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Temperature and precipitation conditions in mid-June across the primary crop regions in the United States look similar to the widespread drought year of 2012 when, at the time, there also was little or no concern about drought, a climatologist said.   Brian Fuchs, climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said as temperatures continue to rise heading into the summer months, climatologists are watching closely for signs of flash drought -- often brought on by a drop in precipitation and increased temperatures and winds. [node:read-more:link]

A draft of Utah's lawsuit demanding the federal government turn over 30 million acres to the state is expected to be complete by next week, but Democrats on the commission overseeing the project still want to know more about how $1 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent.  Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, co-chairman of the Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands, said he plans to have a finished draft of the state's potential lawsuit to present to lawmakers when they hold their monthly meetings June 15. It would be up to Attorney General Sean Reyes and Gov. [node:read-more:link]

In an industry that’s lost over half of its jobs in the past decade, Mississippi’s catfish farmers have by no means given up to heated competition from abroad.  Rather, the state’s catfish farmers, which produce over half of U.S. farm-raised catfish, labor daily under strict safety inspection laws while fighting to make sure their industry rivals in Asia are held up to the same standards. After an eight-year battle, American catfish farmers rejoiced when the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

There’s no doubt trade is critically important to the agricultural economy, particularly in places such as Manitoba where the productivity of farmers far exceeds the appetite of the resident population. As the province’s Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler pointed out Tuesday in his presentation to the Senate committee studying agricultural trade, two-thirds of the food products manufactured in Manitoba leave the province. Improved market access and fair trade rules are important. [node:read-more:link]

New England’s dairy farmers remain the backbone of the region's agriculture but fight for survival in an age of baby greens and artisan cheese.
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Bioenergy produced from crops does not threaten food supplies, researchers funded by the U.S. government, World Bank and others said, dealing a potential blow to critics of the country's biofuels program.  There is no clear relationship between biofuels and higher prices that threaten access to food, as some prior analysis has suggested, according to the research partly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. [node:read-more:link]

North Dakotans on Tuesday soundly rejected a law enacted last year that changed decades of family-farming rules in the state by allowing corporations to own and operate dairy and hog farms.  Some 75 percent of North Dakotans who went to the ballot box voted to repeal Senate Bill 2351. The law, signed into law in March 2015 by Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple, exempted dairy and swine production from the state's Depression-era corporate farming prohibition. [node:read-more:link]

The Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) federal case is coming to a close. DMWW sued Sac, Calhoun, and Buena Vista Counties in Iowa, as trustees of numerous Iowa Drainage Districts. After the complaint was filed by DMWW, the Counties sought summary judgment in federal court regarding the Clean Water Act (CWA) issues. The U.S. District Court referred the common law issues to the Iowa Supreme Court for review and decision. The CWA claims are now fully briefed. The Drainage Districts filed their reply brief on May 31, 2016. It is a homerun. [node:read-more:link]

 Faced with an influx of cranberries from Wisconsin and Quebec, agriculture officials have made a series of recommendations they hope will revitalize the 200-year-old Massachusetts cranberry industry and allow it to remain competitive.      In a report to lawmakers, the Massachusetts Cranberry Revitalization Task Force, created by the Legislature in 2015, identified possible areas of innovation in cranberry farming, such as making renewable energy options more viable for growers and doing more to conserve water. [node:read-more:link]

Greenpeace just got hit with its own RICO lawsuit in federal court by a Canadian logging company.  The saga started back in 2010 when “a cabal of radical environmental [NGOs] … agreed to stop their campaigns of customer harassment” if members of the Forest Products Association of Canada did what these activists demanded.  Sound familiar? [node:read-more:link]