Agriculture

Millions of 4-H students, parents, and volunteers will celebrate the 76th consecutive National 4-H Week. The festivities run from Oct. 7 through 13; you can find the 4-H youth and alumni sharing the theme, Inspire Kids to Do. This year’s theme hopes to inspire the youth to take advantage of opportunities, empower them with the skills they need to succeed in life and their future career. 4-H gives today’s youth the tools to pursue their passion while creating their own course. [node:read-more:link]

Livestock operations in Illinois are environmentally sustainable economic engines that keep young people from fleeing the state. [node:read-more:link]

The latest trade deal allowing more U.S. milk to pour into Canada has sparked a rallying cry to buy Canadian dairy. The message comes not only from dairy farmers upset over losing market share but also from many Canadian consumers pledging their support on social media."My heart hurts for the local industry," said software engineer Erum Tanvir in Winnipeg. Last week, she posted a Facebook message to buy Canadian milk.Tanvir says she'll choose Canadian over U.S. dairy products — even if they're more expensive. [node:read-more:link]

The prospect of a fresh trial that could overturn $250 million damages against Bayer’s Monsanto unit lifted the German company’s shares, after an August ruling that it failed to warn users of the alleged cancer risks of its weedkillers.The original verdict wiped 10 percent off the value of the company and marked the first such decision against Monsanto and its glyphosate-containing weedkillers Roundup and Ranger Pro.Bayer, which bought Monsanto this year for $63 billion, faces more than 8,000 similar lawsuits in the United States. [node:read-more:link]

Little progress has been made over the past month cleaning up an environmental mess at Oregon’s second-largest dairy. In fact, manure lagoons are fuller than they previously were and continue to overflow, the Oregon Department Justice told a Multnomah County judge Friday.“As of today there are still some pretty serious concerns,” state lawyer Nina Englander said.On Aug. [node:read-more:link]

The American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) Chief Economist Matthew J. Salois, PhD, calls for nuanced and evidence-based antibiotic policies that consider a holistic view of antibiotics' impacts on animal welfare, the environment and economics. In recent years, some companies and consumers have embraced raising animals without antibiotics. Today, nearly half of all broiler chickens are raised without antibiotics.While many consumers have hailed these changes, Dr. [node:read-more:link]

There is a raging debate taking place in America about animal travel and airlines.  And it’s not whether passengers can fly with their therapy peacock.  The issue is whether airlines will continue to allow the transportation of research animals on their airlines or will they “virtue signal” to radicals on the left. [node:read-more:link]

Today, we will focus on an opinion from the San Antonio Court of Appeals in Garcia v. Pruski, a case involving a motorist colliding with a bull on the highway.Plaintiff, Mr. Garcia, was injured when his vehicle struck a bull on State Highway 123 in Wilson County.  Mr. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. farmers will have more certainty in Canada and Mexico with the rebranding of NAFTA, including potentially more dairy access in Canada and more equal treatment of wheat products shipped north as well. [node:read-more:link]

Across the U.S.—from New England to California—a small but growing movement of farmers is foregoing traditional farm ownership in favor of a cooperative model. In Maine, four Somali Bantu refugees raise crops on shared land at New Roots Cooperative Farm, growing both regional and Somali produce. To the south in Vermont, Intervale Community Farm shares farm ownership with its community supported agriculture (CSA) members. Next door is Digger’s Mirth, a worker-owned farm. [node:read-more:link]