AgClips
Recent AgClips
Policy Change Would Allow Civil Or Criminal Action To Be Taken Against Livestock Haulers
CDL Life | Posted onOctober 17, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe proposed policy change would allow civil or criminal penalties to be brought up against livestock haulers who handle animals in an inhumane manner when transporting them to slaughterhouses.
Hurricane Matthew inflicts significant damage on Carolina ag
Feedstuffs | Posted onOctober 17, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe flood waters haven’t receded yet, but initial reports show that North Carolina’s agriculture industries took a beating from Hurricane Matthew. State agriculture officials do not have damage estimates, but the 48 counties affected by the storm are some of North Carolina’s largest agricultural counties. “The eastern counties represent 71% of the state’s total farm cash receipts,” agriculture commissioner Steve Troxler said.
Fake Trials, Brought to You by the Anti-GMO Movement
National Review | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in Food NewsThe eco-warriors are getting increasingly desperate in their histrionic attacks on science. A group of environmental activists will host a faux tribunal in The Hague to pretend to prosecute Monsanto for crimes against humanity. The Missouri-based company sells both genetically engineered seeds and pesticides, which makes them Enemy No. 1 of the socialist Luddites who lead the global environmental movement.
GMOs and beer calories? When labeling backfires
Chicago Tribune | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in Food NewsThe lesson so far is lost on most lawmakers and regulators. In July, President Barack Obama signed a bill requiring foods containing genetically modified organisms to be labeled as such. It's an outwardly innocuous requirement that is supposed to leave consumers better informed but will actually cause many to be misled. The implication of the mandate is that there is some important difference between foods that contain GMOs and foods that don't. But there isn't.
Good science conquers greatest fear: the unknown
Des Moines Register | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in NewsIn downtown Des Moines Oct. 12, we honor an agricultural scientist whose work has been compared to that of Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Carl Sagan. And yes, even to that of Iowa-born Norman Borlaug. I don’t claim that University of Florida horticulture professor Kevin Folta has saved a billion lives. That’s Borlaug’s legacy. But the plaudits for Folta are that he’s done as much as anyone in the past decade to help you understand the biotechnology behind what you eat. What that means is he wants to help you conquer your fears.
College students helping Idaho cheese plant expand offerings
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in Food NewsA group of mechanical engineering students at Brigham Young University-Idaho are helping the owners of a local cheese plant renovate existing equipment to produce new products. The five students, working under Alan Dutson, the university’s mechanical engineering academic outcomes and assessment director, are working to upgrade the Nelson-Ricks Creamery for their “capstone” project — which offers a real-world challenge in lieu of writing a thesis.
Comments pour in about big Eastern Oregon dairy
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe public will have another month to weigh in on a controversial new mega-dairy proposed at the former Boardman Tree Farm property. More than 2,300 comments have already poured in to the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Quality on the Lost Valley Ranch, an operation that would add 30,000 cows to the area and generate roughly 187 million gallons of liquid manure each year. ODA and DEQ are responsible for registering the dairy as a confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO.
Judge rejects Idaho anti-grazing arguments
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in NewsAn environmentalist group has failed to persuade a federal judge that sheep grazing on about 220,000 publicly owned acres in Idaho violates environmental law. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush has rejected several arguments by the Western Watersheds Project that federal land managers insufficiently studied the impact of grazing on sage grouse habitat. In 2013, the U.S.
Judge rules religious rites trump animal rights
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in Food NewsJust as the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur began Tuesday night, a federal judge lifted a temporary restraining order against a California synagogue performing a ritual where chickens are twirled in the air before they’re slaughtered. Judge Andre Birotte Jr. had granted the order last week at the request of an animal rights group called United Poultry Concerns, and he scheduled a hearing for Thursday.
Heat inactivates avian influenza, researcher finds
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted onOctober 14, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe avian influenza virus may be quickly inactivated by heat, a USDA researcher has shown. Erica Spackman, of USDA ARS, recently completed research that provides various time and temperature profiles to effectively inactivate the avian influenza virus in chicken litter. For example, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was inactivated after just one day at a temperature of 90°F (USDA recommends two days to ensure inactivation, though).