A profusion of biotechnology products is expected over the next five to 10 years, and the number and diversity of new products has the potential to overwhelm the U.S. regulatory system, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Charles Baron has a story he likes to tell about the time that farmers in North Dakota saw his data. Baron’s startup, Farmers Business Network, pools data from farmers and shares insights from the group back with its members. And for one corn crop across thousands of acres in North Dakota, the data said that Baron’s customers were planting the lowest yielding, highest priced seed on the market. “The difference was a lot of money,” Baron says. “So we said, don’t shoot us as the messenger. But what’s going on?” A farmer finally raised his hand, the cofounder explains. [node:read-more:link]
Last week, a vegan “animal advocate” in Georgia intentionally crashed into a truck hauling live chickens – not once, but twice. She claimed to be concerned about the safety of the birds and wanted to prevent them from reaching their ultimate destination – the processing plant.Luckily, the driver of the truck was not injured and maintained control, preventing what could have been a massive accident. [node:read-more:link]
Kansas rancher Greg Gardiner got into some of his scorched pastures for the first time Wednesday and surveyed what he likened to a battle zone: carcasses of dead cattle everywhere. "It's pretty much a catastrophe," Gardiner said as he looked out on his ranch near Ashland, charred by wildfires that have burned through hundreds of acres in four states. "It's as bad as a mind can make it."Gardiner cries when he talks about how thankful he is that none of his family members were lost in wildfires that that have led to the deaths of six people. [node:read-more:link]
There are corn and soy fields as far as the eye can see around Kyle Schwarting’s home in Ceresco, Nebraska. The 36-year-old farmer lives on a small plot of land peppered with large agricultural machines including tractors, planters and a combine harvester. Parked up in front of his house is a bright red 27-ton Case tractor which has tracks instead of wheels. It’s worth about $250,000, and there’s a problem with it: an in-cab alarm sounds at ten-minute intervals to alert him to a faulty hydraulic connector he never needs to use. [node:read-more:link]
State Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven in Pierre confirmed bovine tuberculosis has been found in a South Dakota beef herd. Oedekoven says meat inspectors initially identified the suspect animals in February during routine slaughter inspection of otherwise healthy appearing cattle. The cattle were traced to a herd in Harding County. Testing of the herd revealed additional infected animals.Oedekoven says his office is working with the herd owner and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to evaluate the extent of the disease. [node:read-more:link]
Hormel-owned natural and organic meat brand Applegate announced that by 2024, the company intends to elevate and third-party verify its standards for broiler chickens to be consistent with Global Animal Partnership (GAP). These changes will require, among other things, using broiler chicken breeds that are scientifically proven to have improved welfare outcomes. [node:read-more:link]
Despite continued challenges within the farm sector, Land O'Lakes Inc. reported record net earnings for the year ending Dec. 31, 2016, which it said was powered by growth in core businesses and the unification with United Suppliers. [node:read-more:link]
Highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza has been detected in a Tyson breeder flock in Tennessee. In a follow-up on the avian influenza situation in Tennessee, USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) has confirmed the full subtype for the highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza reported in Lincoln County, TN. The virus has been identified as North American wild bird lineage H7N9 HPAI based upon full genome sequence analysis of the samples at the NVSL. [node:read-more:link]
2014 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey-Details about agricultural land for 25 States, 6 regions, and the contiguous United States.USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS) jointly conducted the 2014 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey to shed light on the 911 million acres of agricultural land—held by both operator and non-operator landlords—in the contiguous 48 States. [node:read-more:link]
