AgClips
Recent AgClips
Farms Used Less Labor When U.S. Got Rid of Guest Workers, Research Finds
The Wall Street Journal | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Agriculture NewsThere is an economic argument to limiting immigration to the U.S.: Cut down on the supply of foreign labor, and wages will improve for native-born Americans. But new research shows the equation isn’t that simple. A team of economists looked at the midcentury “bracero” program, which allowed nearly half a million seasonal farmworkers a year into the U.S. from Mexico. The Johnson administration terminated the program in 1964, creating a large-scale experiment on labor supply and demand. The result wasn’t good news for American workers.
Innovation is Driving Down Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Corn-based Ethanol
Science Blog | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Energy NewsEthanol production has changed significantly over the past ten years. U.S. production has ramped up from 3.9 to 14.8 billion gallons per year between 2005 and 2015. As demand for corn ethanol has increased, corn production in the US expanded from 11.8 billion bushels in 2004 to 13.6 billion bushels in 2015. In addition to the gains from reduced levels of land conversion, the ICF report shows that the reductions in GHG emissions from corn ethanol are continually driven by a variety of improvements in efficiency, from the corn field to the ethanol refinery.
Lesson #1: Every farm bill is unique – the last one was a doozy
Agri-Pulse | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Federal NewsThe process for writing what was expected to be the 2012 farm bill started in a fairly routine way: staff discussions, member meetings and hearings to gather input from farmers and consumers. Ranking Member Frank Lucas, R-Okla., described that hearing as “two-and-a-half hours to kick off two-and-a-half years.” If only it had been so simple and so quick. That’s not to say that previous farm bills – beginning with the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933 – had any less drama and lacked political intrigue.
Fight over renewable energy comes to New Hampshire
The Sacramento Bee | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Energy NewsNew Hampshire already lags behind most of its neighbors in expanding its use of renewable energy but that hasn't stopped several groups from using this legislative session to attack those nascent efforts. Led by the Americans for Prosperity, these groups support a bill that would pull New Hampshire out of the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program has reduced carbon dioxide emissions from electrical generation in those eight states by 40 percent over the last decade.
Jimmy Carter promotes solar power on his peanut farm
Minneapolis Star Tribune | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Energy NewsThe former president is leasing part of his family's farmland for a project that is both cutting edge and homespun. The solar panels — 3,852 of them — shimmered above 10 acres of Jimmy Carter’s soil where peanuts and soybeans used to grow. The panels moved almost imperceptibly with the sun. And they could power more than half this small town, from which Carter rose from obscurity to the presidency.
Cheap Eats, Cheap Labor: The Hidden Human Costs Of Those Lists
WUNC | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Food NewsEveryone loves a cheap eats list. A treasure map to $1 tacos! $4 banh mi! $6 pad Thai! More often than not, the Xs that mark the cheap spots are in the city's immigrant enclaves. Indeed, food media is never so diverse as when it runs these lists, its pages fill with names of restaurateurs and chefs of color. These lists infuriate me. Restaurant workers are already among the lowest paid workers in America. Many full-time workers rely on public assistance to make ends meet. Often enough, restaurant workers could not afford to eat at the restaurants where they work.
How Trump could trigger a bust in the American West
The Washington Post | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Agriculture NewsNearly two years ago, Brian Levin found himself in Japan, covered head-to-toe in beef and posing for a photograph with John F. Kennedy’s daughter. It was all part of a plan to get his product, a high-end beef jerky, into the Japanese market. Wearing a Velcro suit that allowed people to rip packages of beef jerky off it, Levin, the chief executive of a brand called Perky Jerky, appeared beside Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, at a trade show promoting U.S. food. It was a big opportunity for the brand, and others like it.
Dannon ‘Natural’ Yogurt Label Tricks Consumers, Suit Says
Bloomberg | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Food NewsDanone SA’s Dannon unit deceptively labels a dozen yogurt products “all natural” because they contain genetically modified ingredients, a Minnesota woman alleges in a suit on behalf of consumers nationwide (Podpeskar v. Dannon Co. , S.D.N.Y., No. 16-08478, complaint filed 2/2/17 ). The yogurt isn’t natural because it comes from milk produced by cows that eat feed containing GMOs, Polly Podpeskar says in a Feb. 2 complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Dannon spokesman Michael Neuwirth declined to comment Feb. 6 on pending litigation.
In Targeting Undocumented Workers, Some Legislators Want Employers To Do More
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Agriculture NewsLegislators in several states are looking to crack down on illegal immigration in one of the few ways they can: by requiring businesses to more thoroughly verify that applicants are authorized to work in the U.S. Amid President Donald Trump’s calls to build a wall along the Mexican border and to suspend immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations, the legislators see an opportunity for states to do their part.
Utah family starts Cambodia’s only dairy farm
KSL.com | Posted onFebruary 14, 2017 in Agriculture NewsSince the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s, there have been no dairy farms in Cambodia. Several large Western companies have tried to start dairy operations in the country, but all have failed. So most dairy products are imported from Thailand, Vietnam or Japan, and instead of fresh milk, Cambodians drink the powdered variety. But an Alpine family is on a mission to bring fresh milk to Cambodia and make some new friends in the process. This is the story of Moo Moo Farms.