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Iowa's new energy plan: More renewable energy, stronger power grid
Des Moines Register | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Energy NewsIowa's new energy strategy envisions electric car-charging stations across the state, anaerobic digesters that turn animal waste to energy, and top state and federal researchers finding ways to store wind and solar energy. Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds released the broad energy report Wednesday that looks at Iowa's energy needs over the next decade. It provided 45 recommendations ranging from modernizing the state's electric power grid to improving state tax credits for solar energy.
Can CRISPR Carry Agriculture Innovation To The Next Level?
Growing Produce | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Agriculture NewsTo say CRISPR/Cas9 is every bit as revolutionary as the Internet or the smartphone is an understatement. Scientists are studying applications to fight cancers and it already has been demonstrated the technology can remove HIV from infected human cells. It comes with ethical questions as well for how this technology may benefit humans in the future. The idea of designer babies with reduced diseases linked to faulty genes, or the potential to slow or reverse the aging process may one day be possible using CRISPR/Cas9.
USDA Releases Results of First Local Food Marketing Practices Survey
USDA | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Federal NewsMore than 167,000 U.S. farms locally produced and sold food through direct marketing practices, resulting in $8.7 billion in revenue in 2015, according to the results from the first Local Food Marketing Practices Survey released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The report results cover both fresh and value-added foods, such as meat and cheese. Farms selling food directly to institutions and intermediates, such as wholesalers who locally branded the product or food hubs, brought in the most revenue at $3.4 billion.
Biofuels: Trump Picks Stir Unease
Farm Policy News | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Agriculture News“Biofuel supporters largely keep pointing to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign statements on ethanol, but the stack of nominations coming from Trump with far closer ties to oil than ethanol is quickly starting to raise some red flags. “Trump has largely built his energy team over the past week with the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, followed Monday with the Secretary of State nominee of Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was announced as nominee for Energy Secretary.
Alternative Policies to Address Emissions in U.S. Dairy Farming - See more at: http://www.choicesmagazine.org/choices-magazine/submitted-articles/alternative-policies-to-address-emissions-in-us-dairy-farming#sthash.OYP0YWJc.dpuf
Choices magazine | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Agriculture NewsA sharp build-up of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) levels in the atmosphere has coincided with a general change in the earth’s ecosystem that is characterized by an increase in global average temperatures. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), average temperatures have risen 1.5°F over the past century and are projected to rise to 0.5°F to 8.6°F over the next one-hundred years (EPA, 2016a). Increasing temperatures have been accompanied by rising sea levels, flooding, extreme heat waves, drought, and frequent and intense storms.
Understanding the Renewable Fuel Standard program and its viability
The Progressive Farmer | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Energy NewsLack of a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol industry has led to a Renewable Fuel Standard conundrum: Where do companies complying with the law find gallons or the renewable identification numbers, or RIN? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued waivers for cellulosic ethanol in the past decade because the industry has been slow to develop. Refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel have faced significant costs.
Purdue economists predict slow recovery for U.S. agriculture
Hoosier Ag Today | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Agriculture NewsFarm incomes will likely continue to slump next year with grain prices remaining at or near their lowest levels in about a decade, according to an analysis by agricultural economists at Purdue University. The Purdue Agricultural Economics Report 2017 outlook was published by the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics this month. It includes 12 sections by 11 different authors. U.S.
OSHA clarifies injury, illness reporting rule
Meat + Poultry | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in NewsThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a final rule that clarifies industry’s ongoing obligation to maintain accurate records of employee injuries and illnesses. The final rule becomes effective Jan. 18, 2017. “This rule simply returns us to the standard practice of the last 40 years,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels.
Fact Check: Corporate Farms Vs. Family Farms
Farm Policy Facts | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Agriculture NewsFarm policy opponents love to rail against “corporate farms.” These operations, they say, have run family farmers out of rural America. But is it true? Not according to a recent report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). It is true that modern-day farms in America are no longer one-or-two acre plots plowed by oxen and planted by hand — the inefficient, gothic scenes of yesteryear. Instead, farms now operate like small businesses that must borrow capital and use the latest technologies and farming practices to maximize efficiencies and offset stagnant commodity prices.
PETA: Still Wasteful An Ocean Away
Consumer Freedom | Posted onDecember 22, 2016 in Rural NewsAs we approach the end of 2016, charities across America will be passing the hat. As usual, people should do their homework and make sure they give to a group that will use their money as intended. That means cross the Humane Society of the United States (doesn’t run a single pet shelter) and PETA (wastes money on juvenile street theater) off your list if you’re a discerning donor. It turns out things aren’t much better overseas. According to PETA Germany’s financials—viewable here if you sprechen some Deutsch—almost half the group’s donations are spent on staff salaries.