Agriculture News
Farmers in Hawaii lost $28M because of volcano
Insurance Journal | Posted on October 24, 2018A survey of Big Island farmers has found that they suffered nearly $28 million in damages because of the months-long eruption earlier this year of the Kilauea volcano, the Hawaii Tribune Herald reported. The survey of 46 farmers by University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources found they collectively lost an estimated $27.9 million in destroyed property, the newspaper reported.Of the total damages reported, nearly two thirds, $17 million, was damage to crops, while destroyed land, buildings and inventory accounted for $4.1 million, $3.3 million and $3 million in losses, respectively, the Herald Tribune reported.The survey found that $13.3 million of the reported damages were from the floriculture industry, with another $6.5 from the papaya industry and $2.5 from the macadamia nut industry.
Chinese-owned pork producer qualifies for money under Trump's farm bailout
Beaumont Enterprise | Posted on October 24, 2018A Chinese-owned pork producer is eligible for federal payments under President Donald Trump's $12 billion farm bailout, a program that was established to help U.S. farmers hurt by Trump's trade war with China. Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based pork producer acquired in 2013 by a Chinese conglomerate now named WH Group, can apply for federal money under the bailout program created this summer, said Agriculture Department spokesman Carl E. Purvis.JBS, a subsidiary of a Brazilian company by the same name, is also eligible to apply for the federal money. The two companies are the biggest pork producers in the United States, according to the National Pork Board, a quasi-government agency.
USDA suspends pork imports from Poland over African swine fever concerns
Agri-Pulse | Posted on October 19, 2018USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has suspended pork imports from Poland over concerns about export protocols in the country as it deals with an outbreak of African swine fever. According to APHIS, a routine review of ongoing operations revealed one Polish facility exporting pork to the U.S. “has done so in contravention of the stringent requirements in place to prevent the spread of serious diseases of livestock, like ASF.”A second facility is also under review, and APHIS plans to exclude all product from the country until it is complete “to give us time to ensure all Polish facilities that export pork and pork products to the U.S. are acting in accordance with our import requirements.”
Grains slide 2 % as exports disappoint
Agriculture.com | Posted on October 18, 2018U.S. soybean futures fell more than 2 percent on Thursday, with the benchmark November contract on track for its largest single-day decline since August, on disappointing weekly export sales and improving U.S. harvest weather, analysts said. Corn and wheat followed the weak tone. November soybeans futures were down 20-1/2 cents at $8.65-1/4 per bushel. CBOT December corn was down 3-3/4 cents at $3.70-1/2 a bushel and December wheat was down 4-3/4 cents at $5.12-3/4 a bushel. Soybeans tumbled after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported export sales of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 295,600 tonnes, below a range of trade expectations. The figure included cancellations of 694,400 tonnes of soybeans sold to unknown destinations. "Today's market is clearly a statement that we have transitioned out of a supply (focus) and into a demand-focused, demand-driven market. This dismal sales number here today sets the tone," said Rich Feltes, vice president for research with R.J. O'Brien. U.S. soybeans are the cheapest in the world, but China, by far the world's biggest soy buyer, is locked in a trade battle with Washington.
How to protect poultry operations from animal activists
Watt AgNet | Posted on October 18, 2018Animal rights activist groups have and will continue to go to extremes, doing almost anything in their power to end animal agriculture. In spite of the industry’s commitment to animal welfare, these extremist groups view the agriculture industry as “speciest” if they do not share their same views that animals…
Winter ticks killing moose at alarming rate
Science Daily | Posted on October 18, 2018Researchers have found that the swell of infestations of winter ticks -- which attach themselves to moose during the fall and feed throughout the winter -- is the primary cause of an unprecedented 70 percent death rate of calves over a three-year period.
Organic farming with gene editing: An oxymoron or a tool for sustainable agriculture?
The Conversation | Posted on October 18, 2018Many organic advocates claim that genetically engineered crops are harmful to human health, the environment, and the farmers who work with them. Biotechnology advocates fire back that genetically engineered crops are safe, reduce insecticide use, and allow farmers in developing countries to produce enough food to feed themselves and their families.Now, sides are being chosen about whether the new gene editing technology, CRISPR, is really just “GMO 2.0” or a helpful new tool to speed up the plant breeding process. In July, the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled that crops made with CRISPR will be classified as genetically engineered. In the United States, meanwhile, the regulatory system is drawing distinctions between genetic engineering and specific uses of genome editing.
America Is Drowning in Milk Nobody Wants
Bloomberg | Posted on October 18, 2018Dairy farmers are under siege thanks to low prices and changing tastes. Even a one-week holiday shutdown by yogurt giant Chobani inflicted pain.New York dairy farmers who jumped at the chance to expand their herds five years ago are now wondering whether it was the right move. “We were told we needed to expand,” said Deb Windecker, a dairy and beef farmer in the Mohawk Valley, and a former Chobani supplier. “ ‘Yogurt capital, grow, grow, grow.’ And now everybody’s turned their back on us.”
Wisconsin dairy farmers welcome new trade agreement but expect long-term decline to continue
Collegian | Posted on October 18, 2018The number of licensed dairy farms in Wisconsin dropped to a new, all-time low of 8,372 as of September 2018, according to the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The new NAFTA – now known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or MCA – agreed to this month should help, but dairy-farm organizations expect the downward trend to continue. Wisconsin dairy farmers' profit margins are being squeezed by several factors, said Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative's Director of Government Relations John Holevoet. There's too much milk and dairy being offered on commodities markets, which has been driving prices lower. Operating costs, on the other hand, are rising, which is making it more expensive to operate a dairy farm profitably.
Farmers suing Monsanto, BASF over dicamba urge judge to keep litigation alive
Reuters | Posted on October 18, 2018Farmers suing over crop damage allegedly caused by Bayer AG unit Monsanto Co and BASF Corp’s dicamba-based seeds and weedkillers urged a federal judge on Monday to reject the companies’ motions to dismiss the cases. In filings opposing the requests for dismissal, lawyers representing the roughly 20 farms told U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, that the companies had ignored facts in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the alleged “ecological disaster” they created.