After hours of criticism by Democrats on changes to food programs, the House Agriculture Committee passed a farm bill out of committee Wednesday on a strictly partisan 26-20 vote as every Republican voted for the bill and every Democrat opposed it. [node:read-more:link]
By encouraging Nebraskans to “Grow local. Brew local, and Buy local,” the Nebraska Craft Brewery Board hopes to enhance the state’s hop and craft brewery industry. Every year the Craft Brewery Board awards grants to fund research, development and marketing projects related to the industry. This year, the Board has approximately $90,000 available for innovative projects from growers, industry organizations, state and local agencies, educational groups and other eligible stakeholders. [node:read-more:link]
Starting January 1st, 2017 the distribution of antibiotics in animal agriculture went through a major overhaul. These changes affected livestock farmers of all sizes and farms needed to incorporate changes to help them adapt to the new rules and regulations. Focusing on the one-health concept of combating antibiotic resistance, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put into effect regulations that helped promote the judicious use of humanly medically important antibiotics. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Supreme Court held a conference on April 13, 2018, to decide if Indiana and Missouri can bring legal actions (Bill of Original Complaint) against California and Massachusetts. This case will have an important impact on agriculture. The Supreme Court punted on April 16, and asked for the views of the DOJ’s Solicitor General on the two cases. [node:read-more:link]
On average, U.S. farmers received 14.8 cents for farm commodity sales from each dollar spent on domestically-produced food in 2016, down from 15.5 cents in 2015. Known as the farm share, this amount is at its lowest level for the period 1993 to 2016, and coincides with a steep drop in 2016 average prices received by U.S. farmers, as measured by the Producer Price Index for farm products. 2016 was the fifth consecutive year that the farm share has declined, though the 4.5-percent drop in 2016 was below 2015’s 9.9-percent fall. [node:read-more:link]
An Increase In Bankruptcies Compounds Economic And Emotional Woes. As the dairy industry struggles with low prices in the face of a long-mounting milk glut, more farmers are finding that their woes are escalating. Over the spring of 2017, a pricing dispute with Canada, Wisconsin's large export market, along with ongoing fears of additional trade issues, have helped crystallize what is turning out to be a serious crisis in dairyland.Cow-feed suppliers can offer a measure of how dairy farmers are holding up. [node:read-more:link]
Large wildfires in western Oklahoma continue to burn more than 400,000 acres and growing. “Hay is the number one need right now,” said Dana Bay, Woodward County OSU Extension Educator. “Ranchers that were able to save their cattle but lost their grass and hay of their own are in desperate need of hay to sustain those animals.”If you would like to donate hay, please contact Extension coordinators at one of the three phone numbers:(405) 590-0106,(405) 496-9329, (405) 397-7912. A second relief fund has been established by the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Foundation (OCF) with. [node:read-more:link]
The Hendricks County Superior Court ruled in favor of a group of hog farmers and their cooperative when it dismissed a lawsuit against them. The Lawsuit was filed by neighbors who argued that the hog farm was a nuisance, that the farm's location was rhe result of negligent siting and that the farm would release odors which would trespass on neighbor's property. The plaintiffs argued the farm itself had been negligently sited, so the RTFA should not apply. [node:read-more:link]
In 2009, ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states launched the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI”), the country’s first market-based program to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (“CO2”) from existing and new power plants.1 The scope of RGGI is significant: the current set of RGGI states account for more than one-eighth of the population in the U.S. and more than one-seventh of the nation’s gross domestic product. It is thus important to evaluate and understand the program’s performance and outcomes. [node:read-more:link]
Water has been a major focus of Dayton's tenure in office. He pushed for Minnesota's first buffer law and held town hall meetings across the state to talk about how to improve water quality. But finding agreement on solutions hasn't been easy.The governor set an ambitious goal of improving Minnesota's water quality 25 percent by 2025. But consensus on how to achieve that goal has been elusive."I think the 25 by 25 initiative is a great example of how people's desires and their intentions are not yet matched up," said John Linc Stine, commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. [node:read-more:link]
