Agriculture News
Sugar’s Storage Loans Benefit Farmers, Consumers, Taxpayers Alike
Agri-Pulse | Posted on October 12, 2017Fall marks the start of the busy harvest season for sugarcane and sugarbeets across the country. In Florida, farmers hope for the best as they cut wind-blown cane from fields hit hard by Irma.In southern Louisiana, the dry weather in recent weeks has made harvesting in the often-muddy soil a little easier. But, farmers there know that the hurricane season lasts through November and the threat of frost intensifies in December.Here in Idaho, as well as Minnesota, Michigan and eight other states, farmer-owned sugar processing facilities will soon start running 24 hours a day as we dig beets from the ground, racing against the season’s first freeze. Food companies and retailers have chosen not to construct huge on-site warehouses to store ingredients or pay for a year’s worth of inventory in advance of delivery. Instead, they benefit from “just-in-time delivery,” where sugar producers store, handle and transport the ingredient exactly when it is needed. And the customer typically pays for the sugar 30 days after it is delivered.While this strategy reduces food company and retailer costs, it pushes those costs onto producers. That’s where the non-recourse loans found in the Farm Bill come into play. These loans are designed to help producers pay bills associated with the crop while they are marketing it throughout the year. Then, when crops are sold, the loans are repaid with interest.These loans are at the heart of U.S. sugar policy, and repayment with interest is why sugar policy operates at no cost to taxpayers.
Who owns who? A farmers guide to seed company mergersr
Wallace's Farmers | Posted on October 12, 2017A South Dakota farmer and seed dealer charted the family trees of some of the major seed companies in the Midwest. He created two family trees. The first shows the evolution of five major brands.The second is a more detailed chart of Syngenta’s brand history
Oregon county’s aerial spray ban gets day in court
Capital Press | Posted on October 12, 2017Supporters of a prohibition against aerial pesticide spraying in Oregon’s Lincoln County are urging a judge to uphold the ordinance even though it’s pre-empted by state law. Lincoln County Community Rights, which supports the ban, argues that Oregon law that pre-empt local governments from regulating pesticides is unconstitutional.The ordinance was approved by voters earlier this year but is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by landowners Rex Capri and Wakefield Farms, who rely on aerial spraying.During oral arguments on Oct. 9, the plaintiffs asked Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Sheryl Bachart to declare the ordinance invalid because a local government can’t overrule Oregon law.Not only does the county lack the general authority to enact such an ordinance, but the prohibition is specifically barred by Oregon statutes governing pesticides, forest practices and the “right to farm,” according to plaintiffs.
Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico's food supply — here's what the island's farms look like now
Business Insider | Posted on October 11, 2017In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the devastation to Puerto Rico has sunk in. Many of the island's 3.4 million residents are still without access to power, running water, and health services. The Category 4 storm also left Puerto Rico without most of its farmland, roughly a quarter of the island's land divided into over 13,000 farms. After Maria barreled through with 155-mph winds, it wiped out approximately 80% of the territory's crop value.
‘Farm to Flask’ Distillers Lifting Local Spirits
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on October 11, 2017Dan Beardsley’s great-grandfather made moonshine on the family farm to make ends meet during Prohibition. Now he can boost farm profits with a legal distillery, thanks to a new Connecticut law that took effect Oct. 1. The law, based on a similar “farm to flask” law enacted in New York almost a decade ago, allows farmers to distill and sell spirits using their own produce without high-priced licenses or distribution requirements. They can sell their own product at a farm store, and hold tastings, without using a wholesaler if they use local ingredients.Such farm distillery laws are helping rural areas get in on the craft distillery movement.So far this year, a dozen states have enacted laws designed to help craft distilleries, and most benefit farm distillers either directly or indirectly, said Heather Morton, who tracks such laws for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). For instance, Indiana shortened the waiting period to start a small distillery from three years to 18 months, and Georgia allowed distillers to sell bottles at retail.New York this year gave another boost to farm distillers by allowing them to serve cocktails.Among the states that now offer farm distilleries lower fees or more freedom to sell their products are Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Virginia and West Virginia, according to NCSL.Some states require craft distilleries to use local produce, which helps farm distillers. The law in Connecticut requires one-quarter local farm-grown ingredients, and New York’s requires three-quarters.
Droughts and wildfires: How global warming is drying up the North American monsoon
Science Daily | Posted on October 10, 2017Previous researchers had concluded that global warming was simply delaying the North American monsoon, which brings summer rains to the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico. But a new, high-resolution climate model that corrects for persistent sea surface temperature (SST) biases now accurately reflects current rainfall conditions and demonstrates that the monsoon is not simply delayed, but that the region's total rainfall is facing a dramatic reduction.
Amazon farmers discovered the secret of domesticating wild rice 4,000 years ago
Science Daily | Posted on October 10, 2017Amazonian farmers discovered how to manipulate wild rice so the plants could provide more food 4,000 years ago, long before Europeans colonized America, archaeologists have discovered.
Rethink the Ranch
NCBA | Posted on October 10, 2017Much has changed since the days of cowboys, cattle drives and the Old West. Today, it's more about drones, apps and computers. Join us as we travel across the country talking to real, modern ranchers about how they care for the cattle, what inspires them and why they work so hard day after day.
Huge multi-species slaughter facility proposed in Montana
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on October 10, 2017A Canadian livestock and animal nutrition company has proposed to build a large multi-species slaughtering facility in Cascade County, Montana, according to a report by the Great Falls Tribune. If local officials approve the project as proposed by Alberta-based Friesen Foods, the “Madison Food Park” would employ as many as 3,000 people in a state-of-the-art, robotically controlled, environmentally friendly, multi-species food processing plant for cattle, pigs and chickens and related further processing facilities for beef, pork and poultry, the newspaper reported.
Minnesota launches rural crisis helpline
edairynews | Posted on October 10, 2017The day illustrated that as a farmer herself, Moynihan understands about the need for a new state program she just planted at the Minnesota Agriculture Department: Farm and Rural Helpline. The line is a new service, replacing an earlier farm crisis line, that allows rural Minnesotans to call (833) 600-2670 to deal with all sorts of problems, even if they do not rise to crisis level, Moynihan said.“Farmers love to farm, but it is an extremely challenging profession,” she said on the dreary Friday.They have no control over costs such as for implements, seed and fertilizer. Others control how much they are paid for crops, milk and livestock.In the fall, “you are watching the clock for frost and watching the skies for rain. It can be a very stressful time.”In the spring, “you realize you are borrowing a lot.”So it is no surprise that mental health issues are big in rural areas. The helpline will be answered by trained counselors who can help immediately and can refer rural Minnesotans to other resources, such as finance experts.