Agriculture

It's been eight years since Jason Fevold almost died while working on a farm. Fevold had been spending long hours in October 2010 pumping liquid manure out of the pit in a swine building and spreading it onto a nearby field. It was dangerous work that included the risk of exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas, but Fevold was confident and committed: He'd been working on farms since doing chores for his grandparents as a kid. During one of the trips back to the hog confinement building, Jason went inside to use the restroom, but didn't come back out. [node:read-more:link]

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is vetoing bills that recently passed the Legislature dealing with public debt, price gouging during emergencies and agricultural education.The third veto was of a bill addressing federally funded agricultural education programs.

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 Utah public health officials are investigating an increase in Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections across the state, and while the source of the infections has not been identified, several infected individuals reported visiting petting zoos, corn mazes and farms. Since Oct. 1, there have been 20 cases of the toxin-producing E. [node:read-more:link]

Marion Lambert sits near the wood-burning stove in his living room. There's an outhouse in back, 1,000 chickens, dozens of dairy cows, steer and hogs, all in the middle of would-be posh South Tampa.McMansion neighbors occasionally drive their sedans through mud and what they say is manure, tracked into the streets by Lambert's scratched and dented Dodge pickup.This is South Tampa Farm. It's no petting zoo or field trip. [node:read-more:link]

A new dairy insurance plan by USDA became available Oct. 9 and offers a way to protect dairy farmer revenue — functioning in a manner similar to traditional crop insurance, as opposed to other dairy insurance programs aimed at margins between milk prices and the cost of feed. [node:read-more:link]

That agenda has left farmers ill-prepared to cope with effects of climate change—droughts, heat and storms—while neglecting a key climate solution.The damages to agriculture from climate change are already happening and getting worse; and the latest science suggests they will be much more costly than previously thought. [node:read-more:link]

Both the grain elevator general manager and his wife went on an Australian safari hunt within 30 days of a multi-million fraud that forced the Ashby Farmers Elevator Cooperative to sell out and dissolve, officials say in a complaint.The elevator’s lawyer, Erik Ahlgren, of Fergus Falls, on Oct. 16 filed a civil complaint with Grant County District Court asking for $9.8 million in actual and punitive damages.The co-op details $4,900,186.72 in unauthorized amounts by former general manager Jerry Hennessey. [node:read-more:link]

Cargill has developed an industry-first robotic cattle driver aimed at improving animal welfare and employee safety. The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. [node:read-more:link]

“China has the world’s biggest appetite for pork. It’s such a beloved staple that the written Chinese character for ‘home’ depicts a pig inside a house. U.S. producers banked on that business being around for years. “That’s changed. As a result of the Trump administration’s clash with Beijing over trade, China’s tariffs on U.S. pork have climbed as high as70%, making U.S. imports more expensive. At the same time, an outbreak of African swine fever in China has increased demand for imported pork. [node:read-more:link]

 Diversifying working lands -- including farmland, rangeland and forests -- may be key to preserving biodiversity in the face of climate change, says a new review article. These changes could extend the habitat of critters like bats, but also much larger creatures like bears, elk and other wildlife, outside the boundaries of protected areas, while creating more sustainable, and potentially more productive, working lands. [node:read-more:link]