AgClips
Recent AgClips
Rural broadband is a gateway to a better politics
Des Moines Register | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in Rural NewsBut there is a glimmer of hope now as Congressional leaders on a bipartisan basis are pushing a major reform in the Farm Bill to wire rural communities with broadband – especially those places universally believed to be impossible to wire because of their relatively small population and the huge land masses and distances between users. The Senate version of the Farm Bill pending now in Congress has a plan to solve this problem.
California jury weighs testimony in first trial alleging Monsanto's Roundup causes cancer
St Louis Post Dispatch | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsA trial in which a school groundskeeper alleged that his use of Monsanto's Roundup weed killer caused his terminal cancer will go to a California jury after lawyers for both sides delivered their closing arguments on Tuesday. Groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson is one of more than 5,000 plaintiffs across the United States who claim Monsanto's glyphosate-containing herbicides, including the widely-used Roundup, cause cancer.
USDA rolls out new dairy insurance plan
Capital Press | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in NewsSign-ups for the new Dairy Revenue Protection plan (Dairy-RP) begins Oct. 9, with the first available coverage starting the first quarter of 2019. Dairy-RP was developed by American Farm Bureau Federation, American Farm Bureau Insurance Services and other collaborators and was approved by the Federal Crop Insurance Corp., John Newton, AFBF director of market intelligence told Capital Press in a recent interview.The insurance plan is different from other USDA risk programs for dairy, which focus on income over the cost of feed and don’t directly manage revenue risk.
Dairy Revenue Protection is Here
Farm Bureau | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsSince 2014 the annual average U.S. all-milk price has fallen by more than 30 percent. This year, it is projected to be at the lowest level since 2009, at $16.10 per hundredweight. Milk prices are projected to improve slightly in 2019 to $16.75 per hundredweight, but ongoing trade tensions in July compelled USDA to push its 2019 milk price projection down by 45 cents per hundredweight.
Pets sheltered while families seek help from domestic abuse
The Courier | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in Rural Newsn the past, fear that an abuser would hurt a beloved pet made it less likely a family would flee a home with domestic violence. Now, victims can call for help knowing that their furry friend will be safe and that they’ll someday be reunited. Open Arms Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services, Pawsible Angels and Blanchard Valley Veterinary Clinic have created a new partnership with the owner of a shelter location who prefers to be anonymous.
Debate around ag ‘nuisance’ lawsuits heats up
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsAg organizations have moved to support Smithfield Foods in its bid to have a judge’s gag order lifted, in the wake of a third jury verdict finding a Smithfield-related hog farm responsible for excessive odors and property value damage due to hog waste. The American Farm Bureau Federation and the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation collaborated on a brief filed in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, saying the gag order has a “chilling effect” on agricultural producers’ First Amendment rights.
Smithfield faces down third, and largest yet, 'nuisance' award
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onAugust 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsSmithfield Foods Inc. has struck out a third time with juries in North Carolina, as its Murphy-Brown LLC hog production unit was ordered on Friday to pay $473.5 million to plaintiffs in a noise and odor lawsuit filed by residents near some of its hog farms, according to court documents. Businesses raising hogs for Smithfield’s pork products have already lost two other cases, one in which the jury awarded $50 million and one in which the award was $25 million. In the third case, among dozens that have been filed, the jury in the U.S.
The value of a name driving intense debate over what is milk, meat or a G.M.O.
Food Business News | Posted onAugust 8, 2018 in Food, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe ongoing debate over what products like almond milk and meat created through cellular generation may be labeled and commercially called has tremendous financial stakes. Like the value of an established brand, the value of an established product name is significant, and food industry regulators must balance the potential of innovative and emerging technologies with the need to prevent confusion in the marketplace. The debate over what may be called “milk” is not new.
Maryland: 'We're drowning in Pennsylvania's trash'
The Philadelphia Inquirer | Posted onAugust 8, 2018 in Rural NewsHeavy rains and flood waters that flowed into the Chesapeake Bay in July might have exposed a serious problem along Maryland’s border: Pennsylvania. Record rains carried tons of sediment and debris over the Conowingo Dam, which regulates flow from the Susquehanna River coming out of Pennsylvania five miles upstream. The five days of rains from July 22 to 27 were so intense that the river ran three feet above flood stage, forcing Exelon — the power company that operates the dam — to open 20 flood gates.
Governor drops Medicaid adviser who spoke up for disabled Iowans after services were cut
Des Moines Register | Posted onAugust 8, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsGov. Kim Reynolds has dropped an outspoken Medicaid adviser who repeatedly voiced concerns about how private management companies were treating Iowans with disabilities. David Hudson spent two years as co-chairman of Iowa's Medical Assistance Advisory Council, whose duties include monitoring the state's shift to private management of its $5 billion Medicaid program.“I felt that I was asking the questions the governor should have been asking,” he said in an interview at his Windsor Heights home. “… I guess I pushed back too hard or something.”