AgClips
Recent AgClips
Market Facilitation Program: Impacts and Initial Analysis
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Federal NewsUSDA released details on aid it will provide to farmers in response to trade disputes, resulting in tariffs instituted by the U.S. and retaliatory tariffs from trading partners, especially China. This article focuses on the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) which will have the largest impact on incomes of Midwest grain farms. The MFP provides cash payments to farmers for a subset of commodity crops, including corn and soybeans that are commonly grown in the Midwest. Payments are to be made using a specific rate per bushel on 2018 actual production.
AVMA State Legislative Update August 2018
AVMA | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsIn Massachusetts, a new law pertaining to abuse/cruelty reporting (HB 2419/S 2646) allows government employees to report known or suspected animal cruelty, abuse, or neglect to local authorities. If an employee makes such a report in good faith, he or she has immunity from civil or criminal liability. The Maryland Department of Agriculture proposed a regulation, Dept of Agriculture/18-196, that would allow a person to administer medically important antimicrobial drugs to livestock if a licensed veterinarian finds that the drug is medically necessary.
Maine shrimp population still looks bad amid shutdown
The Salem News | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe early numbers from a new stock assessment of Gulf of Maine northern shrimp doesn't seem to bode well for the future of the long-shuttered fishery.
Wisconsin’s catastrophic flooding is a glimpse of the Midwest’s drenched future
Grist | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Rural NewsAn entire summer’s worth of rain has fallen across a broad swath of the Midwest in recent days. The resulting record floods have wrecked homes and altered the paths of rivers, in one case destroying a waterfall in Minnesota. The worst-affected region, southwest Wisconsin, has received more than 20 inches of rain in 15 days– more than it usually gets in six months.Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin declared a statewide emergency last week, mobilizing the Wisconsin National Guard to assist flood victims if necessary.
At N.H. Border Checkpoints, Immigration, Drug Policy and Politics Collide
New Hampshire Public Radio | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsU.S. Customs and Border Protection has been running checkpoints in New Hampshire more frequently under the Trump administration, setting up on Interstate 93 near the small towns of Woodstock and Lincoln. The stated goal of these stops is enforcing immigration law, and to that end, they have been fairly successful. Agents have arrested more than 50 people over the past two years who they determined to be in the country illegally.
USDA sued for allegedly blocking info on experiments that killed 3,000 cats
The Hill | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Federal NewsThe White Coat Waste Project, a right-leaning advocacy group in Virginia, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this week against the USDA in an attempt to gain information about government experiments that involved euthanizing thousands of cats. The lawsuit alleges that the USDA stopped the group's attempt to obtain information about its research via a Freedom of Information Act request. The group had asked for veterinary records for all “cats and kittens” experimented on at a federal facility in Beltsville, Md.
Apeel’s Edible Produce Coating Could Slay Food Waste And Save Supermarkets Billions
Forbes | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Food NewsApeel produce is, for the first time, becoming available in stores. For now, that’s only Apeel avocados. (Which makes sense. The fickleness of a ripe avocado has inspired internet memes, but Americans still bought north of $2 billion of them last year.) Harps, a grocery chain in the Midwest, started selling Apeel avocados in May, and Costco signed on in June. In the three months since, Apeel says Harps has discarded dramatically fewer avocados—as much as 60% fewer. That improvement translated to a 10% sales lift in avocados, and a 65-percentage-point increase in its margin on the fruit.
Wind and solar farms can make their own weather, including extra rain over the Sahara
The Los Angeles Times | Posted onSeptember 13, 2018 in Energy NewsScientists say these renewable forms of energy can change the climate more directly — and do it in ways that might surprise you.If wind turbines and solar panels were deployed across the Sahara, more rain would fall and more plants would grow in the massive African desert, according to researchpublished in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.In the case of wind farms, the giant turbines would cause warmer air from above to mix with cooler air below, bringing more heat close to the surface.
USDA decision ends request to halt mineral leases
Business North | Posted onSeptember 11, 2018 in Energy, Federal NewsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has re-opened the door to mineral exploration in the Rainy River Watershed, allowing companies to lease minerals in the Superior National Forest. USDA’s decision received a warm welcome from mining supporters, who have worried the obstacle would stifle Iron Range economic growth. Environmentalists said it will harm the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.“Today’s announcement from the U.S.
Georgia farm will get compensated for poultry deaths due to bald eagle attacks
Agdaily | Posted onSeptember 11, 2018 in Agriculture NewsWhite Oak Pastures, whose 3,200 acres makes it the largest USDA certified-organic property in Georgia, estimates that bald eagles have destroyed nearly 160,000 chickens over the years, resulting in over $2,200,000 in losses. The farm was famously the subject of a 2016 Audubon feature article titled, “An Organic Chicken Farm in Georgia Has Become an Endless Buffet for Bald Eagles,” which explored the impact of the nearly 75 eagles living at the farm.