Agriculture

Typically, cannabis is not part of the conversation around farm subsidies, nutritional assistance, and crop insurance. The new Farm Bill does not create a completely free system in which individuals or businesses can grow hemp whenever and wherever they want. There are numerous restrictions. Hemp cannot contain more than 0.3 percent THC, per section 10113 of the Farm Bill.Second, there will be significant, shared state-federal regulatory power over hemp cultivation and production. [node:read-more:link]

USDA was not “arbitrary and capricious” in withdrawing an interim final rule that would have made it easier for farmers and ranchers to sue meatpackers on claims of unfair treatment in business contracts, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. [node:read-more:link]

When it came time to decorate the new Amish-built house on her 26-acre property near Lansing, Michigan, Danielle Raad went all out. She painted the interior walls a lustrous eggshell blue, and spent hours hand-stenciling one with an intricate pattern. She lined rooms with handmade art, including her own work and that of her kids. She brought in vintage objects such as a chandelier and a painted shelf. [node:read-more:link]

On Dec. 20, members of Congress introduced H.R. 7330, the Agricultural Research Integrity Act of 2018, in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would block the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) moves to relocate the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and realign ERS under the chief economist. The proposed bill would amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 first announced in August by U.S. [node:read-more:link]

After 40 years of dairy farming, I sold my herd of cows this summer. The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over our farm — who would? Dairy farming is little more than hard work and possible economic suicide. A grass-based organic dairy farm bought my cows. I couldn’t watch them go. In June, I milked them for the last time, left the barn and let the truckers load them. A cop-out on my part? [node:read-more:link]

Thirteen states suing Massachusetts filed a brief petitioning the U.S. Supreme to hear their case this week. “This case affects every producer, distributor, and consumer of eggs, pork, and veal in the country, and it implicates fundamental constitutional principles of horizontal federalism and interstate comity,” the brief filed on Wednesday reads. “The Court should hear it.”The brief pertains to whether the Bay State’s animal cruelty law impinges on the rights of other states under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. [node:read-more:link]

A state board on Wednesday approved a contentious proposal to boost water flows through a Central California river, a move that would increase habitat for salmon but deliver less water to farmers and cities such as San Francisco. [node:read-more:link]

Elanco Animal Health is in the process of restructuring, in an effort to streamline its international operations.In a filing with the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The Trump administration announced plans to cut back the number of wetlands and creeks protected under the Clean Water Act, which regulates water pollution in the U.S. The new rules would leave about half the nation’s wetlands and all of its ephemeral streams — those waterways, common in the West, that flow only after rainfall or snowmelt — without federal safeguards. [node:read-more:link]

Efficiencies of scale usually give large dairies an edge in weathering downturns in the market. But that’s not the case for Box Canyon Dairy of Wendell and others in Idaho that have lost their market entirely. Box Canyon is set for a complete herd dispersal sale on Dec. 14. [node:read-more:link]