AgClips
Recent AgClips
Slow start for $150 million renewable energy program
Miami Herald | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Energy NewsA $150 million ratepayer-supported renewable energy program remains almost entirely untapped. The Green Energy Market Securitization program was rolled out with the prediction that money raised through bonds would be spent by November. Over 99 percent of the funds are untouched, and only 11 solar systems have been installed since the program started in summer 2015. Consumers can apply for financing to install renewable energy systems under the program. Nonprofit organizations are no longer eligible.
Spending bill chides OSHA on regs for fertilizer dealers
Agri-Pulse | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Federal NewsThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration should go through a public rulemaking process before imposing new Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations on fertilizer dealers who handle anhydrous ammonia. The fight over the requirements has been going on since OSHA issued guidance last July that revoked the so-called “retailer exemption” from the PSM standards. Ag retailers, who contend that implementing PSM requirements would cost them dearly, protested and then sued. A ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending.
Forgotten Farms Video Trailer
You Tube | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Rural NewsNew England’s dairy farmers remain the backbone of the region's agriculture but fight for survival in an age of baby greens and artisan cheese.
Monsanto Rejects Second Bid From Bayer
Growing Produce | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsBayer AG’s bid to buy Monsanto Co. for more than $60 billion has hit an impasse that could pose a challenge for the blockbuster agriculture tie-up. Bayer has offered to buy the U.S. seed giant for $62 billion including debt, or $122 a share, which Monsanto last month rejected as too low.
$16.8 Million In Grants Awarded To Encourage Healthy Food Purchases For SNAP Participants
Growing Produce | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Food NewsUSDA awarded $16.8 million in competitive grants to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants increase their purchases of fruits and vegetables. The funding comes from the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Mexico Will Not Add Duties To Washington Apple Exports
Growing Produce | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Federal NewsMexico’s Ministry of Economy released its final determination on the antidumping case filed by its domestic growers Tuesday, finding imports from the U.S. did not cause injury to the domestic industry. The country has terminated the antidumping investigation on imports of U.S. apples without the imposition of antidumping duties, and the provisional duties ranging from 2.44% to 20.82% are revoked.
Credit crunch for farm renters compounds stress on U.S. growers
Columbia Daily Tribune | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsAmerican farmers who expanded production using rented land during the commodity boom a few years ago are now struggling to repay loans. A crop glut has eroded prices and sent profit to a 14-year low, but rents have barely budged and debt levels are the highest in more than three decades, government data show. Bankers are cutting back on loans that aren’t secured by land, so more farmers are tapping into a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed to be the lender of last resort.
FDA warns Whole Foods over ‘serious violations’ in prepared foods
Market Watch | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Food NewsWhole Foods Market Inc. has until the end of June to remedy “serious violations” discovered by federal regulators during a February inspection of a Massachusetts plant that supplies ready-to-eat products across the Northeast. On a long list of problems, FDA inspectors said they found foods like pesto pasta and mushroom quesadillas being prepared or stored in places where condensation was dripping from ceilings, a doorway and a fan.
Groups hope to help Nebraska farmers with Costco contracts
The News & Observer | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsFarmer advocacy groups have planned several meetings to help farmers with possible contracts to grow chickens for a plant proposed by Costco Wholesale in the Fremont area of eastern Nebraska. Opponents of the plant say chicken producers in the nation's Southeast have been getting bad deals from poultry processors there. A representative of the Costco project told the World-Herald in May the Nebraska contracts would be different.
New Economic Impact Study Shows U.S. Meat and Poultry Industry Represents $1.02 Trillion in Total Economic Output
North American Meat Institute | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe U.S. meat and poultry industry accounts for $1.02 trillion in total economic output or 5.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according a new economic impact analysis conducted by John Dunham & Associates for the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). The meat and poultry industry is responsible for 5.4 million jobs and $257 billion in wages, the report found. An estimated 527,019 people have jobs in production and packing, importing operations, sales, packaging and direct distribution of meat and poultry products.