AgClips
Recent AgClips
New York State rules against Wheatfield on biosolids
The Buffalo News | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsA state agency has a different view of Wheatfield’s ban on biosolids than a court does. Supervisor Robert B. Cliffe on Tuesday released a letter from Thursday by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, declaring that the law unreasonably restricts farmers in using legal fertilizer. The letter ordered the town to confirm within 30 days that it will not enforce its law against Milleville Brothers Farms, a large farming operation that owns land in Wheatfield and several other Niagara County towns.
Could $200 Billion Tobacco-Type Settlement Be Coming Over ‘Climate Change?’
Bloomberg | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Energy NewsAt the Big Law Business Summit last week, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ripped into Exxon Mobil for its stance on climate change. Schneiderman accused Exxon of glossing over the risks that climate change poses to its core businesses in its public securities statements, and then couching its disclosure as first amendment protected. “The first amendment doesn’t protect fraud – it doesn’t protect fraudulent speech,” he said.
Sunflower pollen protects bees from parasites
Science Daily | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsSolitary mason bees specializing on sunflower pollen were not attacked by a common brood-parasitic wasp, which lays eggs in the nests, where its larvae kill bee eggs and eat their pollen provisions.
Ethanol, bioenergy no threat to food security: report
reuters | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Energy NewsBioenergy produced from crops does not threaten food supplies, researchers funded by the U.S. government, World Bank and others said, dealing a potential blow to critics of the country's biofuels program. There is no clear relationship between biofuels and higher prices that threaten access to food, as some prior analysis has suggested, according to the research partly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
North Dakotans soundly reject corporate farming measure
Reuters | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsNorth Dakotans on Tuesday soundly rejected a law enacted last year that changed decades of family-farming rules in the state by allowing corporations to own and operate dairy and hog farms. Some 75 percent of North Dakotans who went to the ballot box voted to repeal Senate Bill 2351. The law, signed into law in March 2015 by Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple, exempted dairy and swine production from the state's Depression-era corporate farming prohibition.
New Labels Warn That A Tender Steak Could Be A Little Dangerous
NPR | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Food NewsA new label on some of the steaks in your grocery store highlights a production process you may never have heard of: mechanical tenderizing. This means the beef has been punctured with blades or needles to break down the muscle fibers and make it easier to chew. But it also means the meat has a greater chance of being contaminated and making you sick. The labels are a requirement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that went into effect this week.
Keeping Chickens and Consumers Happy
Hoosier Ag Today | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Food NewsWhen I die, I want to come back as an organic chicken. Okay, not really, since I do not believe in reincarnation, but you have to admit the life of an organic chicken, as proposed by the USDA, is a darn site better than the living conditions of many people today. According to the rules laid out in the proposed USDA organic livestock rule, the lifestyle of an organic chicken will be comfortable, enjoyable, intellectually stimulating, and stress free. This lifestyle comes at a price, however, but a price that will be paid by the producer and the consumer.
Biggest US coal company funded dozens of groups questioning climate change
The Guardian | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Energy NewsPeabody Energy, America’s biggest coalmining company, has funded at least two dozen groups that cast doubt on manmade climate change and oppose environment regulations, analysis by the Guardian reveals. The funding spanned trade associations, corporate lobby groups, and industry front groups as well as conservative thinktanks and was exposed in court filings last month.
Minnesota regulators halt rural co-ops’ fixed charges for solar
Midwest Energy News | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Energy NewsMinnesota’s rural distributed generation customers won a major victory this week when state regulators halted the practice by cooperatives of applying fixed charges for solar installations. Regulators ruled June 9 that cooperatives must file requests for small power production tariffs with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which makes the final determination on those fees.
Judge Orders Dairy Group to pay Farmers $50 Million
Hoosier Ag Today | Posted onJune 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe Dairy Farmers of America cooperative has agreed to a $50 million revised settlement paid to Northeast U.S. dairy farmers. The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit that accused the marketing group of trying to drive down milk prices. The revised settlement includes new protections to prevent retaliation to farmers that was missing from a settlement proposal denied by a federal judge in March. Settlement papers were filed on Thursday and require approval by a U.S. District Judge. If approved, the cooperative will pay an average of $4,000 to more than 8,000 dairy farms.