AgClips
Recent AgClips
Idaho housing shortage for H-2A workers
US News and World Report | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture NewsSome housing authorities in southwestern Idaho are struggling to keep up with a rising demand for affordable housing that is the result of a large increase in farm businesses seeking temporary foreign guest workers under the H-2A visa program.Agricultural producers who use the program are required to provide housing for the workers.The Capital Press reports the Caldwell Housing Authority, which operates the Farmway Village public housing complex for domestic farm workers and low-income individuals, received its first request to house H-2A workers three years ago.Two years ago, the village h
New, troubling ways activists are using social media as a megaphone
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture NewsSocial media is one of the sharpest double-edged swords in modern communication. On one hand, it allows farmers and ranchers to amplify their voices and share stories, videos and photos directly with consumers across the country.
Economic development in eastern South Dakota can be explained in a word: udders.
edairynews | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe initiative to lure European dairy companies via cheap government loans started with former GOP Governor Mike Rounds. Since 2012, Governor Dennis Daugaard, also a Republican, has continued the practice, but with a twist. He’s been courting California milk producers, enticing them to relocate along the I-29 corridor with subsidies and user-friendly regulations. Numbers prove the strategy is working. South Dakota farmers sell almost $400 million worth of milk per year. But the stats also show it’s largely been factory dairies heeding the call.
Judge sets timetable for hog farm nuisance lawsuits in N.C.
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture NewsLitigation against alleged pollution by the hog industry in eastern North Carolina will move forward with two test cases in April 2018, a federal judge ruled this week. U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt said the initial trial would involve up to 10 plaintiffs with similar accusations against the hog farms, which are accused of releasing noxious fumes, making disruptive noise and expelling liquid excrement into the surrounding areas, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Fewer Veterinarians Available in Rural Areas
WNAX | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture NewsFarmers and public health officials are growing increasingly concerned with a shortage of food animal veterinarians in Iowa and across the country. The number of farm animal vets is shrinking at a time when worries over potential disease outbreaks are on the rise. In response to the vet shortage, the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program provides selected food animal and public health veterinarians up to $75,000 in loan repayment in exchange for serving at least three years in designated shortage areas.
Judge dismisses lawsuit against Dannon alleging consumers misled by 'all-natural' dairy products from cows fed GMOs
Genetic Literacy Project | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Food NewsA judge has granted Dannon’s motion to dismiss a high-profile false advertising lawsuit alleging shoppers were misled by its ‘all-natural’ claims on dairy products from cows that may have eaten GM feed.In a complaint against Dannon led in New York last year, plaintiff Polly Podpeskar alleged that reasonable consumers would not expect yogurts labeled ‘all-natural’ to use milk from cows likely fed a diet containing genetically engineered soy or corn.The case has been watched closely given how widely 'natural' claims are used on dairy products from cows that may have consumed GM feed.
Supreme Court rejects Dow's $455m appeal against Bayer
Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe US Supreme Court has refused to rule on a patent dispute between agricultural companies Dow AgroSciences and Bayer CropScience. Yesterday, December 4, the court denied Dow’s petition for certiorari, leaving a decision made by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in March untouched.Dow had asked the Supreme Court to review the decision, which affirmed a $455 million award in damages for Bayer for Dow’s infringement of patents related to genetically engineered soybeans.
The Next 30 Years of Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe Our Farms, Our Future Conference, hosted by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and the National Center for Appropriate Technology ATTRA program will be held on April 3-5, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. This national event will bring together our diverse agricultural community including farmers and ranchers, agribusiness stakeholders, students, researchers, scientists, agency representatives and nonprofit leaders. Every decade SARE hosts a conference to look at the progress of sustainability in agriculture and to understand our trajectory for the future.
Developer seeks to bury transmission lines along railroad corridors
Midwest Energy News | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Energy NewsWhile proposed long-distance, high-voltage transmission projects continue to be stymied by hostile landowners and disapproving state regulators, a new transmission strategy is taking root in the Midwest. The Direct Connect Development Company has been working on a plan for an underground transmission line along existing railroad tracks from north-central Iowa to the Chicago area. The goal is to provide a way to move additional wind energy from Iowa, the Dakotas and Minnesota to a transfer point in the Chicago area.
The graying of rural America continues
LaCrosse Tribune | Posted onDecember 7, 2017 in Rural NewsWhen I was young, you could drive up and down country roads and almost everyone was milking cows. Now you can drive for miles between dairy farms.It’s not just dairy. In the most recent Census of Agriculture done in 2012, there were 69,754 farms in Wisconsin, a decrease from 78,463 in 2007. I wonder what the 2017 Census, which is coming our way starting in December, will show when results are released in 2019.Farming hasn’t disappeared. It’s just changing. Some farms are growing larger. More land is leased.