Agriculture

A young dog imported from South Korea into western Canada last October brought along a dangerous hitchhiker: the Asia-1 strain of canine distemper virus (CDV), which until then had not been reported in North America. Scientists at Cornell’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) identified the virus in samples from the dog, which they suspect was part of a shipment of animals rescued from a Korean meat market by an animal welfare organization. [node:read-more:link]

A federal judge has ruled that grazing should be allowed to continue on four allotments in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. [node:read-more:link]

Most Washington dairy farmers don’t brand cows and aren’t in the mood to pay more to support a brand program, an industry representative told lawmakers, complicating a last-ditch push to save the program aimed at marketing cattle and deterring rustlers. Other cattle groups endorsed a plan to raise fees to fund inspections by the state Department of Agriculture of cattle changing owners. Washington State Dairy Federation policy director Jay Gordon said recent meetings with members revealed strong opposition.“We got our ears bent pretty hard,” he said. [node:read-more:link]

The number of dairy farms in the U.S. has been sharply declining, and now a U.S. Department of Agriculture report has revealed by just how much. According to the data, the U.S. lost 2,731 (6.5%) licensed dairy farms from 2017 to 2018. The total number of dairy farms is now at 37,468. [node:read-more:link]

The 2019 Federal Scrapie Regulation Revision means goats including slaughter goats and commercial goats that were previously exempted will need to be individually officially identified or group identified with a group lot ID with some exceptions.   [node:read-more:link]

Spring flooding in the northern Plains and western Corn Belt will have a marginal impact on corn and soybean plantings, according to a USDA survey of growers and initial tallies of flooded land. With normal weather and yields, there would be limited impact on production of the two most widely grown U.S. crops, thanks to the huge amount of cropland nationwide. Farmers intend to plant a combined 177 million acres of corn and soybeans this spring, said USDA in its annual Prospective Plantings Report on Friday. [node:read-more:link]

Record flooding in the Midwest and Great Plains caused at least $3 billion in damage to the region, and more than one-third of the tally is from agriculture, according to officials. The states affected by the rapid snow melt and flooding include Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. [node:read-more:link]

Record flooding in the Midwest and Great Plains caused at least $3 billion in damage to the region, and more than one-third of the tally is from agriculture, according to officials. The states affected by the rapid snow melt and flooding include Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. More rain is forecast to hit portions of the Midwest into Saturday that could exacerbate flooding issues.A costly cleanup awaits the Farm Belt states as the flooded Mississippi River continues to recede. [node:read-more:link]

Spring flooding in the northern Plains and western Corn Belt will have a marginal impact on corn and soybean plantings, according to a USDA survey of growers and initial tallies of flooded land. With normal weather and yields, there would be limited impact on production of the two most widely grown U.S. crops, thanks to the huge amount of cropland nationwide.Farmers intend to plant a combined 177 million acres of corn and soybeans this spring, said USDA in its annual Prospective Plantings report on Friday. [node:read-more:link]

A newly released report shows how U.S. farmers — facing a surge of weather events and disease outbreaks — can increase production and revenues with innovations produced by federally funded agricultural research but warns that more investment in agricultural research is needed to prevent falling further behind China. [node:read-more:link]