AgClips
Recent AgClips
Genetically engineered citrus virus could be answer for fighting HLB
Capital Press | Posted onApril 19, 2017 in Agriculture NewsA Florida firm’s plans to advance field trials of a genetically engineered virus that could make trees resistant to huanglongbing brings promise of relief from a disease that has devastated the citrus industry.
H7N9 influenza mutating quickly
Smart Brief | Posted onApril 19, 2017 in Agriculture NewsChina reported 96 human infections and 47 deaths linked to H7N9 avian influenza last month, and scientists at Hong Kong University say the virus readily mutates and has rapidly developed into a form that kills chickens quickly, posing a threat to the poultry industry. "I think this virus poses the greatest threat to humanity than any other in the past 100 years," said Guan Yi, one of the world's leading virologists.
First responders save pets’ lives — even when it’s illegal
The Washington Post | Posted onApril 19, 2017 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe cat wasn’t breathing when firefighters with the Pikesville, Md., Volunteer Fire Company pulled it out of a raging apartment blaze earlier this year. So medics strapped on a special pet-sized oxygen mask, got the kitty inhaling and exhaling again, and then “transported him just like a patient to the 24-hour vet center,” fire Capt. Scott Goldstein recalled. The feline resuscitation was no big deal for the company, nor is it for many others in Maryland. EMS responders in the town of Bel Air saved a cat with CPR and oxygen in February.
Florida Legislature Slashes Funds For Land Acquisition, Conservation
WJCT | Posted onApril 19, 2017 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsIn 2016, no money trickled in from Tallahassee through the budget for Florida Forever, the state’s main program for acquiring lands for conservation and recreation, which has seen its funds — once as high as $300 million — thaw to less than $20 million in the last three years. Gearing toward the May 5 deadline to pass a budget for the 2017–2018 fiscal year, the Florida House is earmarking no funds for Florida Forever, while the Senate is offering $10 million — a half of the dollars for all land protection programs.
Public thinks Des Moines Water Works was right to sue counties
The Storm Lake Times | Posted onApril 19, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe public would appear to have made up its mind about the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit against Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac counties over nitrate pollution of the Raccoon River. The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll reported Sunday that 60% of those surveyed believe the water works was right to sue drainage districts in the three counties for discharging polluted water into the river. Urban residents, small towners and even rural dwellers all show majority support for the water works position.
Reshaping NAFTA could benefit Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina
U.S. News & World Report | Posted onApril 19, 2017 in Federal NewsAmong other threats targeting Mexico during his election campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump harshly criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement. As Trump has pointed out, NAFTA contributed to a U.S. trade deficit with Mexico reaching US$63.2 billion last year. This is the country's fourth-largest trade deficit, after China, Japan and Germany. America's deficit with the other NAFTA nation, Canada, was slightly over US$11 billion in 2016.But that's only part of the story. Remove cars and auto part imports, for example, and the U.S. deficit with Mexico virtually disappears.
Future of U.S. exports
The Progressive Farmer | Posted onApril 17, 2017 in Federal NewsLately, China has increasingly turned to South America to fill more bean demand. The U.S. has exported 26.74 mmt of soybeans to China so far in the 2015-16 marketing year. During the same period, U.S. soybean exports to China are down about 2.74 mmt from a year ago, but Brazil's exports to China are up 5 mmt and Argentina's soybean exports to China are up 1.8 mmt from a year ago, according to Informa Economics. "Brazil's currency is such that Brazil's farmers are selling everything they have got and U.S. producers are holding on to their beans waiting on higher prices," Sutter said.
From corn to cattle, gene editing is about to supercharge agriculture
Digital Trends | Posted onApril 17, 2017 in NewsNew gene editing tools like CRISPR/Cas9 now let scientists hack into genomes, make precise incisions, and insert desired traits into plants and animals. We’ll soon have corn with higher crop yields, mushrooms that don’t brown, pigs with more meat on the bone, and disease resistant cattle. Changes that took years, decades, or even centuries, can now be made in a matter of months. In the next five years you might eat tortilla chips made from edited corn. By 2020 you might drink milk from an edited cow.
iry farmers worry about trade to Mexico
The New York Times | Posted onApril 17, 2017 in Federal NewsU.S dairy farmers already struggling with low milk prices worry President Donald Trump's talk of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement could harm trade to Mexico, its biggest export market. About 15 percent of dairy production in the United States is exported with one-third valued at $1.2 billion going to Mexico in the form of milk powder, cheese and whey protein, according to the National Milk Producers Federation, which says trade with Mexico is its top priority.
As hog feedlots grow, neighbors ask: What about our rights?
Minneapolis Star Tribune | Posted onApril 17, 2017 in Agriculture NewsA bitter three-year legal battle between a Todd County hog farm and neighbors forced out of their homes by foul smells has become a flash point in the larger fight over Minnesota’s expanding pork business and the power of rural residents to protect their tranquil way of life. The struggle has spilled over into the state Legislature, where pork producers are trying to limit so-called nuisance suits brought by feedlot neighbors.Together they illustrate how dramatically rural life in Minnesota has changed as farms grow bigger and more mechanized.