AgClips
Recent AgClips
FSIS proposes scrapping redundant hog carcass cleaning rule
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Federal, Food NewsUSDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is proposing amending the federal meat inspection regulationsto remove a redundant requirement for slaughter establishments to clean hog carcasses before incising. Facilities are now required to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system that identifies potential biological, chemical or physical hazards, and the controls to prevent those hazards at specific points in the process.
Most popular vitamin and mineral supplements provide no health benefit, study finds
Science Daily | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Food NewsThe most commonly consumed vitamin and mineral supplements provide no consistent health benefit or harm, suggests a new study led by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto.
Last gasp for hog farm suit: ‘We don’t want to be hostages’
AP | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Agriculture NewsWhen the wind blows a certain way, residents know to head inside. Quickly. They claim the stench from an industrial hog farm on the edge of town is unbearable. The gigantic “finishing” barn confines as many as 4,800 hogs. That many animals produce a lot of waste, and it’s what Will-O-Bett Farm does with the liquid manure — applying tens of thousands of gallons to nearby farm fields — that prompted a nasty legal dispute with neighbors. Pennsylvania law shields farms from most suits making a nuisance claim, helping Will-O-Bett prevail in the lower courts.
Big Island agriculture hit hard by sulfur dioxide laced fog from Kilauea
Hawaii Tribune | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsA week and a half after the earth split open in Puna and the hazards of Kilauea began devouring and toxifying everything in their path, 67-year-old Garuda Johnson looked out his window. Seeing through the sulfur dioxide-laced haze of vog — which has measured quantities of SO2 as high as 10 parts per million (ppm) on Johnson’s personal monitor — is nearly impossible at distance.
Farm groups launch voluntary 'Farmers for Monarchs' effort
High Plains Journal | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Agriculture NewsAs monarch butterflies flutter on their 3,000-mile trek north to New York and Canada this spring, the nation’s farmers are being asked to help provide respite along the way. Farm groups, along with several agribusiness companies and conservation organizations, launched Farmers for Monarchs earlier this winter as part of a voluntary effort to restore the diminishing butterfly’s habitat.Through the winter, monarchs live in the forested mountains of Mexico, said Ryan Yates, director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Minnesota agriculture officials depopulate another deer farm over CWD concerns
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Agriculture NewsState agriculture officials depopulated a Mineral Point deer farm last week over chronic wasting disease concerns, the second such action at a Wisconsin captive cervid facility in two months. In the most recent move, 103 deer were killed at Windy Ridge Whitetails in Mineral Point.The facility had the animals contained in a 15-acre fenced area.
New Zealand orders mass cattle cull to eradicate disease
Channel News Asia | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Agriculture NewsNew Zealand Monday (May 28) ordered the culling of 126,000 cattle in an attempt to eradicate the painful Mycoplasma bovis disease, which causes udder infections, pneumonia and arthritis. The decision was taken to "protect the base of our economy - the farming sector," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said."This is a tough call - no one ever wants to see mass culls. But the alternative is the spread of the disease across our national herd."Mycoplasma bovis does not affect milk and meat for human consumption, and most governments are content to control outbreaks.
10 massive corporations going big on solar power
CNBC | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Energy NewsAmerican businesses are investing record amounts in solar, with the top corporate users adding 325 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity last year, according to the "Solar Means Business 2017" report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The impact of corporate solar is significant: the solar installations analyzed in the SEIA report produce enough electricity to power 402,000 U.S. homes and offset 2.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.Here, CNBC's Sustainable Energy looks at the top 10 corporations in the U.S. by their installed capacity of solar power. 10.
Grassley-Conaway Subsidy Feud Escalates
Ag Net West | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in Federal NewsIowa Senator Chuck Grassley had some harsh words for House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway of Texas. The Grassley response came as Conaway said Grassley is wrong “every single time” when he complains about loopholes in the process by which USDA makes subsidy payments to farmers. Earlier this week, Grassley had said he would use the Senate farm bill to go after loopholes that non-farmers exploit to collect a lot of subsidy cash from the government. The House version of the farm bill doesn’t contain any payment limitations.
Georgia County sued over alleged talks with Pilgrim’s Pride
Watt Ag Net | Posted onMay 30, 2018 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsA nonprofit group called the McLemore Cove Preservation Society is suing the government of Walker County, Georgia, claiming that government officials are secretly “conspiring to install a large-scale chicken slaughterhouse” in the area. The group claims county officials are in talks with Pilgrim’s Pride and is offering the company tax incentives to open a plant there. Walker County is located directly south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.However, those talks have never been confirmed by county officials or by Pilgrim’s Pride.