AgClips
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Puerto Ricans among most food insecure
Daily Yonder | Posted onJuly 20, 2016 in Food NewsHispanic households in the U.S. that trace their origin to Puerto Rico are more than twice as likely as Cuban-origin households to suffer from food insecurity, a new study shows. The research shows that within the ethnic designation of Hispanic, significant differences in food insecurity exist, depending on family origin, as well as immigration status and length of time residing in the United States. Nationally, 22.4 percent of Hispanic households were food insecure in 2014.
Iowa farmer hopes to make it big with edible crickets
Des Moines Register | Posted onJuly 20, 2016 in Food NewsWhile farmers are no rarity in this eastern Iowa town of 600, Herman's operation stands alone. Her farm, the Iowa Cricket Farmer, is the state's first insect farm growing critters for the purposes of human consumption. It's believed to be among a handful of cricket farms across the country capitalizing on a trend of health-conscious foodies munching on insects. The farm's 50,000 to 60,000 crickets have been raised so far to be breeders. Herman expects to deliver the first batch bound for human stomachs this summer.
PA Breeders Seek to Restore Awards Payments
Blood Horse | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Rural NewsThe Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association Jsaid it continues to work on restoring payments for breeder and stallion awards after corrective language failed to win approval before the state General Assembly adjourned. At issue is language in an omnibus horseracing reform bill signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf in late February.
Bayer Makes New Offer for Monsanto
Wall Street Journal | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Agriculture NewsBayer AG boosted its takeover offer for Monsanto Co. to about $65 billion in a bid to overcome the U.S. seed company’s resistance to the tie-up and join a parade of consolidation in the agriculture industry. Bayer made the new $125-a-share offer verbally on July 1 and more formally eight days later, it said in a statement Thursday confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal. The new bid represents a $3-a-share bump from an earlier proposal Monsanto rejected as too low.
Rural towns banking on more than just farming to survive
Harvest Public Media | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Rural NewsLike many rural towns, Brookfield’s top moneymakers in decades past were agriculture, transportation and manufacturing. While those businesses still exist today, each of those industries has taken a hit. The town lost an auto plant. The railroad is less vibrant. And farming just isn’t bringing as much to the town as it used to. “We in rural areas have had to try to reinvent ourselves to stay viable and sustainable,” Cleveland says. Brookfield’s story is a familiar one for thousands of towns across rural America where farmers were once an economic force.
Silly Marketing
meatingplace.com | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Food NewsIf you have been reading my blogs this year, you know that I am distressed over the switch to marketing issues that simply pander to public perception. Before I write another word, I want to clearly state that I completely understand the need to supply what your customers want. I am a big fan of choice in the market place and believe that there is room for virtually all niche or specialty products along with the more commonly produced products.
Scientists injected cows with “happy hormones” and got healthier milk
Quartz | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Food NewsResearchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered a way to boost calcium levels in milk by giving cows regular injections of the hormone serotonin, a chemical messenger that, among other things, is linked to feelings of happiness.
Unhealthy Fixation
Slate | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Food NewsIs genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past five years, companies have submitted more than 27,000 products to the Non-GMO Project, which certifies goods that are free of genetically modified organisms. Last year, sales of such products nearly tripled. I’ve spent much of the past year digging into the evidence. Here’s what I’ve learned. First, it’s true that the issue is complicated. But the deeper you dig, the more fraud you find in the case against GMOs. It’s full of errors, fallacies, misconceptions, misrepresentations, and lies.
Perdue, NCC at odds over stringent USDA care standards for organic chicken
meatingplace.com | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Federal NewsThe nation’s fourth largest poultry company is at odds with the National Chicken Council (NCC) over a proposed rule from the National Organic Program (NOP) designed to maintain a viable national organic poultry program. Perdue Farms supports the proposal to provide broilers more room inside chicken houses, ensure sufficient pasture space with ready access to the outdoors and require husbandry practices that are said to promote natural behaviors.
Legislators extend deer farm fencing exception
WEAU 13 News | Posted onJuly 19, 2016 in Agriculture NewsA legislative committee has extended emergency rules allowing captive deer farmers to opt out of the state's chronic wasting disease monitoring program without upgrading their fences. Generally, deer farms must enroll in the monitoring program to get Department of Natural Resources' approval for a single fence. If farms don't participate in the program they must install double or solid fencing. The DNR board in December adopted an emergency rule allowing farmers to opt out of monitoring without having to install double or solid fencing.