AgClips
Recent AgClips
The Profitability of Biodiesel Production in 2016: Feasting on an Expiring Tax Credit?
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Energy NewsThe U.S. biodiesel production industry has a distinct "feast or famine" pattern in terms of profitability. The industry made very large profits in 2011 and 2013, but losses in most years previous to 2011 and losses again in 2014 and 2015. The feast or famine pattern has been closely tied to expiration of the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit in the face of binding RFS biodiesel mandates. The biodiesel tax credit is once again scheduled to expire at the end of 2016.
Restoring prairie and fighting wildfire with (drone launched) fire(balls)
Phys.org | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Rural NewsEcologist Dirac Twidwell wants to change the way we think about prescribed burns. The University of Nebraska professor says he can harness extreme fire to restore grasslands on the Great Plains—and, with the help of the Nebraska Intelligent MoBile Unmanned Systems (NIMBUS) Lab, he has created a small drone that launches ping-pong balls-sized "dragon eggs" of fire to help him do it safely and cheaply.
Revenue Insurance Likely to Trigger Corn Payouts
DTN | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Federal NewsAll signs point to the largest-ever corn crop in history this fall and the third year in a row of plunging farm incomes. But with prices potentially tumbling to $3 by harvest, corn growers with high levels of revenue-based crop insurance could buffer some of the price damage.
NASA: First 6 Months Of Year Warmest To Date
Growing Produce | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Federal NewsScientists at NASA say two key climate change indicators — global surface temperatures and Arctic sea ice extent have bnroken numerous records through the first half of 2016. Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The six-month period from January to June was also the planet’s warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3°C (2.4°F) warmer than the late nineteenth century.
Sanderson calls antibiotic-free chicken a 'gimmick'
Watt Ag Net | Posted onAugust 3, 2016 in Food NewsSanderson Farms is going on the offensive against consumer perceptions antibiotic-free birds are better than conventionally raised animals. Sanderson Farms wants consumers to know the truth about chicken. On August 1, the Laurel, Mississippi, integrator announced the launch of an advertising campaign taking on the concept that broilers treated with antibiotics are inferior to antibiotic-free birds.
Crop Insurance: Priority # 1
OFW law | Posted onAugust 2, 2016 in Federal NewsNo matter who wins this November’s presidential election, one of the first items facing a new Secretary of Agriculture will be developing a 2018 Farm Bill, a process sure to begin early in 2017.
Obama signs GMO labeling bill into law
Watt Ag Net | Posted onAugust 2, 2016 in Federal NewsPresident Barack Obama on Friday signed into law a bill that requires a mandatory labeling system of genetically modified organisms (GMO) for all 50 states. The law pre-empts Vermont bill and requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to determine which food products and ingredients should be labeled as GMO. Those products will be labeled by text, symbols or a bar code that can be scanned with smartphones. The USDA will have two years to develop the rules and regulations for the nationwide labeling program.
What is natural? Over to you, FDA...
Food Navigator | Posted onAugust 2, 2016 in NewsThe comment period for the FDA’s probe into ‘natural’ claims has closed, leaving the agency with the unenviable task of sifting through a mammoth pile of submissions from thousands of stakeholders weighing in on the most contentious word in food marketing.
El Paso Electric celebrates coal-free status
El Paso Times | Posted onAugust 2, 2016 in Energy NewsEl Paso Electric has become coal-free and no longer is using the fossil fuel to power its generators, making it the only electric utility in Texas and New Mexico to have no coal-fired power generation.
DA Reminds Retail Establishments of Upcoming Changes to the Use of Antibiotics in Food Animals
FDA | Posted onAugust 2, 2016 in NewsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a letter reminding retail establishments that sell medically important antimicrobials for use in feed or water for food animals that the marketing status of those products will change from over-the-counter to prescription (Rx) or to veterinary feed directive (VFD) at the end of calendar year 2016. Once the changes are in place, distributors of those medically important antimicrobials will need to comply with appropriate requirements for Rx and VFD drugs when dispensing these products.