Agriculture

A group representing New Zealand dairy companies has joined forces with overseas counterparts in a bid to get the World Trade Organisation to take action over what they allege is the dumping of dairy products on world markets by Canada.  The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) - which represents all the main dairy companies in New Zealand - said it had asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to initiate proceedings against Canada if it continues with a planned extension to its dairy trade protections. [node:read-more:link]

The Canadian province of Manitoba, a big piglet exporter to the United States, has confirmed its first case in three months of the deadly PED hog virus, amid concerns that dirty trucks may be carrying the virus across the border.  Manitoba's government confirmed on its website the Sept. 14 case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea on a sow farm. [node:read-more:link]

In an effort to turn away from chemical pesticides, which have the potential to damage the environment, some farmers are looking in a new direction in the age-old struggle against pests. They're warding off intruding insects and noxious weeds with bugs and chickens. [node:read-more:link]

With worker fatalities in agriculture running higher than all non-agricultural industries combined among workers younger than 16 years old, there’s no doubt that routine farm safety practices are important.  Our “Farm Tragedy by the Numbers” infographic provides the basis for why farm safety should be taken seriously, not only through National Farm Safety and Health Week, but 52 weeks every year. [node:read-more:link]

I visited a family farm recently. It was small, and local, and certified organic. In theory, it was everything an eco-conscious foodie could want. And yet, it wasn’t. Like every farm family, the couple who runs the farm is constrained by economic factors. Unfortunately, the measures they’ve taken to make their finances work have made their farm less environmentally sustainable. Their biggest expense is labor, so they do everything they can to reduce the amount of labor they need, including employing machines. A lot of machines. Machines that run on fossil fuels. [node:read-more:link]

California will begin regulating greenhouse-gas emissions tied to dairy cows and landfills under legislation signed Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown, escalating state efforts to fight climate change beyond carbon-based gases to include methane and other pollutants.  The law targets a category of gases known as short-lived climate pollutants, which have an outsize effect on global warming despite their relatively short life in the atmosphere. Environmentalists hope that tackling short-lived pollutants now would buy time to develop new and more affordable technology to reduce carbon emissions. [node:read-more:link]

The West Virginia Farm Bureau and the state Department of Agriculture are in a fight over cows and potatoes. Their argument spans genetics, market economies and state pride. It also crosses into politics.  In the upcoming Agriculture Commissioner race, the Farm Bureau has endorsed Republican Kent Leonhardt over incumbent Democrat Walt Helmick, just as it did in 2012. In the current spat, the Farm Bureau claims the Agriculture Department’s purchase of four breeding cows from Oklahoma for $33,000 presents unfair competition for West Virginia’s existing beef cattle farmers. [node:read-more:link]

A water war is brewing in California's Central Valley, pitting residents, farmers and even conservation groups against the state.  The proposed plan would take even more water away from the region's residents and crops; new plans call for40 percent of the San Joaquin River's water to be sent out to the ocean so threatened species of fish, like salmon and steelhead, can have a chance to thrive again.  But that plan would double the amount of water used to save these fish, and local officials are disgusted to think that this much water could be sent out to the sea, flowing right past a parche [node:read-more:link]

 As thousands of commercial drones take to the skies under new Federal Aviation Administration rules, some small operators are pursuing a coveted exemption that would allow them to fly their drones where they can't be seen by the pilot.  The companies who want them say the so-called line-of-sight exemptions are essential to someday use drones for such tasks as cleanup and repair after storm damage and monitoring widespread crop conditions.  But thus far, the FAA has only given exemptions to three companies that participated in a year-long FAA pilot program: CNN, BNSF Railway and the drone d [node:read-more:link]

U.S. wheat farmers, struggling to make money as prices sink and global supplies swell, could be the main beneficiaries if Washington wins a case it brought last week against China over an estimated $100 billion in domestic grain market supports.  On Tuesday, U.S. [node:read-more:link]