AgClips
Recent AgClips
Hawaii was once a local milk mecca. On Oahu, there’s just one dairy left
The New Food Economy | Posted onAugust 7, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsNaked Cow Dairy, located just inland from Waianae on Oahu’s leeward coast, about 45 minutes from Honolulu, sits on a flat patch of land dwarfed by lush green cliffs. At the far end of the property, past the clucking and bleating, sits the creamery. It’s the key to how Naked Cow continues where no other dairy does. A few small rooms, a guava-wood smoker built from a converted restaurant display fridge with clear doors, and an aging room adapted from a 1963 freezer box truck form the cheese- and butter-making operation.
Administration lifts GMO crop ban for U.S. wildlife refuges
Reuters | Posted onAugust 7, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsThe Trump administration has rescinded an Obama-era ban on the use of pesticides linked to declining bee populations and the cultivation of genetically modified crops in dozens of national wildlife refuges where farming is permitted.
The agriculture industry is losing its voice in American politics
Stratfor | Posted onAugust 7, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsOver the past few decades, agribusiness contributions to politics have declined substantially. Lobbying spending by agribusiness as a percentage of total lobbying spending has decreased since 2008, even in election years. Contributions have also gotten slightly more partisan, with more and more contributions going to the Republican Party. Moreover, the composition of the vital, influential Farm Bill has shifted significantly since 2000; its main focus has become funding for food assistance programs rather than protections for farmers.
U.S. trade gap widened in June
Wall Street Journal | Posted onAugust 7, 2018 in Federal NewsThe U.S. trade deficit expanded in June at the fastest rate since November 2016, underpinned by a stronger dollar and buoyant economic growth. The trade deficit in goods and services increased 7.3% in June from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted $46.35 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. Exports fell 0.7% from May, while imports into the U.S. increased 0.6% on the month. The data confirmed economists’ expectations that a narrowing trade deficit earlier this year was likely to reverse, despite a renewed focus on trade policy from President Trump.
Cattlemen at heart: Creativity gives next generation of farmers a boost
The Dickinson Press | Posted onAugust 7, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsTo help get new farmers on the land, in 2017 the Minnesota Legislature passed the Beginning Farmer Incentive Credit that provides tax credits to the owners of farm assets who either rent or sell assets to a beginning farmer.The new program includes incentives for farmers who sell or rent assets to those who are not close relatives – not children, grandchildren, spouses or siblings.It includes a tax credit up to 5 percent of the sale of assets and up to 10 percent of the gross rental income.Those credits can reduce the risk for older farmers to sell or rent to beginning farmers, Wohlman said
The Mendocino Complex Fire is now the largest wildfire ever recorded in California
The Washington Post | Posted onAugust 7, 2018 in Rural NewsTwo blazes that began burning through Northern California late last month have grown at breathtaking speed to form a massive inferno that has now set a new mark for destruction.
Is Extreme Weather the 'New Norm?'
Solutions From the Land | Posted onAugust 2, 2018 in Rural NewsMedia reports over the past two weeks read like a litany of biblical wrath, permeated with details of unprecedented heatwaves, extreme drought, wildfires, persistent rains and damaging floods occurring around the world.In the United States, the National Weather Service said that dangerous heat will persevere through at least today as temperatures across the Southwest, California and parts of the Pacific Northwest continue to be well above average, prompting a heat advisory for 30 million residents.
Degrading plastics revealed as source of greenhouse gases
Science Daily | Posted onAugust 2, 2018 in Energy NewsResearchers have found that several greenhouse gases are emitted as common plastics degrade in the environment. Their study reports the unexpected discovery of the universal production of greenhouse gases methane and ethylene by the most common plastics when exposed to sunlight.
Climate change-driven droughts are getting hotter, study finds
Science Daily | Posted onAugust 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsIn a new study, researchers report that temperatures during droughts have been rising faster than in average climates in recent decades, and they point to concurrent changes in atmospheric water vapor as a driver of the surge.
As temperatures rise, Earth's soil is 'breathing' more heavily
Science Daily | Posted onAugust 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe vast reservoir of carbon stored beneath our feet is entering Earth's atmosphere at an increasing rate, according to a new study. Blame microbes: When they chew on decaying leaves and dead plants, they convert a storehouse of carbon into carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere.