Two meat companies have put in bids to buy financially strapped Mt. McKinley Meat and Sausage, the only USDA-inspected meat plant in southcentral Alaska. Mike’s quality Meats of Palmer, Alaska, and Mt. McKinely Meat Co-op of Delta Junction, Alaska, responded to the state’s latest request for proposals (RFP) to lease or purchase the long struggling plant. [node:read-more:link]
California officials crafting a new conservation plan for the state’s dry future drew criticism from environmentalists on Thursday for failing to require more cutbacks of farmers, who use 80 percent of the water consumed by people. Gov. Jerry Brown ordered up the state plans for improving long-term conservation in May, when he lifted a statewide mandate put in place at the height of California’s drought for 25-percent water conservation by cities and towns. [node:read-more:link]
Funding for weed biocontrol and predator control is on the chopping block at the Oregon Department of Agriculture as the state prepares for a budget shortfall. The agency plans to eliminate state funding for USDA’s Wildlife Services program, which kills coyotes and other predators that prey on livestock. The move would save more than $460,000. [node:read-more:link]
Here are several notable highlights from the report: 1. Overall cash receipts are expected to decline in 2016, but this decline is not universal across all commodities. Turkeys, rhe, cotton, miscellaneous oil crops and tobacco could see increases of more than 10%. 2. Direct government farm program payments could rise by $2.1 billion in 2016, a 19.1% increase from a year ago. 3. Total farm sector equity is down $79.9 billion, or 3.1%, in 2016. [node:read-more:link]
adly, it seems the fewer who farm, the louder the opposition against this noblest profession has become. As eloquently said by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1956 address at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.: “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” Critics are easy to find in this world. [node:read-more:link]
Consumer demand is pushing the pendulum toward cage-free egg production, but just how far that pendulum will swing remains to be seen. For hens, the trend toward cage-free housing certainly has some benefits. If you’ve ever been in a cage-free poultry operation, you can observe birds exhibiting many of the same natural activities you’d expect to see wild birds demonstrate — short flights, dust bathing, wing flapping, running around and grooming, to name a few. The birds appear happy. [node:read-more:link]
If the market for slow growing or heritage broiler breeds becomes something more than just a niche market, this would be a major step backwards for the poultry industry. The broiler industry has become a model of efficiency for animal agriculture and a large portion of the credit goes to poultry breeders who have provided producers with birds that grow faster using less feed for each successive generation. [node:read-more:link]
There's an old farmer's tale that says, "On a quiet night you can hear the corn grow." It may seem funny, but Douglas Cook at New York University and colleagues Roger Elmore and Justin McMechan, at the University of Nebraska, were able to use contact microphones to directly record the sounds of corn growing. Corn is the leading grain crop in the U.S. with more than 350 million metric tons harvested yearly. But a lack of understanding about the mechanics involved in wind-induced corn stalk failure has hindered further improvements in corn production. [node:read-more:link]
The law’s goal is to reduce the prevalence of foodborne illnesses by focusing more on prevention, rather than responding to outbreaks once they occur. (According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 48 million Americans get sick every year from pathogens transmitted through food; nearly 128,000 people are hospitalized and more than 3,000 die.) To meet this objective, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate fruit and vegetable production has been greatly expanded. [node:read-more:link]
Exploring the nascent field of sustainable farmland investment, a new report from the Yale Center for Business and the Environment found that innovative investment strategies focused on sustainable agriculture appear to deliver financial, environmental, and social returns. [node:read-more:link]
