Agriculture

Activist organizations continue to push for an end to animal agriculture, so awareness of this agenda and knowing how to promote the truthful message about how food is produced is key. Consumers crave information about how the animals they eat are raised and where their food comes from, but unfortunately they frequently turn to Google, getting answers from animal activist organizations rather than directly from the farmers and ranchers who care for these animals and the companies that produce the food. [node:read-more:link]

A Minnesota farm group says that the federal crop insurance, the nation’s largest “safety net” program for farmers, is a profit bonanza for private insurance companies. Farmers, taxpayers and rural environmental quality are paying the price. “I appreciate crop insurance. It does make a risky business less risky,” said Randy Krzmarzick, a crop farmer from Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. “But crop insurance is not subject to any limits. The largest recipients have received over a million dollars in subsidies. [node:read-more:link]

Started in 1970 by a former farmer who went on to become governor, Food Producers of Idaho now represents more than 40 agriculture-related groups and enables them to speak to lawmakers with a combined voice. The organization — which is unlike any other in Idaho and possibly in the rest of the U.S. — represents more than 40 farm industry groups and provides them with an amplified voice in the state Capitol. [node:read-more:link]

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has settled its lawsuit against a controversial new dairy as long as the facility complies with wastewater management conditions. [node:read-more:link]

The first birth cohort study of its kind has found more than 90 percent of a group of pregnant women in Central Indiana had detectable levels of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, the most heavily used herbicide worldwide. Researchers from Indiana University and University of California San Francisco reported that the glyphosate levels correlated significantly with shortened pregnancy lengths. [node:read-more:link]

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued the threat in an online statement. American goods including nuts, wine, and fresh fruit would be subject to 15% tariffs. [node:read-more:link]

Prominent Israeli Rabbi Yuval Cherlow says meat from a cloned pig would be considered kosher under Jewish dietary laws. Cherlow, who is a leading scholar on modern interpretations of Kashrut, is advocating for rabbinic approval of cloned meats in order to reduce animal suffering, decrease meat industry pollution and stamp out starvation. Rabbi Cherlow makes the case that transgenic or cloned meat would not be subject to the same Kashrut dietary laws that guide what is kosher, or “fit,” for consumption by Jews. [node:read-more:link]

Bayer AG announced a new initiative called Care4Cattle, a grant program intended to help livestock professionals advance the well-being of dairy and beef cattle. Farmers, veterinarians, researchers and graduate students in veterinary medicine or animal science are invited to submit their ideas to the Care4Cattle program. Bayer said projects should demonstrate innovative, practice-oriented ways to improve cattle well-being on the farm level. [node:read-more:link]

A year after it opened, Oregon’s second-largest dairy has not secured rights to the nearly 1 million gallons of water per day it needs for its thousands of cows and to process milk. Instead, Lost Valley Farm near Boardman moved ahead without the necessary permits, using a loophole in Oregon law to pull water out of an underground aquifer that’s been off limits to new wells for 42 years, alarming neighboring farmers who say their water supplies are now at risk.Documents obtained by the Statesman Journal show Gov. [node:read-more:link]

The congressional spending bill approved Thursday in the House and awaiting final vote in the Senate directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action against mislabeled imitation dairy foods, representing a major victory for farmers and consumers alike, according to the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). The massive omnibus spending bill to fund the government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2018 includes report language instructing FDA to enforce labeling standards affecting dairy imitators. [node:read-more:link]