More farmers likely will be filing Chapter 12 bankruptcy in 2018, as they continue to struggle with costs of production exceeding commodity prices, ag lender CoBank said in a new report. The CoBank report, "Forces that will shape the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Cal-Maine Foods has taken corrective action and has been cooperating with the investigations of state and county officials after the company was targeted by an animal rights activist in a video depicting mistreatment of hens at its egg production facility in Lake Wales, Florida. [node:read-more:link]
Welcome to farming’s litigious age. When physical injury occurs in agriculture, the loss often leads directly to a courtroom. While producer eyes are quick to focus on the fine print and penalties of OSHA regulations, sledgehammer civil suits approach from the blind side, capable of swallowing an operation whole. Mirroring the U.S. mainstream, agriculture has entered an era of litigation and legal wrangling. Lawsuits against farmers once were a rarity. Yet, today’s producer is often popularly perceived as a wealthy, land-rich businessman with substantial assets. [node:read-more:link]
A spokesperson for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the U.S. Coastguard national response center could crash when the livestock industry files air emissions reports later this month. Chief environmental counsel Scott Yager tells Brownfield more than 200,000 livestock producers will have 24-hours to call the Coastguard on January 22, to meet a new air emissions requirement. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced its continued effort to modernize inspection systems through science-based approaches to food safety. USDA is proposing to amend the federal meat inspection regulations to establish a new voluntary inspection system for market hog slaughter establishments called the New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS), while also requiring additional pathogen sampling for all swine slaughter establishments. [node:read-more:link]
Attorneys representing farmers from across the country who filed multiple lawsuits alleging off-target dicamba damage to their crops will try to convince a federal panel of judges next week that the cases should be heard in a single court. The seven-judge U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is slated to hear oral arguments on Jan. 25 in Miami, Florida, on a motion by attorneys representing farmers in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri to move all the cases to one court.The question at hand will be what venue would best serve the interests of all the litigants. [node:read-more:link]
An executive with the poultry processing company in Delaware that's been cited for spraying wastewater with excessive nitrate levels onto nearby fields says Mountaire Farms is willing to pay for drilling deep wells for concerned property owners. [node:read-more:link]
Gene editing technologies should be largely exempted from EU laws on GM food, although individual states can regulate them if they choose, the European court’s advocate general has said. The opinion may have far-reaching consequences for new breeding techniques that can remove specific parts of a plant’s genetic code and foster herbicide-resistant traits.Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in the technology, which could be subject to labelling, authorisation and safety checks, if the court decides it falls under the EU’s GM legislation later this year. [node:read-more:link]
Key senators are scrambling to rework a benefit for farmer cooperatives that was created by the new tax law, and the fix couldn’t come soon enough for owners of private elevators like Doug Bell. The co-op provision was meant to replace the cooperatives’ Section 199 deduction that the law repealed, but tax experts say that the new deduction is so lucrative that farmers will have a strong incentive to sell to a co-op rather than a privately owned or publicly held grain buyer. [node:read-more:link]
The extreme cold has been frustrating for many, but for some farmers, it’s a disaster. “It’s gotten so cold that the ground is actually freezing,” said Lakin farmer Kyler Millershaski.On his western Kansas fields, he’s seeing warning signs of winter kill.“The ground is actually shrinking, so you’ve got these cracks going down. The down side is that just causes the ground to dry out more.” Four months ago, September was a rainy month, and things looked great for Millershaski’s wheat.“It never rained since we planted it, so in the last three months, we haven’t gotten any measurable moisture. [node:read-more:link]
