AgClips
Recent AgClips
Sargento expands cheese recall, cuts ties with Indiana-based supplier
Chicago Tribune | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Food NewsWsconsin-based Sargento Foods Inc., is expanding a voluntary recall of some cheeses due to a possible bacterial contamination. The company recalled some cheeses Feb. 10, but expanded the recall Friday to include products produced on the same line. Sargento says it also cut ties with Indiana-based Deutsch Kase Haus, which supplied cheese which may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Philadelphia’s Soda Sellers Say Tax Has Reduced Sales by as Much as 50%
Bloomberg | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Food NewsPhiladelphia’s six-week-old tax on sweetened beverages is already taking a toll on drink distributors and grocers, with some reporting sales drops of as much as 50 percent. “In 30 years of business, there’s never been a circumstance in which we’ve ever had a sales decline of any significant amount,” said Jeff Brown, chief executive officer of Brown’s Super Stores. “I would describe the impact as nothing less than devastating.”
Round 2 in Hawkes v. Corps of Engineers Goes to Landowners
Texas Agriculture Law Blog | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Federal NewsThe litigation continues for the parties involved in Hawkes v. US Army Corps of Engineers. This Clean Water Act case made its way to the United States Supreme Court last year, where the Court held that a landowner has the right to challenge an approved jurisdictional determination by the government that his or her property was a “water of the United States,” and therefore, subject to the Clean Water Act.
How Canada Cut Foreign Workers and Hobbled Its Meat Industry
Bloomberg | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Federal NewsFor a glimpse at how Donald Trump’s “America first” approach to immigrants may affect the meat industry in the U.S.
A Bee Mogul Confronts the Crisis in His Field
The New York Times | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Agriculture NewsMr. Adee (pronounced Ay-Dee) is America’s largest beekeeper, and this is his busy season. Some 92,000 hives had to be deployed before those buds burst into blossom so that his bees could get to the crucial work of pollination. But it is notable that he has a business at all. For the last decade, a mysterious plague has killed billions of bees every year. Pollination services, as the bees’ work is known in the industry, has risen this year to between $180 to $200 a hive from an average of $154 a hive in 2006, Mr. Curtis said.
2017 net farm income projected to drop by half compared to 2013
Ag Policy | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in NewsOn February 7, 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its forecast of 2017 farm income and expenses (http://tinyurl.com/gs2typz). Net farm income for the current year is forecast to be $62.3 billion or $5.9 billion less than 2016. Notwithstanding poor weather or an unexpected surge in demand, this would be the fourth year in a row that farmers experience a decline in net farm income. If farm income comes in as expected, it would be half (50.4 percent) of the $123.7 billion that farmers received in 2013.
HSUS agrees with Animal Agriculture Alliance’s advice
Watt Ag Net | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThe Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Animal Agriculture Alliance (Alliance) aren’t often on the same side of the paddock. (Shocking, right?) So I was especially struck while reading the Alliance’s list of its top five ways to fight back against animal rights activists.
Got Almond Milk? Dairy Farms Protest Milk Label on Nondairy Drinks
The New York Times | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in NewsIf milk comes from a plant, can you still call it milk? Not according to the dairy industry. Facing growing competition from dairy alternatives like almond, soy and coconut milk, the nation’s dairy farmers are fighting back, with an assist from Congress. Their goal: to stop companies from calling their plant-based products yogurt, milk or cheese. Dairy farmers say the practice misleads consumers into thinking that nondairy milk is nutritionally similar to cow’s milk.
Governor Mark Dayton Signs Bipartisan $35 Million Rural Finance Authority Bill
Voice of Alexandria | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Agriculture NewsDelivering needed assistance to Minnesota’s 74,000 farmers, Governor Mark Dayton signed the bipartisan $35 million Rural Finance Authority legislation (H.F. 14) into law. The new funding will allow the Authority to continue offering eligible Minnesota farmers affordable financing and terms and conditions not offered by other traditional lenders. Without the investment, many Minnesota farmers would face a credit crunch caused by several years of low commodity prices and rising expenses.
Webinar on Supporting Entrepreneurial Economies
Aspen Institute | Posted onFebruary 22, 2017 in Rural NewsRural America was front and center in the 2016 national election. Media headlines focused attention on our nation’s acute rural challenges – the decline of critical sectors like mining and manufacturing, technology-driven worker dislocation in those industries and agriculture, inadequate job opportunities for dislocated workers, infrastructure challenges, community health crises, and more. But a deeper understanding of rural America reveals a companion picture – one where innovation and collaborative local leadership are turning challenges into opportunities.