Low-interest loans for projects that help prevent pollution are being expanded by the state to include larger livestock operations. Minnesota Department of Agriculture is expanding the Agricultural Best Management Practices – better known as AgBMP – loans under an agreement with the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program in Louisiana. [node:read-more:link]
House Speaker Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, won confirmation as commissioner of agriculture today, setting up a battle to replace him as the New Hampshire Legislature heads into the 2018 legislative session.The two Democrats on the council, Andru Volinsky of Concord and Chris Pappas of Manchester, helped deliver this appointment to Sununu, a first-term Republican. “I think if the person is qualified, you get your choice, governor,” Volinsky said. Republican Councilors David Wheeler and Joseph Kenney said they could not support voting for Jasper until the end of the 2018 session. [node:read-more:link]
Ike Horst raises 22,000 turkeys a year on his farm in the rolling hills of south-central Pennsylvania, selling them to a processing company that was providing him with enough of a nest egg that he hoped he could sell the farm and retire. But a Trump administration decision to block proposed agriculture regulations may blow up those plans, preserving the multibillion-dollar meat industry’s power over the smaller turkey farmers whose birds will grace the tables in millions of American homes this Thanksgiving. [node:read-more:link]
Although most state legislatures are currently out of session, a number of state proposals related to animal welfare came forth this month from D.C., Michigan, New York, and Ohio. In Michigan, a new bill would prohibit any person from leaving or confining an animal in an unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of the animal. The District of Columbia proposed a bill that would allow food establishments to permit dogs in outdoor dining areas and unenclosed sidewalk cafes. [node:read-more:link]
An animal activist group sneaked into a Utah turkey farm and documented deplorable conditions, claiming the farm was housing diseased birds. Direct Action Everywhere is taking aim at a farm that supplies turkeys for Norbest. The plant, located at 306 W. 300 South in Moroni, provides 5 million turkeys to 34 states and 26 countries.The video, shot over a nine-month period in 2017, shows the turkeys living in deplorable conditions at a nearby farm that supplies birds to Norbest. On Nov. [node:read-more:link]
EU countries approved on Monday the use of weed-killer glyphosate for the next five years after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer. [node:read-more:link]
The key to food “sustainability,” consumers believe, has much more to do with food safety than with traditional environmental concerns such as global warming, according to Oklahoma State University’s most recent Food Demand Survey. Consumers responded to a question included in the survey about the importance of various factors in determining food sustainability. [node:read-more:link]
There’s more evidence that modern poultry production practices are good for society at large, but will it matter in the long run? [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced 13 grants to support rural veterinary services and relieve veterinarian shortages in parts of the U.S. and its insular areas. The funding from NIFA’s Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) is authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. “Rural veterinary practitioners address a variety of unique challenges related to the health and welfare of agricultural animals, public health concerns, and managing their practices,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. [node:read-more:link]
Missing Arctic temperature data, not Mother Nature, created the seeming slowdown of global warming from 1998 to 2012, according to a new study. [node:read-more:link]
