AgClips
Recent AgClips
Grassley Analysis Finds RFS Has Minimal Impact on Success of Refineries
Dhuck Grassley Senate pages | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture, Energy NewsSen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa released a memorandum produced by his energy policy staff who analyzed recent claims made by opponents of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), including Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), which attributed its recent bankruptcy filing in part to the RFS.
Waste-to-biofuel tech a big hit
Innovators Magazine | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Energy NewsA Canadian company pioneering waste-to-biofuel technology facilities has attracted C$280 million in new investment. Enerkem’s tech innovations are beginning to make a big impact on the global biofuel market. It achieved a first in 2017 when it received approval to sell into the American market. And we reported last month that the Quebec-headquartered biotech is going to facilitate 100 biofuel plants across China, as part of a deal with bioeconomy leader, the Sinobioway Group.
'Clean eating' has become such a sham that fast food chains are pushing it
NBC | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Food NewsNone of the aggressive, judgmental pitches of the movement have ever been proven. The power of its association with the economic elite has, though. Fast food marketing itself as “clean eating” has got to be one of the more curious phenomena of our brave new world. A descendant of the American organic movement from the 1970s, it is now being sold with particular gusto by “fast casuals” like Panera and Chipotle as a way for consumers to forego factory foods, which are increasingly seen unhealthy, undesirable “poor people’s” food.
Kroger selling its convenience stores to a British firm
The Topeka Capital Journal | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Rural NewsBritish convenience store operator EG Group is buying Kroger’s convenience store unit — which includes several Topeka Kwik Shop locations — for $2.15 billion as it expands into the U.S.
China supersizes pig farms to cut costs in world's top pork market
Reuters | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture NewsSurrounded by mountains in a remote part of southwestern China, Xinguangan’s first large-scale, modern pig farm is getting ready to produce its first offspring.By the end of the year, 10,000 sows will live inside two huge barns on this 73-hectare (180-acre) site, producing up to 280,000 piglets annually, or about 20,000 tonnes of pork.The farm, big even by American standards, is one of a record number of large-scale projects that will be built in China this year as it shifts a big chunk of its pork production from backyard pig pens to automated, intensive hog barns of the kind widely used i
Improve soil health to reduce erosion
Agrinews | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture NewsBad things tend to happen when the ground isn’t covered, Johnson said, so it is important to do practices such as no-tilling, growing cover crops, leaving the stover or managing the grazing. By keeping soil covered, it protects the soil from wind, rain and temperature fluctuations.“When those intense rainfall events come and the ground is not covered, we can see mud running down the ditch and we know there are nutrients in that mud,” Johnson said. “We are giving our topsoil away when we let it wash away.”Armoring the soil will reduce evaporation.
EPA chief says he is disarming agency ‘weaponized’ by Obama
Las Vegas Review Journal | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Federal NewsEnvironmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said the Trump administration is “righting the wrongs” of President Barack Obama by reversing a host of regulations designed to “weaponize” the agency and punish the fossil fuel industry. At the end of a three-day swing through Nevada on Tuesday, Pruitt said the federal government shouldn’t use its regulatory power to throttle certain sectors of the economy.
New CRISPR method efficiently corrects Duchenne muscular dystrophy defect in heart tissue
Science Daily | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in NewsScientists have developed a CRISPR gene-editing technique that can potentially correct a majority of the 3,000 mutations that cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) by making a single cut at strategic points along the patient's DNA, according to a new study.
Global cereal output heading for a new record, lifting consumption and stocks
FAO | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture NewsGlobal food prices dipped in August, mainly as the prospect of bumper cereal harvests pushed up expectations for larger grain inventories. The FAO Food Price Index declined 1.3 percent from July, averaging 176.6 points in August.The drop was largely driven by a 5.4 percent decline in the FAO Cereal Price Index, reflecting a sharp fall in wheat prices as the outlook for production in the Black Sea region improved.FAO raised its forecast for global cereal production to 2 611 million tonnes, an all-time record.
Oregon has big pot overproduction problem
AP | Posted onFebruary 6, 2018 in Agriculture NewsOregon’s top federal prosecutor said Friday the state has a “formidable” problem with marijuana overproduction that winds up on the black market and that he wants to work with state and local leaders and the pot industry to do something about it. U.S. Attorney Billy Williams convened the unprecedented summit of influential federal law enforcement representatives, state officials and marijuana industry scions after Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama administration memo that had guided states with legalized weed on how to avoid federal scrutiny.