Canadian dairy farmers have been deprived of 3.5 percent of our dairy market to European cheese under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union, 3.5 percent more to Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership countries, and under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, dairy farmers will lose an additional 3.9 percent of Canada’s market. The USMCA also removes our dairy sector’s ability to counter the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

It sits on the banks of the Monongahela River like a monstrous monument to extinction. With no fire in its belly and no smoke in its stacks, the rusting power plant provides only one sign of its former inhabitants, scribbled on a white board in a padlocked guard booth."RIP Mitchell," the handwriting reads. [node:read-more:link]

The partial U.S. government shutdown has docked fishing boats in Alaska, delayed public meetings on a proposed wind farm off the Massachusetts coast and blocked pharmaceutical companies from seeking approval for new drugs. But the Trump administration is working overtime to make sure the shutdown doesn’t halt oil drilling too -- in ways critics say may flout federal law.“One of the principles of government is that you serve everybody equally,” but that’s not what’s happening here, said Matt Lee-Ashley, a former deputy chief of staff at the Interior Department. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied attempts to make oral arguments before the court by 15 states in lawsuits against California and Massachusetts over claims of regulating agricultural production across state lines. Without commentary, the Supreme Court denied a pair of court cases, including Missouri and 12 other states versus California. [node:read-more:link]

The final 230 miles of the Mississippi river have long reinforced American might in global food markets. Ten grain terminals tower like fortresses along its bends, receiving crops from upstream farms, banking them in concrete silos and sending them over the levees into the holds of foreign ships. Together they can export 500,000 tonnes a day. Yet this year the autumn high season never came. The amount of grain and oilseeds moving through Mississippi river ports has dropped by 9 per cent since the autumn of 2017, according to the Federal Grain Inspection Service. [node:read-more:link]

Farm tractors and other slow-moving vehicles will be allowed to travel a little faster on New York roads under a new law. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation that raises the speed at which slow-moving vehicles can travel from 25 mph to 35 mph. Farm vehicles and construction equipment must have orange triangular signs indicating that they are slow-moving vehicles. [node:read-more:link]

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball today announced that more than $42 million awarded through Governor Cuomo’s 2018 Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative will support the growth of the New York’s farms and food and beverage industries across the State.  The REDC awards were announced by the Governor on December 18, with more than 80 agriculture-related projects identified as key to advancing the State’s ten regional economies. [node:read-more:link]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently dismissed a class-action lawsuit against California-based Blue Diamond Growers, the producer of Blue Diamond almond milk, ruling that its “milk” label does not violate federal law. In Painter v. [node:read-more:link]

Former Gov. Paul LePage’s legal battles tested the limits of gubernatorial power and cost the state over $900,000 since 2014, according to The Associated Press’ review of a database of state government finances. Newly sworn-in Democratic Gov. Janet Mills comes into office with a handful of those lawsuits still pending. That includes several lawsuits between Mills and LePage over their constitutional authority, and a 2015 lawsuit pending in the 1st U.S. [node:read-more:link]

PG&E, facing billions in potential losses from the Camp Fire and other wildfires, is reportedly exploring the sale of its natural gas division or a bankruptcy filing as it tries to deal with its staggering financial liabilities. NPR, quoting anonymous sources, said Friday that PG&E might sell the gas division as well as some of its real estate, including its headquarters in San Francisco, to raise cash for wildfire claims. The entire effort is part of a strategy code-named “Project Falcon,” NPR reported. [node:read-more:link]