AgClips
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Rural Manufacturing Survival and Its Role in the Rural Economy
USDA | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in NewsThe manufacturing sector’s share of employment and earnings in rural (nonmetro) areas began to exceed its share in urban (metro) areas in the 1980s, when import competition forced domestic manufacturers to lower costs. Wages, property taxes, and land prices are generally lower in rural areas. And despite the sector’s declining employment since the 1950s, manufacturing jobs still represented 14 percent of rural private nonfarm jobs in 2015 (compared to 7 percent for urban). As a share, manufacturing earnings are even more important to rural America.
Audit finds shortcomings in USDA foreign meat oversight
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Federal, Food NewsAn internal USDA audit has found shortcomings in the agency’s system for ensuring foreign meat and egg inspections are equivalent to those in the U.S. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspections Service is charged with ensuring meat and egg products imported into the U.S. are subject to equivalent protections against food safety hazards.Auditors from USDA’s Office of Inspector General said the agency has a “robust system” for scrutinizing countries that apply to export meat and eggs to the U.S.
FDA Announces Two Public Meetings on Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach
FDA | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Federal Newshe U.S Food and Drug Administration is announcing public meetings to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Francisco, California, regarding its Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative. Congress appropriated $3 million to fund this initiative, which calls upon the FDA to work with USDA to provide education and outreach to the public on agricultural biotechnology and food and animal feed ingredients derived from biotechnology.
GMO Innovation Contest
GMO answers | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsIf you could use biotechnology to solve any food problem around the world, what would it be and why? SUbmit your 30 second video for a chance to win! As part of this year’s Get to Know GMOs Month in October, GMO Answers is challenging you to show us the importance of GMOs and biotechnology in addressing global food challenges.Submit a 15-30 second video answering the question If you could use biotechnology to solve any food problem around the world, what would it be and why?Use #GMOInnovationContest when uploading your video to Instagram, YouTube or Vimeo.
Biodefense Panel finds animal agriculture increasingly threatened
Biodefense Study | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe increasing rate of emerging and reemerging animal diseases, along with threats and attempts by those with nefarious intent to attack food and agriculture, point to the need to reduce the biological risk to America’s food and agricultural sector. That is the finding of a new report out today from the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense: Defense of Animal Agriculture. This is the first in a series of special focus reports.
Minnesota grants fund on-farm livestock improvements
Farm Forum | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsLivestock producers may apply for a portion of $1.9 million in Livestock Investment Grants. Funds are provided by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) Agricultural Growth, Research and Innovation (AGRI) Program and may be used for on-farm improvements. “Livestock Investment Grants help farmers stay competitive and reinvest in their industry,” said MDA Commissioner Dave Frederickson. “Last year, 105 livestock farmers received grants to improve their operations.”
The US government underestimated solar energy installation in the US by 4,813%
Quartz | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Energy NewsEvery two years, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), America’s official source for energy statistics, issues scenarios about how much solar, wind and conventional energy the future holds for the US. Every two years, since the mid-1990s, the EIA is wrong. Last year, it was spectacularly wrong. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Statista recently teamed up to analyze the EIA’s predictions for energy usage and production. It found that the EIA’s ten-year estimates between 2006 to 2016 systematically understated the share of wind, solar and gas.
Food law leaves Maine meat producers squealing for a fix
Maine Press Herald | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Food, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it will override Maine’s ability to run its own meat inspection program unless the state clarifies the law. Maine’s Department of Agriculture is concerned that the law would keep it from inspecting any meat slaughtered and processed in a town that is food sovereign, negating an agreement it has with the USDA to meet federal standards. The prospect that meat-processing facilities like Bisson’s could close, even temporarily, has sent food producers across Maine into a state of near panic and confusion.
California fires cause $1B in damage, burn 7,000 buildings
Providence Journal | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Rural NewsThe wildfires that have devastated Northern California this month caused at least $1 billion in damage to insured property, officials said Thursday, as authorities increased the count of homes and other buildings destroyed to nearly 7,000. Both numbers were expected to rise as crews continued assessing areas scorched by the blazes that killed 42 people, a total that makes it the deadliest series of fires in state history.
In glyphosate review, WHO cancer agency edited out 'non-carcinogenic' findings
Reuters | Posted onOctober 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe World Health Organization’s cancer agency dismissed and edited findings from a draft of its review of the weedkiller glyphosate that were at odds with its final conclusion that the chemical probably causes cancer.