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What has the world come to when people get death threats for expressing an opinion about agriculture? The toxicity of the debate about farming in general and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in particular is so entrenched that Mark Lynas, a prominent British journalist and environmentalist who publicly changed his mind about genetic modification, wasn’t even surprised by the death threats. “I got very few,” he says. And the name-calling and Internet trolling were just what he expected when he put his head over the parapet to champion GMOs. [node:read-more:link]

A mammoth merger between the world's largest potash producer and a major agricultural and chemical company is slated to close Jan. 1. The merger between PotashCorp and Agrium — which will combine to make Nutrien — received its final clearance. Nutrien will be the world's largest nutrient company and the third-largest natural resource company in Canada. Post-merger, approximately 20,000 people will work for the company in 18 countries, with the entire enterprise valued at $36 billion USD [node:read-more:link]

The Environmental Protection Agency has underestimated how many producers will have to report that their animals are releasing gas, according to farm groups. The new reporting requirement, forced by an environmental lawsuit and expected to take effect Jan. 22, will apply to hundreds of thousands of farms, not the 44,900 projected by the EPA, the groups say.“This number is woefully inadequate and vastly under-represents the universe of producers who will be impacted by these reporting requirements,” the American Farm Bureau Federation stated in comments to the EPA. [node:read-more:link]

Gov. Tom Wolf's office and the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced that almost 3,000 deer harvested by hunters in 2016-17 were donated to a nonprofit that distributes the venison to food banks. The donation sets a record for the nonprofit, Hunters Sharing the Harvest, now in its 26th season. The nonprofit coordinates the hunters' deer harvests with meat processors and distribution to food banks. [node:read-more:link]

he promotion of greater diversification and biodiversity in farming and food systems has long been a major goal of the Kansas Rural Center. Diversity in people, cultures and ideas, and a small but growing number of foreign-born immigrants, are also changing the state’s demographics. According to the Pew Research Center, two percent of Kansas’ population in 1980 were foreign-born residents; by 2012, that number had grown to six-and-a-half percent. [node:read-more:link]

USDA is offering grants for innovative ideas for conservation strategies and technologies. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) plans to invest $10 million in the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, funding innovative conservation projects in three focus areas: grazing lands, organic systems and soil health. Grant proposals are due Feb. 26, 2018. [node:read-more:link]

California’s legal marijuana market is finally, fitfully, taking shape. The state on Thursday issued the first batch of business licenses to sell and transport recreational-use pot, just 18 days before legal sales will begin on Jan. [node:read-more:link]

There's a new law in New York that looks to help reunite lost pets with their owners. A New York law that went into effect this week requires that all animal shelters, rescue groups and other organizations that take in found pets check to see if the animal has a  microchip in them. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. renewable energy industry expressed relief after a compromise Republican tax bill preserved key tax credits that had been at risk of being removed, but it raised concerns about a provision that may threaten investment in the sector.The final tax bill retains the production and investment tax credits for wind and solar energy that have spurred investment in the fast-growth industries. It also eliminates the alternative minimum tax, which would have reduced the value of those credits. [node:read-more:link]

The number of local ordinances across the country banning the sale of pets from commercial breeders, defined as large operations that raise pets for wholesale distribution, has grown from about a hundred last year to about 250. “The momentum is there,” said Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society’s Stop Puppy Mills campaign. California this fall became the first state to outright ban sales of commercially raised animals in retail shops — a new success for activists working across the country to transform the way pets are taken in by families.Although the U.S. [node:read-more:link]