Maryland agriculture officials are weighing the delay or easing a 4-year-old regulation aimed at curbing farm pollution of the Chesapeake Bay after farmers and municipal sewage treatment plant operators said they need more time to comply – or want out from under it altogether. [node:read-more:link]
Analysts were expecting soybeans and corn futures to keep heading in opposite directions, even though USDA raised acreage and ending stocks for both grains and soybeans in Thursday’s Acreage and Grain Stocks reports. “Corn was the most bearish surprise,” observed Brian Basting of Advance Trading, Bloomington, Ill., and the commentator on a post-report MGEX press call. The soybean rally “underscores the export demand,” he explained. [node:read-more:link]
A new video produced by the American Farm Bureau shines a spotlight on the frustrations of the nation’s farmers in finding workers to harvest their crops. While the video highlights peach production in Georgia, it also outlines the scope of the farm labor problem across the United States. [node:read-more:link]
Experts on poultry contracts have spent the last week in eastern Nebraska talking to farmers about issues to consider and the possible pitfalls of a bad contract as farmers consider the income potential of a new broiler operation in the region. Costco Wholesale Corp. has been working all spring to get approval for a $180 million poultry processing plant near Fremont, Nebraska, that would process roughly 1.6 million birds a week. The facility would cater to Costco stores, which sell rotisserie chickens that are popular with customers. [node:read-more:link]
When Chinese suitors took over the pork producer in Smithfield, Virginia, it sent tremors through the tiny town that calls itself the Ham Capital of the World. Three years on, residents and union leaders who represent workers at Smithfield Foods Inc. say the initial fears about the buyer from a Communist-ruled nation proved unfounded. The happy marriage so far belies the rhetoric on the U.S presidential campaign trail that depicts China as an untrustworthy business partner, and serves as an example of Chinese investment that can benefit both countries. [node:read-more:link]
Californians’ November ballot will include an initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, with the coming campaign likely to reverberate nationwide given the state’s size and implications for similar efforts elsewhere.
n the June hogs and pigs survey, pork producers told USDA they had increased the size of the breeding herd by one percent relative to year-ago levels. The breeding herd began to increase in the fall of 2014 after producers had record profitability due to reduced production due to the PED virus. Basically, the industry has been in a slow expansion since that time. Declining feed prices were also a stimulus to expansion until this spring when feed prices began to rise once more. [node:read-more:link]
Vets are calling for a ban on homeopathy for pets claiming animals cannot benefit from the placebo effect because they are unaware they are being treated. [node:read-more:link]
Agriculture technology is no longer a niche that no one’s heard about. Agriculture has confirmed its place as an industry of interest for the venture capital community after investment in agtech broke records for the past three years in a row, reaching $4.6 billion in 2015. the opportunity to bring agriculture, a $7.8 trillion industry representing 10% of global GDP, into the modern age has caught the attention of a growing number of investors globally. In our 2015 annual report, we recorded 503 individual companies raising funding. [node:read-more:link]
HSUS has ruled out a cage-free system they consider unacceptable. Big Dutchman's Natura 60 cage-free system is not acceptable says HSUS. While the Humane Society of the United States generally recognizes this as one possible cage-free system, that hinges on the system actually being used properly—something that may be hard for a producer or retailer to guarantee. Some producers may want to confine birds for longer lay periods in the morning; some may extend “training times” beyond what is actually needed. [node:read-more:link]
