AgClips
Recent AgClips
Sustainable beef? U.S. has most environmentally friendly livestock industry in the world
Beef | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Agriculture NewsFrank Mitloehner, an animal science and air quality specialist at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) will show you two pictures from either side of a California fence. There are 40 acres on one side occupied by a 3rd generation dairy with 1,000 cows. On the other are 40 acres occupied by a 5-year-old residential development with 1,000 homes. The residential development sued the dairy over environmental quality — and won.
$20,000 ag grant makes Montana man’s mobile shearing shed a reality
Agweek | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Agriculture NewsMike Schuldt has been shearing sheep for 28 years, and a grant through the Growth Through Agriculture program last November made his vision of a mobile sheep shearing operation a reality. Governor Steve Bullock and the Agriculture Development Council announced twelve agricultural businesses and organizations were awarded a portion of the $290,000 in grants through the program, which was established by the legislature to strengthen and diversify Montana’s agricultural industry by developing new agricultural produces and processes.
107 Nobel laureates sign letter blasting Greenpeace over GMOs
The Washington Post | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Agriculture NewsMore than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The letter asks Greenpeace to cease its efforts to block introduction of a genetically engineered strain of rice that supporters say could reduce Vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in the developing world.
Wanting to kill wild pigs itself, Missouri bans public hog hunting
Kansas City Star | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Rural NewsThe Missouri Department of Conservation banned the hunting of feral hogs on the 1,000 or so conservation areas in the state. Hunters actually make it more difficult for the state to kill feral hogs, the conservation department says. The state tries to lure groups of hogs to a trapping area with cracked corn. Pigs see a free meal and private hunters see a ready-made hunting grounds.
To fight a food desert, this Dallas college turned its football field into a farm
Splendud Table | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Food NewsPaul Quinn College was in the middle of a food desert. Its football team kept losing -- badly. So in 2010, the Dallas college decided to transform its football field into a farm. It left both goal posts standing
One of the country's largest agricultural greenhouses locating in Ohio
Prairie Farmer | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Agriculture NewsPaul Mastronardi and Louie Chibante, principle owners of Golden Fresh Farms in Wapakoneta, have announced a $100 million capital investment over the first four phases, potentially expanding to more than 200 acres of greenhouses with a $250 million investment throughout an eight-phase build out. Phase One will start in the spring of 2016 with construction of a 20-acre (871,000 SF) greenhouse with a capital investment of $22.5 million.
Oklahoma will vote on right to farm this November
Beef | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThis November, Oklahoma voters will have a chance to decide on the fate of the state’s agricultural industry. State Question 777 would add a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution relating to farming and ranching.
Yellen: Recession Unlikely, but Long-Run Growth Could Be Slow
Wall Street Journal | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Federal NewsFederal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the chances of recession this year are “quite low” despite mounting worries that the U.S. could be heading toward a downturn after seven years of tepid economic expansion. “The U.S. economy is doing well,” she said Tuesday, kicking off two days of testimony to Congress on the economic outlook and monetary policy. “My expectation is that the U.S. economy will continue to grow.” Still, a clearly tentative Fed leader has a long list of factors she worries will hold growth to a modest pace in the months ahead.
VT retailers say GMO label law unclear
Burlington Free Press | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Food NewsRay Bouffard, owner of Georgia Market just off Interstate 89 at Exit 18, is a worried man. Sitting in a small locker room for his employees he explains that he just spent $8,000 on new scales so he could efficiently label foods made in his deli that contain GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. Vermont's first-in-the-nation law requiring labeling for genetically engineered foods goes into effect on Friday, and Bouffard believes the law might be bad for his business.
Prisons, Policing at Forefront of State Criminal Justice Action
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onJune 30, 2016 in Rural NewsFaced with overcrowded prisons and evidence that lengthy sentences don’t deter crime, more states opted this year to revamp sentencing laws and send some people convicted of lesser, nonviolent crimes to local jails, if they’re locked up at all. In an about-face after a half-century of criminal justice policies that favored long-term incarceration, Alaska, Kansas and Maryland this year joined at least 25 other states in reducing sentences or keeping some offenders out of prison.