Human waste accounts for a high percentage of nutrients consumed by some animals and plants in suburban ponds, new research indicates. Researchers found that residential, suburban land use is altering the dynamics of the food chain, as well as where nutrients originate and how they move through pond ecosystems. [node:read-more:link]
New private investment funds financed by the Farm Credit System and rigorously vetted by USDA are capturing some of the equity capital that typically ignores rural America. Led by St. Louis-based Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners, which USDA licensed as a Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) in 2014, current and prospective RBICs could deliver over $1 billion in capital earmarked for rural business financing. Advantage Principal Tim Hassler sees compelling need to pump this new investment capital into rural America. [node:read-more:link]
Increasingly savvy shoppers who are well-versed in food production and nutrition are turning the tables on the farm-to-fork marketing model that once educated them and inuenced what they consumed to create a fork-tofarm model that requires producers, manufacturers and retailers to meet their continuously changing preferences for new products and increased quality, according to Rabobank analysts. [node:read-more:link]
Various farmers, ranchers and agricultural companies are likely to see a wide variation in benefits — and in costs. The vast majority of farms are structured as pass-throughs, such as sole proprietorships, partnerships and limited liability companies, or LLCs, whose owners pay taxes on profits through the individual code. These pass-throughs account for 85 percent of U.S. agricultural production. It would increase deductions or passthroughs. It would repeal the Section 199 deduction Co-ops use. [node:read-more:link]
USDA Racks Up Cost Savings by Dialing Back Indemnity Potential for Prevented Planting Claims. Farmers in Northern Plains states and parts of the Corn Belt will lose the prospect of larger potential payouts under prevented planting claims following a crop-insurance change announced earlier this week by USDA's Risk Management Agency.For years, the Obama administration repeatedly sought a $1.4-billion cost savings over 10 years by asking Congress to reform prevented planting coverage by eliminating the option of buying 10% higher coverage for prevented planting. [node:read-more:link]
Better make that back to the court we go—and this time with a bigger posse: Last week, 12 states banded together to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the “egg sales law,” alleging that it cost consumers upwards of $350 million in higher egg prices and is unconstitutional because it violates the interstate commerce clause—meaning that it’s preempted by federal law.This suit cites a study from a University of Missouri economist, which, the L.A. [node:read-more:link]
The suicide rate for farmers is more than double that of veterans. Former farmer Debbie Weingarten gives an insider’s perspective on farm life – and how to help. “Farming has always been a stressful occupation because many of the factors that affect agricultural production are largely beyond the control of the producers,” wrote Rosmann in the journal Behavioral Healthcare. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today published its annual report summarizing sales and distribution data for all antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals. The 2016 report shows that antimicrobial sales decreased from 2015 to 2016, with domestic sales and distribution of all antimicrobials decreasing by 10 percent and domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials decreasing by 14 percent. In previous years (between 2009 and 2015), overall sales volumes increased annually. [node:read-more:link]
A judge has granted Dannon’s motion to dismiss a high-profile false advertising lawsuit alleging shoppers were misled by its ‘all-natural’ claims on dairy products from cows that may have eaten GM feed.In a complaint against Dannon led in New York last year, plaintiff Polly Podpeskar alleged that reasonable consumers would not expect yogurts labeled ‘all-natural’ to use milk from cows likely fed a diet containing genetically engineered soy or corn.The case has been watched closely given how widely 'natural' claims are used on dairy products from cows that may have consumed GM feed. [node:read-more:link]
While proposed long-distance, high-voltage transmission projects continue to be stymied by hostile landowners and disapproving state regulators, a new transmission strategy is taking root in the Midwest. The Direct Connect Development Company has been working on a plan for an underground transmission line along existing railroad tracks from north-central Iowa to the Chicago area. The goal is to provide a way to move additional wind energy from Iowa, the Dakotas and Minnesota to a transfer point in the Chicago area. [node:read-more:link]
