Republican legislators are pushing a bill to streamline Wisconsin’s water pollution credit-trading system, a move that would make it easier for farms and large-scale facilities to trade with one another. The bill’s authors, Sen. Rob Cowles, Sen. Jerry Petrowski and Rep. [node:read-more:link]
The amount of debt held by America’s farmers has risen rapidly to 1980s-levels at $409 billion from $385 billion last year, with loan demand remaining “historically high,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. The figures reflect a level of strain on the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Economic troubles in the cranberry industry have spurred a proposal to reduce the difficulty of building dwellings on Oregon farmland dedicated to the crop. [node:read-more:link]
The American Sheep Industry Association is hoping proposed research will show the beneficial effects of grazing on range and forest health. The organization has sent a letter to the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
During the early stages of the recovery, the skills gap in manufacturing emerged as a dispiriting paradox: with millions of people still out of work, manufacturers complained that thousands of positions remained unfilled for lack of qualified candidates. The anecdotal evidence was supported by a widening gap between job openings and new hires.The concern was that a misalignment between the skills needed by employers and those available in the workforce would hold back employment growth.Fast-forward to today and that concern seems ill-founded: The U.S. [node:read-more:link]
The threat of extreme animal rights activism is not unique to us here in the United States. In fact, as with many things, we tend to see some new trends and tactics emerge overseas before they pop up here. Several activist group tactics that you should be aware of have surfaced in other countries over the past few weeks. Since we know that U.S.-based activists pay attention to and take cues from what happens around the world, we should prepare to see similar strategies used to target our farmers and meat industry. [node:read-more:link]
Soil quality is a growing focus in the sustainability space, and for good reason: Fertile soil naturally stabilizes the climate and ensures resilient supply chains. But a third of the planet’s land is severely degraded, and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24 billion tons a year, according to a 2017 United Nations-backed study. So, a small but growing group of companies — some directly in agriculture or ranching, others indirectly via sourcing — are investing in healthy soil initiatives. Soil, no matter how healthy, may not be the spiciest climate solution. [node:read-more:link]
Dairy farmers founded Land O’Lakes Inc. nearly a century ago to boost their sweet-cream butter sales. Now the Arden Hills, Minn., cooperative is looking beyond butter to help its 2,000 dairy members navigate tough times in the sector. Milk is suffering from years of declining consumption. Tastes have changed, in part because plant-based alternatives to cheese, milk and butter have expanded and lured shoppers with a halo of health. Revenue checks to milk producers are in a five-year slump, and trade fights have damped U.S. [node:read-more:link]
The Hawai‘i Department of Health is advising the public stay out of the waters in Kaohaoha Gulch and the coastal waters fronting the gulch in Oʻokala due to another wastewater spill from the Big Island Dairy. “Water within Kaohaoha Gulch was contaminated with animal waste due to an overflowing retention pond at the dairy facility caused by heavy rainfall,” health officials reported on Sunday.Health officials say signs have been posted. “The public is advised to remain out of these waters until this advisory has been taken down,” the state notice stated. [node:read-more:link]
For decades, the lack of a commercial hemp industry has made the United States an outlier among most of the world’s developed countries. That may soon change, and some states in the Midwest have already been pursuing policies to ensure their farmers can make the most of this new market opportunity.Enacted at the end of last year, the new law legalizes industrial hemp (it must have a THC concentration level of below 0.3 percent), allowing for market-scale cultivation and the interstate sale of products. [node:read-more:link]
