AgClips
Recent AgClips
John Block: Trans-Pacific Partnership 2016
OFW Law | Posted onJune 9, 2016 in Federal NewsAgriculture is an industry that depends heavily on exports with some 30% of our production sold to other countries. That explains the reason why the Ag industry has so much interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that has been negotiated with 12 nations representing 40% of the world’s gross domestic product. Farm organizations and Ag businesses are trying to convince the Congress to approve the deal. Keep in mind that although the TPP has been negotiated, it still must be approved by the Congress and signed by the President.
Climate change spurs rise in mycotoxin contamination
Watt Ag Net | Posted onJune 9, 2016 in Agriculture NewsLectures at the 2016 World Mycotoxin Forum (WMF) addressed aspects of the event’s theme, “Mycotoxins in a changing world”; however, the consensus among many speakers touched on the undeniable impact climate change has had – and will increasingly have – on mycotoxin contamination in the global food and feed supply. In coming years, agriculture will need to deal with a varied group of issues related to climate change and its residual effects: Grain producers may need to adjust how they plant, what they plant and when.
Providing a transparency model for animal agriculture
Watt Ag Net | Posted onJune 9, 2016 in Agriculture NewsFair Oaks Farms demonstrates that American consumers can accept large-scale agriculture if they can see it for themselves.
Solutions from the Land's 'Farmer-First' Climate Smart Agriculture Principle
25 X 25 | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Energy NewsThe award of a $500,000 grant from the prestigious W.K. Kellogg Foundation to Solutions from the Land (SfL) underscores the priority and responsibility that SfL takes in putting farmers first in developing practices and policies that can meet and address societal needs and challenges.
Big funds for Native American farmers and ranchers on the way
High Country News | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Federal NewsSome overdue support and payback are on the way for Native American farmers and ranchers. A $380 million settlement, issued by a federal judge this April, will create a Native American-run $265 million endowed trust for nonprofit organizations working on Indian lands. It will also pay other money to families who sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for discrimination.
Backyard poultry linked to 7-state salmonella outbreak
Meatingplace | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Agriculture NewsSeven outbreaks of salmonella linked to backyard poultry flocks have caused 324 cases of illnesses in 35 states since January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One death has been reported, and 66 people have been hospitalized. Results from investigations with local health, veterinary and agriculture officials, as well as USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, found the culprit to be human contact with live poultry such as chicks and ducklings from multiple hatcheries.
USDA to provide $300M to help cotton producers
Agri-Pulse | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Federal NewsCotton producers will receive $300 million in one-time ginning-assistance payments to help cope with the global downturn in prices for the commodity. “The Cotton Ginning Cost Share program will offer meaningful, timely and targeted assistance to cotton growers to help with their anticipated ginning costs and to facilitate marketing,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The payments will be based on a producer's 2015 cotton acreage, multiplied by 40 percent of the average regional ginning cost.
Crops Rot While Trump-Led Immigration Backlash Idles Farm Lobby
Bloomberg | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe death of meaningful U.S. immigration reform, done in by Washington partisanship and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s incendiary comments on foreigners, is leaving crops withering in the field and the farm lobby with nowhere to turn as a labor shortage intensifies. Carlos Castaneda watched one-quarter of his Napa cabbages rot in three of his California fields this spring as 37 immigrant laborers scheduled to arrive March 13 under a farmworker visa program were delayed by bureaucratic paperwork.
Farming plays major role in Obama's community revitalization effort
Agri-Pulse | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Rural NewsFarming, food processing and distribution are playing a major role in a community revitalization program designed to lift people out of poverty and reduce crime in special Promise Zones across the country, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said. One of the nine new Promise Zones announced Monday is in southwest Florida. The area has developable land, an unemployment rate of over 30 percent, and plenty of potential for growth, Vilsack told reporters in a teleconference.
AFIA'S Foundation funds the revised Beef Nutrient Requirements
AFIA | Posted onJune 8, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe Institute for Feed Education & Research is pleased to announce its support of the recently released Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle: Eighth Revised Edition (Beef NRC) publication. IFEEDER largely funded the revision, donating $75,000 to the National Academies of Sciences. The Beef NRC, originally published in 1944, serves as a reference to animal nutritionists, professors, and the cattle and feed industries in the development and implementation of nutritional and feeding programs for beef cattle.