Iowa water quality is in the spotlight for various reasons, most notably a federal lawsuit by the Des Moines Water Works against upstream drainage districts and counties over high nutrient loads, mainly nitrogen. Iowa's nutrient reduction strategy calls for the state to cut nitrogen and phosphorus in water by 45% using various methods. [node:read-more:link]
Canada's Agrium Inc and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc said they are in talks to merge, a deal that would create a fertilizer and farm retailing giant worth more than $25 billion but also trigger U.S. regulatory scrutiny. Potash Corp, the world's biggest crop nutrient company by capacity and Agrium, North America's largest farm retailer, said in separate statements that the talks were at a "preliminary" stage about a possible merger of equals, adding that no agreement has been reached. [node:read-more:link]
Brace yourself. According to a new study from CoBank, the drop in farm income over the past three farming seasons has been the biggest plunge since the Great Depression. "The drop in farm income over the past three years is the steepest decrease since the Depression," says Tanner Ehmke, CoBank senior economist covering, the grains, oilseeds and ethanol, and farm supply sectors. "Producer incomes have fallen more than 50% from 2013 to today and their debt-to-income ratio is on the rise.” When cash flow becomes an issue, farmers tend to put off whatever bills can wait. [node:read-more:link]
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Oklahoma has dismissed a poultry grower's breach of contract claim against OK Foods after the company severed ties with the grower amid concerns over animal welfare standards. [node:read-more:link]
Although U.S. poultry industry optimism about current conditions remained high during the third quarter of 2016, expectations for future conditions and profits took a tumble. Oversupply was the primary reason cited for a weakening of future conditions. As one respondent noted, “(We’re) waiting on a surplus of total meat to roll through, especially pork and imported beef. Chicken egg sets are still too high.” [node:read-more:link]
A federal lawsuit affecting over 600 Yakima Valley farm workers will head to trial. the lawsuit originally filed in 2014 says that Mercer Canyons out of Alderdale, Washington failed to inform previous local employees about higher paying jobs. Mercer Canyons, one of the largest fruit and vegetable growers in the state applied for a federal temporary agricultural worker program called H-2A that allows employers to bring in foreign workers if they can prove that there are no local or U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Cows outnumber people 2-to-1 in New Zealand, but when 500 bovines go missing it’s sure to draw attention. That’s what happened to a dairy farmer in the town of Ashburton. [node:read-more:link]
Four investors have signed on to support a new startup business accelerator that will further establish Central Iowa’s reputation as a global leader in cutting-edge agriculture technology. The Greater Des Moines Partnership and the Cultivation Corridor announced today that they will form an Ag Tech Accelerator (The Accelerator) with the support of investors DuPont Pioneer, Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company, John Deere and Peoples Company. Each investor company has committed to support the Accelerator in the amount of $100,000 for the first year. [node:read-more:link]
The California Assembly on Monday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a hard-fought and historic expansion of overtime rules for farmworkers, but it remains uncertain whether the Democratic governor will sign off on the measure. A nearly identical bill fell three votes short of passage on the Assembly floor in May, with 15 Democrats voting against the measure or declining to vote. [node:read-more:link]
Ty Lawrence still talks about it as his “lightbulb” moment. He was in a Texas slaughterhouse in 2010 when two absolutely beautiful beef carcasses rolled by. Each was the pinnacle of USDA grading: “Prime” and “Yield Grade One.” Only 2 to 5 percent of U.S. beef is graded Prime, and Yield Grade One meant there was lots of it. By Lawrence’s estimate, only 1 in 3,300 beef carcasses will have those two attributes simultaneously. [node:read-more:link]
