Company will invest $24 million in expansion that will add more than 155 jobs to area. Pilgrim's has received state approval for a $24 million expansion project at its poultry processing complex in Mayfield, Kentucky. [node:read-more:link]
Higher feed prices are once again the main story reducing prospects for profitability in pork production. In the first quarter of 2016, corn prices received by U.S. farmers averaged $3.60 per bushel and high protein meal at Decatur Illinois averaged $276 per ton. Today, those prices are closer to $4.00 per bushel for corn and nearby meal futures are above $400 per ton. Will higher feed prices erase hog profits? Fortunately, lean hog futures have also received a recent boost due to prospects for additional pork exports to China. [node:read-more:link]
Catfish inspections could be on the chopping block. After a heated debate, the Senate narrowly voted to stop the U-S Department of Agriculture from inspecting the fish. Opponents of the inspections say there’s something fishy surrounding Wicker’s motives. They think he wants to squash competition from places like Vietnam, where the fish comes cheaper. They also believe an inspection program like this is waste of money. [node:read-more:link]
The Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Coyote Lake Ranch LLC in its case against the city of Lubbock, Texas. The court ruled that the accommodation doctrine that applies to mineral estates shall also apply to surface estates — a decision praised by the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Assn. (TSCRA). “The Supreme Court’s decision is a major victory for landowners across Texas,” TSCRA president Richard Thorpe said. “This ruling clarifies surface owners have protections against those who may own an interest in not only the mineral estate but also the surface estate.” [node:read-more:link]
Neil Harl has been waiting for an uprising in the countryside that doesn't seem to be coming. A professor emeritus in ag economics at Iowa State University, Harl has been watching the consolidation of companies selling agricultural inputs his entire career. He recalls in the early 1980s there were more than 400 seed companies around the country. Consolidation in the seed industry intensified in the past three decades. Since 2010, two companies -- DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto -- have controlled 70% of corn hybrid sales, according to industry numbers. [node:read-more:link]
Peat miners, golfers, and landowners with real property containing or adjacent to Waters of the United States will benefit greatly from the Supreme Court’s May 31st decision in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v Hawkes Co. Hawkes resolved whether an approved jurisdictional determination by the Army Corps of Engineers (“Approved JD”) involving wetlands owned by a peat mining company in Minnesota is an appealable final agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). [node:read-more:link]
Because for years, both the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) have been doing everything in their power to undercut Farm Credit in the halls of Congress. And they both have gone on record over the past year advocating that Farm Credit be abolished. [node:read-more:link]
“Glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet,” a World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization panel has concluded.
The Joint WHO/FAO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) came to the same conclusion about malathion and diazinon, two other pesticides evaluated along with glyphosate by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in March 2015. [node:read-more:link]
Hollywood, Florida commissioners voted 6-1 in favor of the ban before a packed house, with Commissioner Patty Asseff casting the lone dissenting vote. Under the ban, pet shops will be forced to sell dogs and cats from animal shelters and rescue groups. The controversial proposal drew more than 55 speakers, including Judy Norford, the owner of Puppy Palace, the only store in Hollywood that sells commercially bred animals. "My puppies are my life," Norford said. "I eat, sleep, drink puppies. [node:read-more:link]
A lawsuit challenging the state's corporate farming law, which was described by the North Dakota Farm Bureau as unconstitutional as well as discriminatory, was filed in federal court. The lawsuit comes less than two weeks before voters weigh in on a ballot measure to determine whether or not to uphold exceptions to corporate farming law passed by lawmakers last session. Senate Bill 2351 passed last session following a lengthy debate. It provided exemptions to allow for corporate dairy and swine operations numbering at least 50 cows or 500 swine on a farm of up to 640 acres. [node:read-more:link]
