AgClips
Recent AgClips
Poultry Tops Mississippi’s $7.3 Billion Agriculture Economy in 2017
Drovers | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsMississippi’s $7.3 billion agriculture economy continues to see growth from the poultry industry which saw an increase of 13% in 2017, reaching $2.8 billion in value. Agricultural economists with the Mississippi State University Extension Service released year-end estimates for the value of crops in the Magnolia State. Government payments accounted for $227 million in commodity value, so when added to the total crop value the overall monetary value jumps to $7.53 billion.
VA:State Forester to Head Virginia Agriculture, Forestry
Lancaster Farming | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsAfter more than a decade in the Virginia Department of Forestry, Bettina Ring will be the commonwealth’s next secretary of agriculture and forestry. She will replace Basil I. Gooden in the role that oversees the state’s largest private industry, agriculture, which combined with forestry provides more than 442,000 jobs, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.“We have sustainable farmland and forestland across the state, and we want to make sure it stays healthy and the families stay healthy” managing it, Ring said.
Wisconsin Apprenticeship Program Prepares Future Dairy Farmers
Wisconsin Public Radio | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsNow, Mericka is, in a way, paying it forward.He’s hosting an aspiring farmer through the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, or DGA. It acts like a matchmaking service, partnering master farmers with beginning farmers or experienced farmers who want to transition to grazing.It’s his friend, Matt Nielsen, who like Mericka, did not grow up in a farming family. Nielsen has toyed with the idea of becoming a farmer since he was a kid.
Dairy employs 1 million Americans
Hoards Dairyman | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture News“Nearly 1 million people are employed in the United States directly because of dairy,” said former USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. That job total includes those employed on dairy farms, those working with dairy farmers, dairy processing, trucking, and other associated sectors.“That employment has a $206 billion economic impact on the U.S.
Public attitude to GM crops ‘is medieval’
The Times UK | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture Newsxperts were told to consider how to improve the Scottish public’s understanding of science after ministers raised concerns about “medieval” debates on genetically modified crops.
Ohio, Pa. agriculture by the numbers (Infographic)
Farm and Dairy | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsWe often take our farmers and the economic impact of local agriculture for granted. But combined, Ohio’s agricultural and food production cluster employed one out of every eight Ohioans in 2015 and contributed $33 billion (5.3 percent) to Ohio’s gross state product, according to a report produced by a team of agricultural economists from the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.
Milk oversupply strains market in Wisconsin
Fox News | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsSome Wisconsin dairy experts say farmers should take a closer look at their contracts as an oversupply of milk is straining the market. Agriculture attorney Troy Schneider told Wisconsin Public Radio that contracts between dairy farmers and milk buyers are usually informal. He says farmers have not had to worry about producing too much milk because buyers were easy to find.However, an oversupply of milk has changed the market and local producers don’t have flexibility.
The real costs of antibiotic-free, slow-growing broilers
Watt Ag Net | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Agriculture NewsA future with only antibiotic-free and slow-growing broilers would be harder on the environment and the economy. In a presentation at the 2017 Chicken Marketing Summit, Dr. Matt Salois, director of global scientific affairs and policy for Elanco, outlined the consequences of farmers moving from conventional practices to no antibiotics ever or slower growing broiler production. If standardized, the practices would raise the number of birds needed to feed the same number of people, and lead to the consumption of more natural resources and creation of more pollution.
Food Swamps Are the New Food Deserts
The Atlantic | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Food NewsThe term “food desert” conjures the image of a forlorn citizen, wandering through a barren landscape for miles and miles (or, by definition, for more than a mile) to reach the nearest fresh-food market. Populating food deserts with grocery stores is a favored cause among nutrition advocates, but the concept became controversial after some recent studies found the distance to the nearest grocery store doesn’t correlate with a region’s obesity rate.(Because it’s nutrition, other studies have shown the opposite.
He built a food pantry in his lawn for the hungry. His town followed.
CNN | Posted onJanuary 2, 2018 in Rural NewsThis summer, Roman Espinoza put up what he called a "blessing box" on his lawn.It was a miniature food pantry, modeled after Little Free Libraries, those boxes full of books in people's front yards that others can borrow from.What Espinoza, a 46-year-old Army veteran, hoped to do was alleviate the problem of hunger in his community.What his small gesture ended up doing is reveal a town's big heart.Today, his town -- Watertown, New York -- boasts more than 20 of these boxes.