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Agriculture

Addressing the farm trespassing issue

In Australia, and more specifically in the state of New South Wales, discussions have been taking place in an effort to address at least the trespassing issue without making undercover video filming itself illegal. A series of joint roundtable meetings have been taking place between the state and federal governments and those in livestock and poultry production to discuss the problem of members of animal rights groups trespassing to film videos of alleged or legitimate animal mistreatment. [node:read-more:link]

Superweed introduced to Minnesota with conservation seed mix

Federal programs designed to help farmers set aside more habitat for bees and wildlife have produced a dangerous offshoot this year: Some mixes used to plant native grasses and flowers were contaminated with harmful weed seeds that have now been introduced onto hundreds of farms in several Midwestern states, including Minnesota. The weeds include Palmer amaranth, one of the most prolific and devastating weeds in the country for corn, soybeans and other row crops. [node:read-more:link]

Animal Rights- From hate to hope to heal

Many of us in the meat and poultry industry and our antagonists, the animal rights community, spew forth hateful rhetoric at each other similar to what we witnessed during the recent election campaign.  It sickens me.  And, what has it gotten either of us?  The words that emanate from both sides like “cowards” and “murderers” and the like have no basis in fact or logic.  They are the mind’s interpretations of words and actions and they are often not even close to the truth.In past blogs, I have called for direct discussions between the meat industry whose goal is to grow consumption of meat [node:read-more:link]

Avian flu losses mount in Europe, Asia poultry

The first outbreak of HPAI since July of 2015 has been confirmed in England. Nearly all of the flock of 2,428 housed turkeys at the farm in Louth in the county of Lincolnshire died, and the rest have been destroyed. The presence of the H5N8 virus has been confirmed, the same variant that has been affecting other parts of Europe in recent weeks. [node:read-more:link]

Ag Robot Revenue to Reach Multi-Billions by 2024

The market for agricultural robots is developing at a rapid pace, with a large number of established and startup agricultural technology companies developing, piloting, and launching an innovative range of robotic systems to tackle a wide variety of tasks, according to a new report from Tractica. Key application areas for agricultural robots include driverless tractors, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), material management, field crops and forest management, soil management, dairy management, and animal management, with a diverse set of subcategories emerging within each of those areas. [node:read-more:link]

Rethinking EU animal production business model

In other words, I am questioning whether small and medium buyers based in the EU would not mind paying a small premium for vitamins produced within the EU, especially now that this continent is tortured by many years of financial crisis. After all, as many vitamin manufacturers keep telling me, the cost of vitamins is minute compared to total feed cost. And, taking this opportunity, I would like to challenge my fellow EU nutrition business colleagues to consider re-evaluating our business model. [node:read-more:link]

Can CRISPR Carry Agriculture Innovation To The Next Level?

To say CRISPR/Cas9 is every bit as revolutionary as the Internet or the smartphone is an understatement. Scientists are studying applications to fight cancers and it already has been demonstrated the technology can remove HIV from infected human cells. It comes with ethical questions as well for how this technology may benefit humans in the future. The idea of designer babies with reduced diseases linked to faulty genes, or the potential to slow or reverse the aging process may one day be possible using CRISPR/Cas9. [node:read-more:link]

Biofuels: Trump Picks Stir Unease

“Biofuel supporters largely keep pointing to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign statements on ethanol, but the stack of nominations coming from Trump with far closer ties to oil than ethanol is quickly starting to raise some red flags. “Trump has largely built his energy team over the past week with the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, followed Monday with the Secretary of State nominee of Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was announced as nominee for Energy Secretary. [node:read-more:link]

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