Dr. Temple Grandin said that when it comes to setting welfare guidelines on things like outdoor access, poultry producers should make sure they are set in a way that consumers will recognize and accept.Whether the guideline addresses what constitutes outdoor access or cage free, the discussion can’t just focus on what is the most efficient arrangement. The system needs to look like it delivers what it promises. [node:read-more:link]
The state’s orange trees, which are mostly used to produce juice, have been devastated by disease and hurricanes, causing harvest totals to fall for five successive seasons. [node:read-more:link]
As lawmakers prepare to rush a $3.6 million bailout of the state's dairy industry through the Legislature, they have frequently been told that 19 of the state's 120 dairy farms have "gone out of business" in the past year.
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Approximately 1,100 acres of crops were impacted by the damaging winds and rainfall in the county, Wells reports. “We had more than 10 inches of rain in the Hastings area with very strong winds,” she says. On average, St. Johns County farmers have reported 30% to 60% losses of their planted acreage, while several have experienced a 100% or total loss for the crops they had in the ground before the storm, Wells states. [node:read-more:link]
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s corn, soybean, and wheat crop budgets for 2016 include highly productive cropland in northern and central Illinois—land that may yield 20% or more above the national average (Schnitkey, 2016). Considering the current costs of production, budgets show revenues will be high enough to provide a return to land; however, profits will not fully cover the costs of average cash rent. [node:read-more:link]
Since 2009, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), run by NIFA, provides grants to organizations for education, mentoring, and technical assistance initiatives for beginning farmers or ranchers. [node:read-more:link]
As the 2012 Census of Agriculture data has shown us, to the extent that returns have been high relative to other sectors of the economy, they have not reversed the decline in the number of beginning farms. However, there is some evidence of success by young beginning farmers, including through their expansion in farm size, relative to older beginning farmers (Ahearn, 2013; Katchova and Ahearn, 2015). [node:read-more:link]
The meat and poultry industry agrees that animal care and handling is a complex issue, however according to Jason McAlister, animal welfare manager at Triumph Foods, St. Joseph, Mo., there are five steps any company can follow that will make the process a little more simple. [node:read-more:link]
Survey Results at a Glance: • For a 13th straight month, the Rural Mainstreet Index fell below growth neutral. Almost 4 of 5 bank CEOs indicated restructuring farm loans due to weak farm income. Farmland prices remained below growth neutral for the 34th consecutive month. Almost one-fifth of bankers reported increasing rejection rates on agricultural loans due to weak farm income. [node:read-more:link]
Floods from Hurricane Matthew have taken a heavy toll on poultry in North Carolina, with as many as 5 million birds lost. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) confirmed with Reuters that 1.8 million head of poultry died, and most of those birds were broilers. However, Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, said the number of losses could be around 5 million birds. [node:read-more:link]
