Agriculture News
House, Senate pass animal drug user fee legislation
Veterinary Practice News | Posted on August 9, 2018Legislation would expand conditional approvals beyond minor uses and minor species. The U.S. House and Senate have passed the Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Amendments of 2018 (HR 5554/S 2434), which are vital to increasing veterinary access to drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.The House passed the bill on July 16, and the Senate passed the bill on July 31. The legislation includes language that would expand conditional approvals beyond minor uses and minor species.The animal drug user fee amendments will reauthorize the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine to continue collecting animal drug and animal generic drug user fees from the drugs’ sponsors. These fees, coupled with annual appropriations, support FDA’s animal drug review processes and ultimately improve veterinary access to FDA-approved drugs. Conditional approval of new animal drugs will incentivize the development of new and innovative products for conditions that prove particularly difficult to study, according to the AVMA.
Shortage Of Large-Animal Vets Leaves Markets Vulnerable To Disease Outbreaks
NPR | Posted on August 9, 2018Large-animal vets ensure the health of cows, pigs and horses, but they're also the first line of defense against diseases that can spread from animals to humans — so a shortage leaves producers, and global markets, vulnerable to devastating outbreaks. In rural towns across the country, there's a shortage of veterinarians for farm animals. The pay is low. The hours are long. And it can be hard to get vets to work in areas where there are more cows than people. This is a problem that could leave farmers and the U.S. food supply vulnerable.
A Dip in the Farm Economy
Kansas City Fed | Posted on August 9, 2018A decline in farm income accelerated slightly in the second quarter as crop prices plummeted in June. In contrast to earlier signs of income stabilization, more District bankers reported a decrease in farm income (Chart 1). The sharp decline in crop prices likely contributed to reduced income. In June alone, prices for U.S. soybeans dropped 17 percent. In addition, from the beginning of May to mid-July, corn prices also dropped 17 percent. Despite the steep declines in crop prices, however, the effect on farm income was somewhat limited with several months remaining before harvest begins.
Corps Turns to States on CWA Permits
DTN | Posted on August 9, 2018The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ready to hand over Clean Water Act permitting authority on a subset of protected waters to states and tribes. For decades, farmers and ranchers have faced confusion not only on what constitutes a water of the United States, but also where to apply for Section 404 dredge and fill permits. Many farmers have undertaken projects that require the movement of soil during construction, only to learn later they violated the Clean Water Act by not having permits.As a result, farmers and ranchers can face penalties of $37,500 per day, per violation. In addition, state and local governments often have faced federal permitting delays on a variety of construction projects.Handing the program to the states is seen as a way to streamline the program.
Farmers for Free Trade launches latest campaign
Politico | Posted on August 9, 2018Farmers for Free Trade, the association that’s railing against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, is ramping up an advertising campaign highlighting the harm that the escalating trade war is having on the U.S. agriculture industry. The new effort involves $800,000 in radio, print, online and television ads on farm programming across the heartland. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin will see the first round of ads.The “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland” campaign will also include town hall events in various states. Two radio ads will start airing today and run through September. The ad buy is part of a larger $2.5 million national anti-tariff campaign the group launched in July, shortly after Trump announced a $12 billion aid program to farmers affected by trade retaliation in response to new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as trade penalties directed toward China.
Couple cash in on the live chicken rental craze
Valley News Dispatch | Posted on August 9, 2018It’s “Rent The Chicken,” not “Rent-A-Chicken.” Local entrepreneurs Phil and Jenn Tompkins stress the distinction because their South Buffalo Township-based business, Rent The Chicken, in their assessment, is on top of the pecking order of live chicken rental businesses, which includes Michigan-based competitor Rent-A-Chicken.Rent The Chicken continues to add customers after the Tompkins hatched the business five years ago for supplemental income promoting a shared value of the couple: Homesteading — producing yard-to-the-table fresh food.The success of the business illustrates the popularity of backyard hen houses, especially in urban areas. Nearly 4 percent of households surveyed in four major American cities planned to have chickens in the coming years, telltale of the growing acceptance of urban farming, according to a 2013 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
'Virtually unprecedented': Banff bison roaming free for first time in 140 years
Calgary Herald | Posted on August 9, 2018Wild and free. That’s the new life for a herd of 31 plains bison which have finally been fully reintroduced to the backcountry of Banff National Park for the first time in 140 years. “These are not a captive display herd. These are wild bison,” said Bill Hunt, resource conservation manager with Parks Canada.“This is virtually unprecedented. If we look at the largest land mammal in North America, it’s been gone from Banff National Park for over 140 years, and just the role that bison play in the ecosystem, makes this even more significant than perhaps many other species that we work on in the park.” The reintroduction of wild bison in the 1,200 square-kilometre area in the Banff backcountry of Panther Valley has been a $6.4-million project years in the making.
Heatwave and climate change having negative impact on our soil say experts
Science Daily | Posted on August 9, 2018The recent heatwave and drought could be having a deeper, more negative effect on soil than we first realized say scientists. That's because organisms in soil are highly diverse and are responsible not only for producing the soil we need to grow crops, but also provide humans with many other benefits, such as cleaning water and regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
Survey released to address future of agriculture in West Virginia
The Intermountain | Posted on August 9, 2018The West Virginia Agriculture Advisory Board announced the first step in developing a five-year, strategic plan for agriculture. A statewide survey, as well as market analysis will be conducted to address the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt relaunched the board in July of 2017 which includes Governor Jim Justice and the Dean of WVU Extension Service Steve Bonanno. The West Virginia Agriculture Advisory Board Steering Committee includes representatives from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, West Virginia Farm Bureau, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, West Virginia Conservation Agency, WVU Extension Service, WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and West Virginia State University Extension Service. To learn more, visit www.wvagadvisory.com.
California jury weighs testimony in first trial alleging Monsanto's Roundup causes cancer
St Louis Post Dispatch | Posted on August 9, 2018A trial in which a school groundskeeper alleged that his use of Monsanto's Roundup weed killer caused his terminal cancer will go to a California jury after lawyers for both sides delivered their closing arguments on Tuesday. Groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson is one of more than 5,000 plaintiffs across the United States who claim Monsanto's glyphosate-containing herbicides, including the widely-used Roundup, cause cancer. His case, the first to go to trial, began in San Francisco's Superior Court of California four weeks ago.Johnson's lawyer Brent Wisner urged jurors to hold Monsanto liable and punish them with a verdict he said would "actually change the world." Wisner claimed Monsanto knew about glyphosate's cancer risk, but decided to bury the information. Monsanto, a unit of Bayer AG following a $62.5 billion acquisition by the German conglomerate, denies the allegations and says expert testimony on which Johnson and others rely does not satisfy any scientific or legal requirements."The message of 40 years of scientific studies is clear: this cancer is not caused by glyphosate," Monsanto's lawyer George Lombardi said.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2017 concluded a decades-long assessment of glyphosate risks and found the chemical not likely carcinogenic to humans. The World Health Organization's cancer arm in 2015 classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." If it finds Monsanto liable, the jury can decide to award punitive damages on top of the more than $39 million in compensatory damages Johnson demanded.