Agriculture News
Bloomington approves purchase of Kelley farm for possible World Fair site
Minnesota Star Tribune | Posted on September 21, 2017The last working farm in Bloomington could become the site of the 2023 World’s Fair.The Minnesota World’s Fair Bid Committee announced Wednesday that if the state wins Expo 2023, it will be held on a 59-acre property nestled between the Mall of America and the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge that has been owned by the same family since 1932. During a joint meeting Tuesday of the Bloomington City Council and the city’s Port Authority, officials voted to buy the Kelley farm property, also known as the Spruce Shadows Farm, for $32.3 million as a possible Expo site.Developer Ryan Cos. has been selected to consult on the property’s potential to host the Expo. To buy the property, the city will use mostly liquor and lodging tax revenue designated for development of the South Loop district where the Kelley farm is located.
Tyson now looking beyond Tonganoxie, Kansas for poultry plant
Watt Ag Net | Posted on September 21, 2017Tyson Foods is backing away from its plans to build a new poultry complex in Tonganoxie, Kansas, and instead is looking at other locations to build the $320 million facility. Tyson Foods on September 5 revealed plans to build the poultry complex in Tonganoxie, stating that the complex would include a poultry plant with a capacity to process 1.25 million birds per week, a feed mill and a hatchery. About 1,600 people were expected to be employed at the complex.However, a public forum held on September 15 revealed the sentiment that citizens of Tonganoxie and Leavenworth County did not want Tyson to build there. Before the forum concluded, four state legislators present stated that they would do what they could to prevent Tyson Foods from building in Tonganoxie.Three days later, the Leavenworth County Commission voted 2-1 to rescind a resolution of intent in which the county would issue as much as $500 million in industrial revenue bonds to support the project.
How heat kills farmworkers
The Fern | Posted on September 21, 2017On a recent summer morning in Mendota, a small farming community in California’s Central Valley, the sun glared down from a cloudless sky. The temperature was heading toward 101 degrees, and it had hit 106 a few days before—not unlike the blistering heat that blanketed much of the West Coast over Labor Day weekend. While that heat wave proved uncomfortable for the Golden State, such extreme temperatures can actually be dangerous for the people who work outside. That’s especially true in the Central Valley, where a major portion of the nation’s fruits and vegetables are grown. If farmworkers don’t drink enough water, are unable to take breaks in the shade, or simply aren’t acclimatized to working at such high temperatures, they can suffer heat exhaustion, heatstroke, even death
Rural Mainstreet Climbs to Highest Level in Almost Two Years
Creighton University Economic Outlook | Posted on September 21, 2017Survey Results at a Glance: • The overall index climbed for month, but remained below growth neutral. Approximately 57.6 percent of bankers reported rought conditions were having a negative impact on ag-riculture production in their area. • Average yearly cash rents declined by 4.3 percent over the past year to $241 per acre. • On average bankers expect farmland prices to decline by another 3.5 percent over the next year. In August 2016, bank CEOs projected a 6.9 percent decline for next year.
Key California farm district rejects governor's tunnels plan
ABC News | Posted on September 21, 2017A group of powerful California farmers pulled their support Tuesday from a pair of massive, $16 billion tunnels that would have re-engineered the state's water system in a decisive move that dealt a major blow to the project pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The board of Westlands Water District, the nation's largest supplier of irrigation water to farms, voted to withdraw its participation from the project after more than an hour of tense discussions and comments from farmers who overwhelmingly concluded it was too expensive.After the vote, John Laird, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, said the aging water infrastructure must be modernized."Failing to act puts future water supply reliability at risk," he said in a statement. "This vote, while disappointing, in no way signals the end" of the project known as WaterFix.Tuesday's vote leaves the project's future in peril, potentially heightening a longstanding feud between typically dry Southern and Northern California, where much of the state's water originates.
Dairy farm owner pleads guilty to using illegal labor
Detroit Free Press | Posted on September 21, 2017The owner of two Michigan dairy farms pleaded guilty Tuesday to harboring workers who were in the U.S. illegally and agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million to the government. Denis Burke, an Irish immigrant, admits he employed more than 100 people who were in the U.S. without legal permission. Guilty pleas were also entered on behalf of his farms, Dunganstown Dairy and Parisville Dairy, both located in Michigan's Thumb region.Burke "gave the illegal aliens free housing on or next to his farms so the illegal aliens would be readily available for work and less accessible to immigration authorities," according to a plea agreement signed by Burke and federal prosecutors.
EPA to allow use of dicamba next year, but with safeguards
St Louis Post Dispatch | Posted on September 21, 2017The Environmental Protection Agency is aiming to allow farmers to spray the controversial weedkiller dicamba next year, but with additional rules for its use, an official with the agency said.
Iowa uses satellites to uncover 5,000 previously undetected animal confinements
Des Moines Register | Posted on September 21, 2017Iowa has about 5,000 more pig confinements and cattle lots across the state than originally believed, a report to the federal government last month shows. That's nearly 50 percent more animal feeding operations than the state initially inventoried."It's clearly too easy for confinements to slip under the radar," said Jess Mazour, an organizer at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. "This is an industry that's gone unchecked."The Iowa Department of Natural Resources discovered the facilities through satellite imagery, used to complete a comprehensive survey. Of the 5,063 facilities discovered through satellite imagery, the state says nearly 1,300 of the newly discovered facilities could require some level of state oversight. And the state estimates that about half — or 630 facilities — will require on-site inspections, said Ken Hessenius, Iowa DNR's Spencer office supervisor. Still, it's unlikely the operators of the newly discovered facilities violated state law, said Hessenius, who helped compile the state's report to the EPA.Iowa DNR beieves most of the facilities are too small to require government oversight, under state law. "If you build a 1,000-head hog facility ... you don’t need a state manure management plan. You don’t need a construction design statement or permit," Hessenius said.
241 5 Petition to tighten rules on livestock facilities in Iowa fails
Des Moines Register | Posted on September 21, 2017The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission denied a petition that would have made it tougher for animal feeding operations to be built in Iowa. Petition supporters sought to strengthen the state's master matrix — a scoring system designed to give local residents input on proposed animal feeding operations — saying the changes would better protect people living near livestock facilities from odor and water pollution.But opponents said the petition would make it so difficult to get a passing score, it would result in a statewide moratorium on livestock facilities. That's a controversial proposal for a state that's a national leader in pig, egg, turkey and cattle production.
NOAA Issues La Nina Watch
DTN | Posted on September 21, 2017The U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC), a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), says that the Pacific Ocean equator temperatures have at least a 50% chance of cooling to La Nina values by December. Accordingly, the CPC issued a La Nina watch Sept. 14. In issuing the watch, CPC details noted an emphasis on subsurface cooling in the equator region waters of the Pacific.