Agriculture

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was considering a resolution regarding consuming animal products from large-scale farms. [node:read-more:link]

This year has been one that has seen many farming operations making some significant changes due to tight profit margins.  One Indiana grower who made major changes to his operations this year for financial reasons is Dan Gwin. Gwin farms near Linden in Montgomery County. Until this year, he has been growing primarily specialty crop corn that went to make tortilla shells and other food grade products. [node:read-more:link]

Just a month after holding its first auction, the online Fed Cattle Exchange has ceased holding auctions.  “Effective June 29th, 2016, the Fed Cattle Exchange website will not be hosting auctions for an indefinite period of time,” said a posyed notice.   “We encountered some technology obstacles that were in part, due to our attempt to quickly address a long recognized need of cattle producers. [node:read-more:link]

Frank Mitloehner, an animal science and air quality specialist at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) will show you two pictures from either side of a California fence. There are 40 acres on one side occupied by a 3rd generation dairy with 1,000 cows. On the other are 40 acres occupied by a 5-year-old residential development with 1,000 homes.  The residential development sued the dairy over environmental quality — and won. [node:read-more:link]

Mike Schuldt has been shearing sheep for 28 years, and a grant through the Growth Through Agriculture program last November made his vision of a mobile sheep shearing operation a reality.  Governor Steve Bullock and the Agriculture Development Council announced twelve agricultural businesses and organizations were awarded a portion of the $290,000 in grants through the program, which was established by the legislature to strengthen and diversify Montana’s agricultural industry by developing new agricultural produces and processes. [node:read-more:link]

More than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The letter asks Greenpeace to cease its efforts to block introduction of a genetically engineered strain of rice that supporters say could reduce Vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in the developing world. [node:read-more:link]

Paul Mastronardi and Louie Chibante, principle owners of Golden Fresh Farms in Wapakoneta, have announced a $100 million capital investment over the first four phases, potentially expanding to more than 200 acres of greenhouses with a $250 million investment throughout an eight-phase build out. Phase One will start in the spring of 2016 with construction of a 20-acre (871,000 SF) greenhouse with a capital investment of $22.5 million. [node:read-more:link]

State-hired scientists continued to state that research shows no evidence that C&H Hog Farms is polluting its surrounding environment in the Buffalo River watershed, and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced it would commission a study of the facility as requested by opponents of the hog farm. [node:read-more:link]

If not treated, the invasive varroa mite will almost certainly show up in a honeybee hive, latching on to the pollinators, feeding off their internal fluids and threatening to weaken the colony to the point of collapse. Western bees never evolved defenses to the Asian parasite, brought to North America about 30 years ago. Many of the existing treatments are mite-targeting pesticides that can damage the bees or their honey. [node:read-more:link]

It’s a foregone conclusion amongst food and ag writers that there is something wrong with the way we grow food in America. Paging through the best-selling volumes by Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, Dan Barber, and others will lead you to one conclusion; there’s a better way to farm out there, and they’ve found it. After you close the book/put down your NYTimes, you’re inevitably left to wonder, if these journalists and chefs found these solutions, farmers must be willfully ignoring them. [node:read-more:link]