When Danielle DiNapoli's English bulldog, Scruffles, died last year after being groomed at the PetSmart in Flemington, she found no real legal recourse in the event of possible gross negligence or recklessness when pets are in the care of others. [node:read-more:link]
Across the Iowa countryside, the prospect of a damaging trade war with China at a time of stubbornly low commodity prices has given rise to an uneasy guessing game among the state’s agricultural bankers and lenders. “The bankers are quietly talking in the corners of the room,” said Leslie Miller, vice president at Iowa State Savings Bank in Knoxville, Iowa. “We talk about those farmers we know that, if pricing doesn’t get better, aren’t going to make it.”Slumping commodity prices and low land valuations are nothing new. But last week China imposed an initial set of tariffs on U.S. [node:read-more:link]
“Biological farmers want to feed the soil life and create the ideal home (for plants) and we’ve got a whole concept,” Zimmer said. A major food manufacturer, General Mills, agrees. Last month, it announced it was partnering with Midwestern BioAg — the Madison-based biological farming company Zimmer founded in 1979 — to convert the 34,000-acre Gunsmoke Farm near Pierre, South Dakota, into an organic farm. When it’s completed in 2020, it will become the largest organic transition in North America, Zimmer said. [node:read-more:link]
There are more cows in Vermont than the state’s agricultural land can accommodate under current practices, according to a new study from a UVM research fellow. But a promising solution to the problem would place a financial burden on struggling dairy farmers. The study recommends “precision feeding” as a promising approach to reduce dairies’ rate of water pollution without reducing herd sizes. [node:read-more:link]
Immigration officials executed a federal criminal search warrant at the Southeastern Provision meatpacking plant in Bean Station, Tennessee, on April 5. According to a statement released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Public Affairs Officer Tammy Spicer, 97 people were arrested during a search by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). [node:read-more:link]
Brazil's Marfrig Global Foods has reached an agreement to acquire 51 percent of National Beef Packing Company for $969 million, becoming the world's second largest beef processor. [node:read-more:link]
Not many people get to save a family farm, let alone four of them, but cheese-makers Jay and John Noble may do just that. The Racine County brothers are reopening the Beechwood cheese plant near Adell, in Sheboygan County, that's been closed for about a year. By most standards it’s a small plant, a two-man operation where the Nobles will make high-end organic cheese. [node:read-more:link]
Health Canada launched a consultation period in February for its proposed new front-of-packaging labelling. The proposal is part of Health Canada's Healthy Eating Strategy and would include placing new warning labels on the front of products sold in Canada for foods that are high in saturated fats, sugars and sodium. “Our concern is that many Canadians would actually put that product back down if they see a warning label on it. So it would impact our markets domestically,” said David Wiens, chair of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba. [node:read-more:link]
In requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to accept its complaint in the California cage size case, Missouri’s Attorney General states, “Unless this Court acts, California will continue to impose new agricultural regulations on other states in violation of federal law and those States’ sovereign, quasi-sovereign, and economic interests…”. [node:read-more:link]
University of Wisconsin economists say milk production seems to be trending westward while slowing in the Northeast and Midwest. [node:read-more:link]
