Agriculture

Texas Tech University's on-again, off-again plans to open a veterinary school in Amarillo might just be on again. Buried in the 900-plus page budget approved Saturday by state lawmakers is $4.1 million allocated to Tech for "veterinary medicine." That money appears to be start-up funding for a new vet school — even though Tech started the legislative session saying that plans for the school were "on pause."Tech originally announced in late 2015 that it wanted to open a school in Amarillo 2019. [node:read-more:link]

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a North Carolina law designed to discourage undercover investigations at animal facilities, including farms. The plaintiffs, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, could not show that the law has in any way injured them, a requirement for demonstrating legal standing, U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder said in his opinion, released Tuesday. [node:read-more:link]

Facing overstuffed silos and forecasts for another huge harvest this year, U.S. farmers are trying to find new uses for their corn and soybeans.Robust demand for processed foods, animal feed and biofuels isn’t keeping up with a record glut of crops in the U.S. and around the world, after several years of bumper harvests and largely benevolent weather. To sell the surplus, farmers and trade groups are wooing new customers, from car makers to toy companies.In recent years, corn and soybeans have been added to the recipes for Ford Motor Co. [node:read-more:link]

“This is the worst it’s ever been,” said Tim Hihn, Mr. Pantoja’s boss and co-owner of C.P. Yeatman & Sons, Inc., which supplies Whole Foods Market stores under the Mother Earth brand. Mr. Hihn says he has 20 percent fewer workers than he needs to fully harvest his crop. To try to solve the labor shortage, growers have been increasing wages. Yeatman & Sons in January raised piece rates at one of its farms to $1 for every five-pound box of mushrooms from 82 cents for large mushrooms and 80 cents for medium.  
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Webinar: Recent Developments in Agriculture & Food Law: Impacts on States

Wednesday, June 14 at 2:00 pm ET (1:00 pm CT) 

State Agriculture and Rural Leaders is collaborating with the National Agriculture Law Center in a pilot webinar on recent developments in agriculture and food law. Agriculture and food law at the local, state and national level is changing constantly and impacting our farmers, food producers and rural residents. [node:read-more:link]

A farmer faces trial in federal court this summer and a $2.8 million fine for failing to get a permit to plow his field and plant wheat in Tehama County. A lawyer for Duarte Nursery said the case is important because it could set a precedent requiring other farmers to obtain costly, time-consuming permits just to plow.“The case is the first time that we’re aware of that says you need to get a (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) permit to plow to grow crops,” said Anthony Francois, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation. [node:read-more:link]

Georgia's peach crop is suffering much worse than expected. Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that nearly 80 percent of that state's peach crop has been wiped out this year. He says an overly warm winter and hard freeze in the early spring caused the loss in crops.Black says the lack of peaches could lead to a shorter season because farmers will not spend the money to ship their products out of the state. [node:read-more:link]

The Environmental Protection Agency has delayed until May 22, 2018, the effective date for its revised Certification and Training of Pesticide Applicators final rule. [node:read-more:link]

Rescue crews are scouring the rubble of a corn mill plant for two employees following an explosion that killed at least one person and injured about a dozen others in southern Wisconsin. Numerous fire crews raced to the scene of  the large explosion and fire in a corn milling plant about 45 miles northeast of Madison, Wisconsin. Richards said one person was killed and two people were still missing as of Thursday morning. Authorities said about a dozen people were injured in the blast, though no details about the injuries have been released. [node:read-more:link]

One of the most accurate GPS-based location systems in the world isn’t a hyper-secret military technology or a top-of-the-line scientific device – it’s John Deere’s worldwide correction network, a dual-band GPS system that lets farmers track their planting, harvesting and more to an accuracy of less than an inch. [node:read-more:link]