Agriculture

Agriculture today is a high-tech business, but as that technology has developed, so has the temptation to take shortcuts and steal trade secrets that could unlock huge profits. The FBI calls agricultural economic espionage "a growing threat" and some are worried that biotech piracy can spell big trouble for a dynamic and growing U.S. industry. Intellectual property is often hard to protect, no matter what form it takes: films, books, consumer products. The technology used in our food system, however, presents a unique challenge. [node:read-more:link]

The Quapaw tribe plans this summer to open a processing plant near Miami, Okla., for bison and cattle. The tribe began raising bison in 2010 and now has a herd of 160. It launched cattle and bee-raising programs in 2014 as part of a farm-to-table initiative that also includes greenhouses and eventually could add poultry, the paper reported. The tribe owns 500 head of cattle that graze on 1,500 acres throughout Ottawa County. [node:read-more:link]

FDA announced its intention to extend the compliance dates for agricultural water requirements in the Produce Safety Rule (other than for sprouts).  According to the announcement, FDA intends to use this additional time to work with industry to develop an approach that addresses stakeholder concerns while achieving the Agency’s enumerated public health goals. FDA intends to extend the compliance dates using appropriate administrative procedures at a later time. [node:read-more:link]

The Texas Department of Agriculture has partnered with KRFE AM 580 in Lubbock for a new weekly radio show, Texas Agriculture Matters. This show will air throughout the week — on Tuesdays and Fridays — on KRFE and will feature the latest news about what’s happening at TDA and in our ag industry. The show will also help listeners learn more about TDA in our Did You Know and GO TEXAN segments. Each week, you’ll hear from a special guest who will sit down with our host, Rick Rhodes. [node:read-more:link]

Wyoming Legacy Meats has persevered in its efforts to obtain USDA certification to process meat, and now Wyoming ranchers no longer have to leave the state to have their cattle processed. The Cody, Wyoming-based company began updating its facilities after Frank Schmidt acquired the former Cody Meat operation last fall.The work included remodeling, new floor installations and cooler and freezer upgrades to qualify for USDA certification. [node:read-more:link]

“My ancestors are Irish and they were called all sorts of names,” Pete, a 58-year-old farmer, told me. He said the country has swung back around to how it was a century ago. “Now people say Hispanics are taking their jobs,” Pete said. “Come on. You can’t get a kid who can flip a burger to come here and do this job for $15 an hour. [node:read-more:link]

Challenging a Nebraska law that requires all cattle to be branded, operators of cattle feedlots cast the practice as obsolete and costly in a federal complaint.The Nebraska Beef Producers Committee, a nonprofit that filed the lawsuit at hand Tuesday in Lincoln, notes that the regulations hearken to a bygone era.Back when the Nebraska Legislature formed a committee to investigate stolen cattle in 1941, livestock operations “were often located in large, open, rural settings with limited human oversight,” the 13-page complaint states.Today, however, the Brand Act’s relevance is waning, and the [node:read-more:link]

A cattle harvest and processing plant first announced by partners Caviness Beef Packers and J.R. Simplot Co. in early 2015 has opened for business in Kuna, Idaho, about six months after it originally was scheduled to begin operations.  The CS Beef Packers joint venture near Boise is a 370,000-sq.-ft. facility that is expected to eventually process as many as 1,700 head per day, eliminating the need for local ranches and farms to move their herds hundreds of miles to other packing plants. [node:read-more:link]

Does it make you nervous, as a reporter at a farm publication, talking about climate change? All the time. I feel like the guy who has to tell people things they don't want to hear. But if I simply ignore the topic or ignore the issues, am I doing anybody any favors?You decided to write a book on climate change during a Farm Bureau convention in 2011, when you were hearing lots of climate change skepticism.Oddly enough, we were at a convention in Atlanta, where a freak ice storm shut us in. [node:read-more:link]

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest public school district in the country, has launched a pilot program to test plant-based vegan options for its school lunches during the 2017-2018 school year. LAUSD board members last month approved a resolution developed by freshman Lila Copeland, who is youth director of the nonprofit group Earth Peace, according to a news release issued by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped her develop the proposal.Dr. Neal Barnard, PCRM board president, helped make the case to LAUSD leaders and, along with Dr. [node:read-more:link]