Agriculture News
A2 milk CEO sells all their shares
edairynews | Posted on September 26, 2018Jayne Hrdlicka sold 178,616 shares in a2 Milk last Tuesday, and an equal number of shares, for a total of around A$4 million ($4.3 million), according to a notice issued late on Friday to the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. The shares were received by Hrdlicka, who is on a salary of A$1.5m, on the automatic exercise of rights in the company.The company said in its notice the share sales were to meet Hrdlica’s tax obligations and to “fund commitments made by Ms Hrdlicka prior to her taking up employment with the company”.“Ms Hrdlicka retains a relative interest in time-based rights and performance rights,” the notice said.A spokesman for a2 Milk said the 245,787 in performance rights, and 242,022 time-based rights, would take Hrdlica’s holding back over her original stake upon their execution.
NH's nonprofit pot sellers skirt rules to raise money
New Hampshire Union Leader | Posted on September 26, 2018In theory, and in compliance with state law, Hampshire's four medical marijuana dispensaries are owned and run by nonprofit organizations.
In practice, the owners have found ways to legally funnel money out of the operations. The methods they use are open industry secrets and the situation has played out in nearly every state that required dispensaries to be run by nonprofits.As a result, most of those states have changed their laws to reflect the reality of the industry and ease the restrictions on dispensaries that are trying to raise capital."A not-for-profit doesn't have shares or membership in an LLC that they can sell on an open market . but these cannabis operations are very capital intensive, especially if they're going to grow their own marijuana," said Scott Moskol, co-chair of the cannabis business advisory division of the Boston law firm Burns & Levinson. "So how is a not-for-profit to raise millions of dollars? In a traditional not-for-profit you might have memberships, membership dues, fundraisers or a capital campaign."That's not what happens in the marijuana industry. Instead, there are several common workarounds. One way is for the officers of the nonprofit, or their friends and family, to lend the organization money at extremely high interest rates, allowing them to receive returns equivalent to being an investor in a business.
Rural Stress Summit : Promising Practices and Future Directions
University of Georgia | Posted on September 26, 2018December 10-11, 2018 · Atlanta, Georgia.Rural America faces many challenges: struggling economies, rising suicide rates and the growing opioid epidemic. Land-grant institutions are uniquely positioned to impact community wellness in rural America at the local level. The University of Georgia invites you to join representatives from across rural America to have a conversation, explore best practices, and learn from industry and academic experts.
Oregon regulators seek dismissal of Tillamook pollution lawsuit
Capital Press | Posted on September 26, 2018Oregon’s environmental regulators have asked a state judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that controls over dairy pollution in the Tillamook basin are insufficiently strict. The complaint was filed by oysterman Jesse Hayes, who claims that excessive fecal coliform bacteria has curtailed or shut down harvest from his oyster beds in the Tillamook Bay.
Fertilizer Prices Higher for 2019 Crop
Farm Doc Daily | Posted on September 26, 2018August and September fertilizer prices confirm expectations of rising fertilizer costs for 2019. So far, anhydrous ammonia prices are close to $80 per ton higher for 2019 production as compared to 2018 production. DAP prices are close to $70 per ton higher and potash prices are near $35 per ton higher. Higher fertilizer prices then lead to higher fertilizer costs. Current price increases suggest $15 per acre higher costs for corn and $5 per acre higher costs for soybeans. Cost increases will end a string of yearly declines in fertilizer costs that began in 2012.
U.S.-South Korea pact spurs hopes for NAFTA, China deals
Bloomberg | Posted on September 25, 2018The signing of a renegotiated free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea is spurring optimism that export markets for American farm goods won’t shut down and may even expand. President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in signed the agreement Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the first major trade deal the U.S. president has forged amid rising trade tensions. It’s welcome news for U.S. farmers worried that the closing of export markets, especially China, will exacerbate the impact of low prices due to expanding supplies of corn, soybeans, beef, pork and chicken.South Korea is the sixth-largest export market for U.S. agriculture, buying $6.9 billion worth of farm goods last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The free-trade agreement with the two countries has helped make South Korea the second-largest importer of U.S. beef after Japan by sales. U.S. pork exports have also risen.
I'm a farmer who wants fair trade, but Trump's tariffs shake future of US agriculture
USA Today | Posted on September 25, 2018Trade and tariffs. These words stir emotions and elicit reaction, but the realities are more complex than the debate, and they impact consumers as well as farmers. My family and I farm in Illinois, where farmers like us send about 30 percent of the corn and 60 percent of the soybeans we grow to other countries. Nationally, more than 20 percent of agricultural products are exported. With America exporting more farm and ranch products than we import, the U.S. economy has had a trade surplus in agriculture for decades. Farmers have little control over price. We choose the day we sell and the outlet we sell to. We can use market options. Ultimately, our buyers tell us what they are willing to pay based on prices on the board of trade. Because we can’t raise our sale prices to improve our income, we must make adjustments on the expense side by finding all possible ways to conserve cash, postpone investments, and reduce costs.Expectations for big corn and soybean crops and surplus supplies, combined with the escalating trade conflict, are weighing down crop prices. Soybean prices approached a 10-year low this month.Although the influence of U.S. trade policy cannot be completely isolated from other economic factors, the timing of trade conflicts has coincided with drops in market prices for many U.S. agricultural products.Right now, farmers are facing inflation-adjusted incomes at the lowest level since 2009, and the outlook for 2019 is considerably worse. Like our trade officials, I want fair trade that fits the needs of our country as a whole. I support the notion that some trade policies need to be reviewed and updated — with a well-planned and effective approach. But I also question whether using tit-for-tat tariffs will be effective and the potentially dire consequences of this strategy.There are signs these tariffs could work, which would be great, but whether they do or don’t, farmers are concerned this will bring long-term damage to our international reputation.
Study looks at impact of trade disruptions on Iowa economy
The Progressive Farmer | Posted on September 25, 2018Trade disruptions in Iowa looking at soybeans, pork and corn combined will impact the Iowa economy somewhere in the range of $1.68 billion to $2.216 billion looking at direct effects and additional related losses in different sectors of the economy. Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development looked at historical trade patterns, income and changes to the futures market to peg the near-term impacts of tariffs and trade disruptions on the state. The analysis showed $1 billion to $2 billion in overall losses to the state's gross product, led by losses in the pork industry ranging from $558 million to $955 million, or an average loss across all models at $776 million. That's a 10.9% loss for the pork industry, which has a $7.1 billion annual impact on the state. For soybeans, the losses range from $159 million to $891 million, with an average across the models calculated at $545 million. That works out to about a 10.4% loss for the $5.2 billion soybean industry in the state. Losses for corn came in at a range of $90 million to $579 million, with average revenue loss of $333 million. Those losses are significantly higher than damaged calculated by USDA, which essentially will pay out 1/2 penny per bushel to corn farmers for trade losses. Beyond those impacts, numbers of overall state losses because of labor incomes declining also adds $366 million to $484 million to the lost industry income as well. State tax revenue losses in Iowa because of trade disruptions also will range between $111 million to $146 million as well.
Texas Beef Checkoff Facing Legal Challenge
Texas Agriculture Law Blog | Posted on September 24, 2018In addition to an ongoing legal challenge in Montana, state beef checkoff programs in thirteen more states are now facing legal challenge. Ranchers-Cattleman Action Legal Fund (“R-CALF”) seeks to expand the injunction it obtained in Montana to also include checkoff programs in Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The current beef checkoff litigation began in Montana where R-Calf filed suit against the United States Department of Agriculture in 2016. In summary, the plaintiffs argued that because the USDA required them to pay money to the Montana Beef Council to support speech contrary to their beliefs, this violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment. In particular, plaintiffs are upset that the Montana Beef Council promotions and advertisements do not distinguish between US and foreign beef.During this litigation, the plaintiffs obtained an injunction from a Montana federal judge, requiring that all of the $1 per head collected when cattle are sold be sent to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board, rather than the prior practice of $.50 going to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the other $.50 going to the Montana Beef Council. Pursuant to the injunction, which is in place throughout the pendency of the litigation, if producers wish to have $.50 of their assessment send to the Montana Beef Council, they must complete a form requesting for that to be done. The injunction was upheld on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.In August, plaintiffs filed a motion to expand this injunction far beyond the state of Montana, seeking similar injunctions be imposed on beef checkoff programs in thirteen additional states. [Read Motion here.] R-CALF claims that the checkoff program “has weakened the US cattle industry” and that this litigation seeks to prevent producers in the additional thirteen states from funding private speech with which they disagree and they believe harms their financial interests.
In the Carolinas, farmers face the painful task of livestock disposal
The New Food Economy | Posted on September 24, 2018By Thursday afternoon, state estimates for the total number of North Carolina farm animal lives lost during Hurricane Florence and her aftermath had risen to 3.4 million birds and 5,500 pigs. The storm’s environmental impacts were beginning to come into focus, too: 57 hog waste lagoons had flooded, breached, or “overtopped,” and an additional 75 were in danger of overflowing. On Thursday morning, Duke Energy issued a high-level emergency alert as waters at a retired power plant flooded a lake adjacent to three coal-ash dumps. Over the weekend, a landfill at the site ruptured, unloading 180 dump trucks’ worth of material into surrounding waters, the Associated Press reports. It’s an especially painful part of the disaster recovery process for growers. In a mass mortality event like this one, poultry farmers are encouraged to compost their deceased animals. According to Mark Rice, an extension specialist in waste management at North Carolina State University, the simplest method involves shoveling wood chips over the carcasses without moving them from their houses, then waiting eight to 10 weeks for the composting process to run its course. In cases where barns are too flooded to build compost piles, the carcasses are moved to higher ground.The USDA announced on Thursday it will incentivize farmers to compost lost livestock through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). An agency memo on emergency animal mortality management says that composting can help prevent water contamination, decrease methane and ammonia emissions, and minimize odor. Burial, by contrast, has the potential to facilitate the transmission of pathogens. In an area like eastern North Carolina, where the water table is high, burial can ultimately lead to water contamination. Mortality incinerators, according to the agency, can emit particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide. The agency is holding a special sign-up period for farmers in South Carolina to join EQIP.