AgClips
Recent AgClips
U.S. food supply has low pesticide residues
Feedstuffs | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture published the 2017 "Pesticide Data Program (PDP) Annual Summary." The summary shows more than 99% of the samples tested had pesticide residues well below benchmark levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal:Looking into 2019, “there’s very little upside, let’s put it that way.”
Green Tech Media | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Energy NewsIt’s been a year of ups and downs for the coal industry. Even while the White House considered different ways to extend a lifeline for coal plants and proposed a replacement for the Clean Power Plan that may soften emissions regulations, many generators still faced a difficult market. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected this month that 2018 will end with 14 gigawatts of coal retirements, second to only 2015. Earlier in the year, a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis suggested retirements would even surpass 2015, at 15.4 gigawatts.
Philadelphia signs major commitment to new solar energy facility
Philly Voice | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Energy NewsPhiladelphia's pledge to run on 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 took a massive step forward on Tuesday afternoon.Mayor Jim Kenney has signed legislation that will enter the city into a power purchase agreement with a renewable energy developer to construct the state's largest solar facility in Adams County.Philadelphia will purchase all electricity produced at the 70-Megawatt site — about 22 percent of the city government's annual needs — for the next 20 years at a fixed rate competitive with conventional electricity prices, officials revealed.
Coalition of states to work to curb transportation emissions
AP | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Energy NewsA coalition of nine Northeast and mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia have announced an agreement to work to impose regional limits on carbon emissions from transportation sources.
Conservation Practices to Reduce Nutrient Loss: How Do They “Stack” Up?
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsConservation practices recommended to reduce nutrient loss from fields are generally classified as in-field practices, edge-of-field practices, and land use change practices. Each practice has a different effectiveness for reducing nutrient loss as well as different associated costs and cost efficiencies. Beyond these important differences, there are several additional details about each practice — level of change required, stackability, and trackability — that are important to consider when weighing options to improve water quality.
Banned in Boston: Plastic bags at grocery stores
CBS | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in NewsA Boston city ordinance banning major grocery store chains from providing plastic bags to customers went into effect Friday. The new law – enacted to help reduce pollution and clean up city streets – applies only to checkout bags, described in the ordinance as carryout bags with handles.
Calif. Dairy Farmers Get 36¢ Bump From New Federal Order
Milk Business | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsCalifornia dairy farmers got their first glimpse of what the new Federal Milk Marketing Order will do for them this week. In Tulare in California’s Central Valley, it amounts to 36¢/cwt.“A switch to the Federal Milk Marketing Order means producers are seeing 36¢ (in Tulare) to 86¢ (in Los Angeles) more for their November milk,” says Geoff Vanden Heuvel, director of regulatory and economic affairs for the California Milk Producers Council.The announced Statistical Uniform Price for Tulare was $14.94/cwt and for Los Angeles, $15.44.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to leave post
CNN | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Federal NewsPresident Trump announced that embattled Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will be leaving at the end of the year.
How Hemp And The Farm Bill May Change Life As You Know It
Forbes | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in NewsThe 2018 Farm Bill officially reclassifies hemp for commercial uses after decades of statutes and legal enforcement conflating hemp and marijuana, the Farm Bill distinguishes between the two by removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. (While the two are closely related, hemp lacks the high concentration of THC that is responsible for the high from smoking marijuana.) This would effectively move regulation and enforcement of the crop from the purview of the Drug Enforcement Agency to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
USMCA IP provisions make for uneven playing field for Canadian, U.S. farmers
Canada West Foundation | Posted onDecember 20, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsFarmers in North America generally did well in the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). But there is one nasty surprise buried in the agreement that should unite all Canadian farmers—intellectual property rules that prevent circumvention of digital locks on electronics including sophisticated farm equipment like tractors and combines that will apply to Canadian, but not to American, farmers.