Agriculture

Visit any dog park in urban Canada these days and you’re bound to encounter at least one or two: rescue dogs adopted from an exotic foreign or domestic locale.It’s estimated, in fact, that tens of thousands of winsome canine refugees enter the country every year — while many others are shipped vast distances inside Canada.But the growing, humanitarian-motivated trend is inadvertently creating a major public-health headache, fuelling a rebound in the deadly rabies problem and importing other nasty diseases, public health officials warn.A federal-government journal has just documented three r [node:read-more:link]

Since 1980, PETA has made a name for itself as the number-one authority on animal welfare. UK-based YouTube vlogger Calum McSwiggan, however, wants people to consider otherwise, and recently used a scathing Twitter rant to sound off on the organisation’s true colours.  After recent investigations, PETA has come under fire for a lot more than just the scantily clad women they use for marketing. [node:read-more:link]

Canada’s federal and provincial governments are partnering to provide nearly $5 million to help five local food processors expand capacity and improve efficiency so they can grow their businesses. The agri-food processors in Calgary receiving federal-provincial support include two meat processors. [node:read-more:link]

A longtime Arkansas soybean farmer, Mike Wallace thought of his neighbors as a community and always was willing to lend a hand if they faced any hardships with their crops. “Mike would do anything for any farmer,” his wife, Karen, said. “If there was a farmer who got sick in harvest time or planting time or whatever, he would say, ‘What can I do to help? Here’s my equipment. Here’s my guys. Let’s go do it.”’But across much of farm country, a dispute over a common weed killer is turning neighbor against neighbor. [node:read-more:link]

We’ve been reading up on climate change and how it might affect agriculture and food processing. First, you should be happy to know that Iowa State University and its associated labs have taken the lead in research and reporting. Deserving special note are Drs. Gene Takle, Jerry Hatfield and Rick Cruse, who have contributed substantially to the national discussion; Takle shared in a Nobel Prize for his work on climate modeling. These are top-flight scientists, agronomists and climatologists who have issued sober analysis about climate impacts. [node:read-more:link]

According to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded study, lack of access to affordable health insurance is one of the most significant concerns facing American farmers, an overlooked risk factor that affects their ability to run a successful enterprise.   Three of four farmers and ranchers (73 percent) in the survey said that having affordable health insurance was an important or very important means of reducing their business risk. [node:read-more:link]

 President Donald Trump has nominated Stephen Censky, chief executive officer of the American Soybean Association, to be deputy secretary of Agriculture. The announcement came late Thursday. Censky has been CEO of the soybean association in St. Louis, Mo., since 1996.Ag lobbyists and others had anticipated Censky was a frontrunner for the deputy position, a role that largely oversees the day-to-day operations at USDA, a department with a budget of roughly $155 billion and staff of 97,800 employees. [node:read-more:link]

The Washington State Department of Agriculture has recommended a dairy build a berm to keep manure from washing off the farm again. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has ended its investigation into the release of fecal coliform-laced water that flooded a Yakima County community last winter, recommending that a dairy block off a manure compost pile or move it to higher ground. [node:read-more:link]

Urea and other forms of nitrogen fertilizer are hitting the lowest price levels seen in more than a decade. Urea is selling for roughly $170 per short ton along the Gulf of Mexico wholesale market, which is the cheapest it’s been for roughly 15 years, said Glen Buckley, chief economist with the Fertilizer Advisory Service. [node:read-more:link]

Crops and pastures continue to suffer in North Dakota as drought persists. The weekly crop report from the federal Agriculture Department says some farmers have started haying small grains crops that aren’t worth harvesting.Forty percent of North Dakota’s staple spring wheat crop is rated poor or very poor. Many other crops are in the same situation. [node:read-more:link]