Featured

The Wyoming Legislature has approved an allocation of $1.95 million from the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund, to the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust to help conserve over 6,300 acres of agricultural land in the state. The funding was originally granted in 2017 by WWNRT’s Board of Directors. This grant funding at the state level is one of the first steps in the process to complete these conservation easements which are expected to close in late 2019 or early 2020. [node:read-more:link]

Agricultural steel users are already seeing higher prices due to President Donald Trump’s proposed 25 percent tariff on imports. Mark De Kleine, an agricultural engineering consultant in Prosser, Wash., said he found big price jumps in just a few days when sourcing trellis wire for orchards.“A 25 percent increase in steel — that’s going to be passed down to the consumer and be difficult for the ag industry. There’s a lot of steel in one acre of trellis,” De Kleine said. [node:read-more:link]

Oil companies accused of raising ocean levelswon't question the existence of climate change in federal court today. Chevron Corp. is expected to take a lead role in a climate science “tutorial” at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. [node:read-more:link]

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, Westchester County, introduced legislation Thursday that would change New York law to allow veterinarians to prescribe medical marijuana to animals. "Medical marijuana has helped countless people in the management and treatment of chronic and debilitating illnesses," Paulin's bill states. "Research suggests that animals can also benefit from cannabis use to similarly treat their ailments." Nevada and California are also considering legislation to legalize medical marijuana for animals, saying it could help pets with chronic illnesses. [node:read-more:link]

Mississippi’s Cindy Hyde-Smith will be going to the U.S. Senate next month. Gov. Phil Bryant formally tapped the Republican agriculture and commerce commissioner to fill the unexpired term of Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, who is poised to go out with a win on an omnibus spending bill. Currently in his seventh term, Cochran is resigning effective April 1 for health reasons. [node:read-more:link]

The Economic Innovation Group has created a interactive map that identifies the economic distress level of every zip code in the United States. Maps are also available that measure by zip code, congressional district or city. [node:read-more:link]

Agricultural production has shifted to larger farms over the last three decades. Technology has been the primary driver of this shift, which has been large and widespread across crop and livestock commodities. Despite the shift to larger operations, family businesses still dominate U.S. agriculture: consolidation has shifted acreage and production to larger family farms. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has rejected a petition from an animal rights group that sought more humane treatment for turkeys and chickens sent to slaughter.  California-based Mercy For Animals filed a petition in November asking the USDA to include poultry in the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, a 1958 law that makes it a crime to abuse or neglect pigs and cows during slaughter.The head of the USDA's Office of Food Safety said in denying the petition that other regulations ensure humane poultry treatment. [node:read-more:link]

Fred Morgan was already deep in debt from rebuilding his milking barn after a fire when milk prices plunged in 2015, setting off an economic drought that is now entering its fourth year — the worst in recent memory for dairy farmers in New York State. Mr. Morgan, 50, saw no way to save the dairy farm in central New York State that he took over as a teenager from his ailing father and ran with his wife, Judy, and their son, Cody.With the farm operating at a loss and facing foreclosure, Mr. Morgan believed his only solution was his $150,000 life insurance policy. [node:read-more:link]

A long-planned look at the best ways Washington farmers and ranchers can prevent water pollution has been begun by the Department of Ecology. The review was triggered by criticism from the Environmental Protection Agency that the state’s plan to control agricultural runoff was too vague. [node:read-more:link]