Agriculture’s heavy demand on the world’s freshwater resources is well understood from the output end — of all water consumption for all uses, the United Nations estimates, 70 percent goes to produce food. [node:read-more:link]
If you love animals, are prepared to work hard and long for the bucolic lifestyle, Stephen Overbury has a proposition for you. [node:read-more:link]
Virtually all farms could significantly cut their pesticide use while still producing as much food, according to a major new study. The research also shows chemical treatments could be cut without affecting farm profits on over three-quarters of farms. The new research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Plants, analysed the pesticide use, productivity and profitability of almost 1,000 farms of all types across France. [node:read-more:link]
Dairy workers are using an annual ice cream giveaway day by Ben and Jerry’s to bring awareness to the long, hard hours and low wages that many in the industry face. [node:read-more:link]
Palmer amaranth, a so-called "super weed" from southern states that has been invading Iowa farmland, would be declared a noxious weed and eradication efforts would be authorized under a bill approved Wednesday by the Iowa Senate. House File 410, which was managed by Republican Sen. Dan Zumbach, a grain farmer from Ryan in northeast Iowa, passed on a 50-0 vote. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. and European regulators have cleared a Chinese conglomerate’s proposed $43 billion acquisition of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta on condition it sells some businesses to satisfy anti-monopoly objections. The Federal Trade Commission’s announcement comes alongside the approval by European regulators of the purchase by state-owned ChemChina. [node:read-more:link]
EPA and its experts used epidemiological data. USDA claimed EPA’s studies were federally funded and the data should be made available. At the time USDA commented EPA had not nor would not release the data. Several pages of the USDA January 5, 2016, comments obliterate EPA’s science arguments. USDA outlines for EPA what a valuable tool chlorpyrifos is for farmers and the loss of the product would have major negative impacts on our production capacity and the economic stability of farms. Not an issue EPA concerns itself with. Several crops were highlighted. [node:read-more:link]
The number of family dairy farms in Oregon, which typically have a couple hundred cows, has plummetted more than 80 percent the past 15 years — from 1,133 down to 228 — according to the Oregon Dairy Farm Employment Report. As large factory-scale dairies displace smaller operations, that lowers costs for consumers.But some say the emerging breed of mega-dairies, known as confined animal feeding operations, bring worrisome environmental impacts, prompting a bill before the 2017 Oregon Legislature to require their air emissions be regulated. [node:read-more:link]
Imagine walking to the mailbox on a Monday only to find a note from your processor that in one month they will no longer be picking up your milk. That’s what happened to several Grassland producers in Southern Wisconsin this week. Grassland handles the majority of cream sold in Wisconsin. [node:read-more:link]
The risk at hand: an infectious outbreak.Public health experts believe we are at greater risk than ever of experiencing large-scale outbreaks and global pandemics like those we've seen before: SARS, swine flu, Ebola and Zika.Experts are unanimous in the belief that the next outbreak contender will most likely be a surprise -- and we need to be ready."We're only as secure in the world as the weakest country," said Jimmy Whitworth, professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. [node:read-more:link]
