licensed farms dropping 15 percent since 2016, leaving 552 as of June.
The Impact of the Market Facilitation Program on U.S. Soybean, Sorghum and Corn Producers
Choices Magazine | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Federal NewsThe second quarter 2018 issue of Choices focused on the current trade war between the United States and China. The authors of this theme explained the state of the conflict at the time of publication (May 2018) and detailed some of the likely impacts of Chinese tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports levied in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States. Zheng et al. (2018); Taheripour and Tyner (2018); Hansen et al. (2018); Liu, Robinson, and Shurley (2018); and Countryman and Muhammad (2018) predicted dramatic effects for U.S.