Agriculture

Proposal would provide eligible landowners $50 per acre, each year, for farmland converted to water quality buffers.  Governor Mark Dayton today thanked Republican legislators for supporting a tax credit to help alleviate the cost of compliance with state water quality requirements. The tax credit would provide eligible landowners $50 per acre, each year, for farmland converted to water quality buffers. [node:read-more:link]

Gina Stokes says she will keep fighting for her family’s dairy farm, where the cows have names, not numbers, and the land tugs at her heart.  That’s a tall order these days for many farmers. Wisconsin lost 500 dairy farms in 2017, and about 150 have quit milking cows so far this year, putting the total number of milk-cow herds at around 7,600 — down 20 percent from five years ago. [node:read-more:link]

New York State is reminding farmers that several tax credit programs are available to help them offset business and labor costs for the 2018 tax season. The Farm Workforce Retention Credit has increased to $300 per eligible farm employee who works at least 500 hours annually, and it will increase to $500 in the 2019 tax year. The Retention Credit is expected to save farmers an estimated $14 million this year, according to the state.The Minimum Wage Reimbursement Tax Credit is also available for farms who employ students ages 16-20 who are paid the New York minimum wage. [node:read-more:link]

For every dollar consumers spend on food, only 7.8 cents goes to farmers — a record low that reflects shifts in how Americans eat, according to the Department of Agriculture. Where once consumers cooked most of their meals at home, they’re now buying just as many at cafes and restaurants. And while shoppers were once content to husk their own corn and slice their own apples, they now buy those foods — and thousands of others — pre-husked, pre-sliced and otherwise processed. [node:read-more:link]

The European Commission proposed to reduce farm subsidies and leave more latitude to member states under the bloc’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), drawing swift condemnation from France, which called the move “unthinkable”. [node:read-more:link]

Half of New York's farm labor force is in the U.S. without documentation, New York's Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball estimated. Ball said immigration raids on farms throughout the state are creating a labor crisis that could close hundreds of farms and keep food from making its way to grocery stores and kitchen tables. "It's a large number, which should point us toward the fact that we need to stop kicking the ball down the field and deal with it," Ball said in an interview with Syracuse.com/NYUP.com Tuesday. [node:read-more:link]

Bayer has agreed to sell a second tranche of agrochemicals and seeds businesses to BASF for $2 billion. The move should enable Bayer to satisfy European Union competition rules and complete its $63.5 billion deal to acquire Monsanto—first announced in September 2016—by July.Bayer already agreed in October 2017 to sell significant parts of its seed and pesticides business to BASF for $7 billion in a bid to satisfy EU regulations. [node:read-more:link]

Steep budget cuts have reduced the number of county agriculture agents in a key area of Wisconsin at a time when their knowledge and advice are in high demand. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the UW-Extension is currently operating with 15 fewer ag agents than last year. Republic Rep. Todd Novak, of Dodgeville, says Grant, Green and Lafayette counties don't have a full-time agent despite paying the required fees for them. He says officials are in the process of hiring an agent for Grant and five other counties. [node:read-more:link]

Company says it doesn’t feel the ads misled consumers into thinking all Perdue chickens are raised using organic methods and is appealing National Advertising Division’s decision.NAD, a unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation that is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, stated that it found advertisements for Harvestland to be potentially misleading to consumers who might think that all Perdue chickens – not just those raised for the Harvestland Organic label – are raised using organic farming methods.The ads in question do display the Perdue Harvestl [node:read-more:link]

This year, the Iowa State Fair will feature a new adults-only Fair After Dark series, giving attendees a behind-the-scenes experience that they won’t get with regular admission to the fair. The first two events will be Animals After Dark and Agriculture After Dark. Animals After Dark will be held Friday, August 10. Agriculture After Dark will be held Thursday, August 16.Both events run from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and cost $20 per person. [node:read-more:link]