AgClips
Recent AgClips
North Carolina is launching an environmental justice advisory board
Think Progress | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in NewsIn 1973, the state of North Carolina made plans to dump 31,000 gallons of the highly-carcinogenic compound polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in a landfill built in Shocco, a rural town in the northeastern part of the state. Shocco’s residents — 75 percent of whom were African American — immediately objected to the plan, fearing that the chemical would seep into their groundwater and contaminate their soil. Local leaders organized protests, laying down in front of dump trucks to prevent them from entering the town.
Va. state senator files suit against Forest Service in support of pipeline protests
The Washington Post | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Federal, Rural NewsA Virginia state senator filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday, claiming that federal officials are illegally blocking access to a road in the Jefferson National Forest where several people are protesting construction of a natural gas pipeline. State Sen.
The stunningly lopsided growth of wind power in the US, in 4 maps
Vox | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Energy NewsWind turbines have cropped up like dandelions across large areas of the United States, and thousands more are coming. The US Department of Energy projects that we’ll have 404 gigawatts of wind energy capacity across the country by 2050, up from 89 GW today.
Trump’s Solar Tariffs Cause a Scramble in the Industry
The New York Times | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Energy NewsSunPower is the nation’s No. 2 commercial solar-power company, employing thousands of workers directly and indirectly. But it makes most of its solar panels abroad, and with the tariffs recently imposed by President Trump costing it as much as $2 million a week, SunPower is fighting for an exemption. One of its rivals, SolarWorld Americas, produces panels domestically.
The 2018 Farm Bill, Agricultural Research, and Implications for Global Food Security
Center fort Strategic & International Studies | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Federal NewsThis year Congress is expected to pass a piece of legislation that deeply affects the lives of all Americans and determines the strategic positioning of the United States in global agriculture for the next five years. The Farm Bill influences the food we eat, how we grow it, and the lives of the farmers who do so. Funding for agricultural research and development (R&D) only makes up a tiny sliver of the Farm Bill’s budget—about 0.2 percent in the 2014 bill—but it has profound consequences for U.S. agricultural competitiveness and global food security.
New Idaho beef plant adds local option for producers
Capital Press | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Agriculture NewsA beef plant opened in southern Idaho earlier this year, giving the area’s dairy producers a local option to send cows nearing end of life. The Times-News reports the Ida-Beef facility in Burley harvests more than 100 cows per day, but it’s designed to eventually process 350 to 400 cows each day.The company says the plant can reduce the stress on the animals and save dairies on freight costs. The area’s producers have typically shipped their cows for slaughter to facilities outside the state.
Mexico-EU trade agreement intensifies U.S. dairy concerns
Capital Press | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Agriculture NewsU.S. cheese exports to Mexico would be restricted from using some common cheese names, threatening well-established markets. U.S. dairy groups are disturbed by preliminary information that Mexico is poised to put new restrictions on common cheese names such as “parmesan” and “feta” for products sold within its borders.
Cage-Free-Egg Laws Spur Cage Match Between States
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsDennis Bowden has raised chickens in the town of Waldoboro, Maine, nearly his whole life. For more than 40 years, he raised his chickens in cages. Then four years ago, when he turned 65, he cut down his flock and went cage-free. The decision to switch was Bowden’s alone, but around the country many politicians have firmly taken sides on the issue of penning hens, hoping either to require egg producers to go cage-free or to protect conventional producers by mandating that stores stock their eggs.Eggs are a staple of the American diet, with 88 billion table eggs produced in 2016.
LePage veto fails, clearing way for recreational pot sales in Maine
Bangor Daily News | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsMaine lawmakers overrode Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of an adult-use marijuana regulatory bill Wednesday, putting the state on track to regulate a retail market that has been in limbo since voters legalized recreational marijuana use in 2016. The proposal that survived the Republican governor’s pen was Maine’s second attempt to create a framework for the system after a veto of an earlier bill was upheld in 2017, sending a special committee that was convened to handle the issue back to rehash it.
EPA chief Pruitt overrules staff, gives Wisconsin's Walker, Foxconn big break on smog
Chicago Tribune | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in NewsThe Trump administration on Tuesday exempted most of southeast Wisconsin from the latest federal limits on lung-damaging smog pollution, delivering a political victory to Gov. Scott Walker as he makes a new Foxconn Technology Group factory the centerpiece of his re-election campaign.