Agriculture

A new animal rights group is urging lawmakers to pass a series of bills targeting the use of laboratory animals in biomedical research. Just last week, a group of lawmakers, at the urging of animal rights group White Coast Waste, sent a letter calling for the release of information on retired research animals.The letter was mailed to the Department of Interior, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

A west central Indiana farmer and a member of Farmers for Free Trade says the $12 billion trade relief package is not a sustainable solution. Brent Bible grows corn, soybeans, and popcorn in Tippecanoe and Montgomery counties.“$12 billion is not going to bail out the financial inequities that have been created in the past 2-3 months,” he says. [node:read-more:link]

Farmland values have been resilient to low commodity prices, but an official with Farm Credit Services of America says the market is softening. Angie Treptow says Iowa farmland values increased slightly in 2017, and that momentum continued into this year.“The first six months of 2018 (farmland values) have slightly increased or stayed the same.  But I will say in the last 30 days we’ve seen some sales that have taken place at auctions that have shown that maybe it’s going to soften a little bit.” [node:read-more:link]

Scientists have found conclusive evidence that Cas9, the most popular enzyme currently used in CRISPR gene editing, is less effective and precise than one of the lesser-used CRISPR proteins, Cas12a. Because Cas9 is more likely to edit the wrong part of a plant's or animal's genome, disrupting healthy functions, the scientists make the case that switching to Cas12a would lead to safer and more effective gene editing. [node:read-more:link]

According to USDA, prices for milk and dairy products for the remainder of 2018 are expected to be lower than previously forecast, due to downward price movements in recent weeks, high stock levels of cheese and whey, relatively weak growth in domestic use and expected impacts of tariffs imposed by China. For 2019, all price forecasts have been lowered except for butter. The Class III milk price forecast for August and September is from $14.70 to $15.70 per cwt. [node:read-more:link]

Calling it “unnecessary, unprecedented and unconstitutional,” the Murphy-Brown unit of Smithfield Foods is appealing a federal judge’s gag order related to the series of nuisance lawsuits filed against the hog producer in North Carolina, according to court documents. The gag order prevents anyone associated with the lawsuits, even neighbors, from speaking with a member of the press about the cases. More than two dozen such lawsuits have been filed against Smithfield in that state; the company has lost two of the cases so far. [node:read-more:link]

Many Wisconsin farmers and food entrepreneurs have used grants to evaluate new crops or farming practices or to launch value-added businesses. Individuals interested in learning more about possible grant opportunities or other financial options are invited to attend informational workshops scheduled around the state this fall. [node:read-more:link]

The Senate passed the Minibus Appropriations bill with an amendment sponsored by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) that would delay the implementation of the Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) mandate for livestock haulers by one more year. Livestock haulers are already operating on a delay until the end of the Fiscal Year, but this amendment would extend that delay to Sep. 30, 2019. [node:read-more:link]

Discussion in North Carolina featured legislators and ag leaders to discuss economic impact or recent animal lawsuits and threat to all farms. A special national agriculture roundtable was held Aug. 3 highlighting the recent wave of nuisance lawsuits targeting North Carolina hog farms. [node:read-more:link]

Here are six of the biggest myths spread on social media and in the mainstream media, and some stuff we as farmers are frankly really sick of hearing. 1. GMOs are bad. 2. “Factory farms” wreck the environment. 4. Farmers are rich and get government subsidies.5. Agriculture is run on illegal immigrants who aren’t treated fairly.6. Food safety concerns. No, your food isn’t drenched in pesticides and, as the saying goes, the dose makes the poison. NO, livestock aren’t “pumped full” of hormones and antibiotics. Yes, everything we eat is regulated and inspected,  [node:read-more:link]