AgClips
Recent AgClips
How Iowa became an Obamacare horror story
Politico | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Rural NewsBut Iowa’s marketplace is arguably in the worst shape in the country at a time when Republicans are intent on dismantling Obamacare, creating further stress on the wobbly exchanges. And Trump’s decision to gut funding for outreach and marketing activities ahead of open enrollment is likely to have an outsize effect in a state in which many customers are certain to be confused by their options. How did Iowa get to this precarious point?
How smart farms are making the case for rural broadband
Magic Valley | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Agriculture, Rural NewsNew smart farm technologies can give America’s growers the ability to monitor crop conditions in real time, respond to technical problems before machinery breaks down in the field and consult with the world’s foremost agronomic experts with the push of a button. That is, as long as they’ve got five bars of service and plenty of internet bandwidth. If not, the smartest piece of technology isn’t worth its weight in good, quality fertilizer.
EPA scrubs a climate website of ‘climate change’
The New York Times | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Federal NewsThe Environmental Protection Agency has removed dozens of online resources dedicated to helping local governments address climate change, part of an apparent effort by the agency to play down the threat of global warming. A new analysis made public on Friday found that an E.P.A.
Cargill implements traceable turkey solution
Meat + Poultry | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Food, SARL Members and Alumni NewsCargill is offering consumers turkeys with a side of traceability. The company’s Honeysuckle White brand recently launched a pilot project that that uses blockchain technology to trace turkeys produced by family farmers. To learn more about their Thanksgiving turkey, consumers in select markets can text or enter an on-package code at HoneysuckleWhite.com to access the farm’s location by state and county, view the family farm story, see photos from the farm and read a message from the farmer.
Amid GMO Strife, Food Industry Vies For Public Trust In CRISPR Technology
NPR | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Food NewsThere's a genetic technology that scientists are eager to apply to food, touting its possibilities for things like mushrooms that don't brown and pigs that are resistant to deadly diseases. And food industry groups, still reeling from widespread protests against genetically engineered corn and soybeans (aka GMOs) that have made it difficult to get genetically engineered food to grocery store shelves, are looking to influence public opinion.The technology is called Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR.
Positive Year For Manitoba’s Dairy Industry
edairynews | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Agriculture NewsWiens notes the Manitoba dairy industry reached a new benchmark over the past year.
Struggles similar on Massachusetts dairy farm
edairynews | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Agriculture NewsDairy farmers in Massachusetts struggle to make good-quality feed, make ends meet when milk prices are low and push the limit on cow numbers to keep their farms afloat. At least that’s what a contingent from Wisconsin learned Oct. 9 when they visited the Jordan Dairy Farm near Rutland, Mass.
Florida pays $437,000 in dispute over skim milk
edairynews | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Agriculture, Food, SARL Members and Alumni NewsNo sense in crying over spilled milk, but what about $437,000 in legal fees? Florida’s paying that amount to the attorneys of Ocheesee Creamery, which is about 50 miles west of Tallahassee. State officials under Adam Putnam’s Department of Agriculture had pushed to label the dairy’s skim milk as imitation, because vitamins aren’t added to it, according to the Associated Press.The state defines skim milk as having Vitamin A.
Klamath farmers lose ‘takings’ lawsuit
High Country News | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Agriculture, Rural NewsThe Klamath River, in southern Oregon and Northern California, once hosted the West Coast’s third-largest salmon run, until dams and irrigation disrupted it. During severe drought in 2001, the feds shut off farmers’ water to save endangered fish and uphold tribal water rights. The farmers sued for $29 million plus interest for the federal “taking” of their water. In 2002, they got to irrigate, but the resulting salmon die-off enraged tribes. Stakeholders eventually negotiated an end to the fighting.
Lawmakers Urge Consistent Approach to Federal Regulation of Biotechnology
DTN | Posted onOctober 25, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsIn a letter to three federal agency heads on Tuesday, a group of 79 bipartisan members of the United States House of Representatives expressed concern about the direction being taken to regulate agriculture biotechnology. In particular, in the letter to Scott Pruitt, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Scott Gotlieb, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the lawmakers pointed to two regulations currently being re-drafted.