AgClips
Recent AgClips
Investors Becoming More Engaged on Ag and Food Sustainability
DTN | Posted onNovember 22, 2017 in Agriculture NewsIn a new dynamic for the agricultural sustainability movement, major institutional investors are increasingly engaging food and agricultural corporations to find out how they are managing various climate risks. The role of inquisitive institutional investors was a running theme at the Field to Market Agricultural Sustainability Summit this week in Kansas City, Missouri.
Antitrust suit vs. major chicken companies to continue
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onNovember 22, 2017 in Agriculture NewsA class-action lawsuit accusing the nation’s top poultry producers of price-fixing since 2008 will move forward now that a federal judge declined to dismiss the action filed in 2016 accusing the defendants of violating the antitrust-focused Sherman Act. Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., filed the lawsuit more than one year ago, accusing 14 poultry processors – including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms – of working together to artificially inflate broiler supplies even as feed prices were falling.
Canada 'prepared for the worst' amid squabbles over NAFTA, Freeland says
CBC Canada | Posted onNovember 22, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsDespite making progress on "bread and butter" issues, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said differences remain between Canada and the U.S. on a number of key chapters of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Speaking to reporters as the fifth round of negotiations concluded in Mexico City, the Toronto-area minister said "significant" sticking points include the U.S.
Trump's NAFTA trade war may derail some small-business manufacturers
CNBC | Posted onNovember 22, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsThe Trump administration's effort to win NAFTA concessions from Canada and Mexico is nearing its March deadline. Some small-business manufacturers fear their concerns will be neglected, including supply-chain disruptions for dealers and distributors, price increases they can't pass on to customers, even risk of bankruptcy.As much as 98 percent of exporting companies are small- and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
NAFTA Talks Have Hit a Wall After Mexico and Canada Resist U.S. Demands
Fortune | Posted onNovember 22, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsThe United States, Mexico and Canada failed to resolve any major differences in a fifth round of talks to rework the NAFTA trade deal, drawing a swift complaint from the Trump administration on Tuesday that the lack of progress could doom the process. The three nations have vowed to continue talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) through March, but the yawning disagreements on core U.S. demands are piling pressure on negotiators to come up with fixes before Mexico’s 2018 presidential campaign begins in the spring.Mexico and Canada have rejected a U.S.
To Keep Operating, New England Dairy Farm Looks To 'Milking Robots,' Tax Credits
New England Public Radio | Posted onNovember 22, 2017 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThis Thanksgiving, when scooping ice cream on top of warm apple pie, some Massachusetts lawmakers’ thoughts might turn to tax credits for dairy farmers. They would be expanded under a measure under consideration in the legislature. Given the state's fiscal situation, it isn't expected to become law anytime soon. We are currently milking about 155 cows in our new barn -- it's a 180-stall barn. We have two milking robots. Each milking robot can milk about 60 cows apiece, and — actually, I shouldn't call it a milking robot. It’s a voluntary milking system. The cows go and milk themselves.
Webinar: Farm Income and Financial Forecasts, November 2017 Update, 11/29/17 @ 1 p.m. EST
USDA | Posted onNovember 21, 2017 in Agriculture NewsERS webinar on the farm income statement and balance sheet estimates and forecasts three times a year, including February, August and November. These core statistical indicators provide guidance to policy makers, lenders, commodity organizations, farmers, and others interested in the financial status of the farm economy. ERS' farm income statistics also inform the computation of agriculture's contribution to the gross domestic product of the U.S. economy. During this webinar, economist Carrie Litkowski provides the November forecast for 2017.
The hydroponic robotic future of farming in greenhouses
WIRED | Posted onNovember 21, 2017 in Agriculture NewsHere in 2017, the automation revolution in agriculture is poised to take on a whole new life—thanks to robots. In a nondescript office park in Silicon Valley, a startup called Iron Ox is taking the first steps toward roboticizing greenhouse farming, which has so far stubbornly resisted automation. In the very near future, then, the salad on your table may come from the hand of a robot. Unlike a lot of indoor farming operations, Iron Ox isn’t joining the booming movement of LED-powered grow houses. It’s still very much interested in harnessing the energy of the sun (free energy!).
Utah agrees to pay $349K to settle lawsuit over 'ag-gag' law
Idaho Statesman | Posted onNovember 21, 2017 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsUtah will pay $349,000 to settle a lawsuit that overturned a law banning secret filming at farm and livestock facilities. The Salt Lake Tribune reports the settlement will cover the costs of attorneys and others fees for animal-rights groups that challenged the 2012 law.State attorneys had argued the law protected property rights and made agricultural workers safer by barring unskilled undercover operatives from potentially hazardous places.
EPA can’t link cows to fouled shellfish
Capital Press | Posted onNovember 21, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsThe Environmental Protection Agency analyzed dozens of water samples collected in Whatcom County and couldn’t find evidence of cattle causing pollution.