The Trump administration moved closer to opening thousands of miles within Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing, issuing a draft report that concluded the polar bears, caribou and other wildlife could safely share their untouched wilderness with oil and gas producers. The report released by the Bureau of Land Management studied the environmental impact of opening between two-thirds and all of 1.65 million acres (667,731 hectares) of coastal plain within the remote refuge for oil and gas leasing. [node:read-more:link]

Researchers from Europe and Israel have built a robot that can pick ripe peppers in a greenhouse. The prototype, called Sweeper, is backed by the European Union as part of its Horizon 2020 innovation program. To do its job, Sweeper uses a camera that can recognize the color of a pepper. Computer vision then helps the robot decide if the fruit is ripe for picking. If it is, Sweeper uses a small razor to cut the stem before catching the fruit in its “claws” and dropping it into a collection basket below. [node:read-more:link]

Controlling immigration was one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s primary arguments during the 2016 election, with him campaigning to limit entries into the U.S. and proposing building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  According to the United Nations, nearly 50 million people in the U.S. are foreign born, which accounts for about 15 percent of the total population. [node:read-more:link]

he ultra-lean beef product made primarily by Beef Products Inc., which has been called out on labels on a voluntary basis since 2012 as “lean finely textured beef,” has been reclassified by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service as simply “ground beef.” “We're not producing LFTB anymore. We're producing ground beef from this point on,” said Craig Letch, BPI’s vice president of sales and marketing, in an interview with Meatingplace about the agency’s move. [node:read-more:link]

Three years ago, I wrote about antibiotic use in raising livestock, which was a problem — and still is, although much progress has been made. But when someone recently said to me, “I switched to almond milk because I heard that dairy milk contains antibiotics,” I realized there’s still some myth-busting to do. It would indeed be bad if we were getting antibiotics in our milk — but we’re not. Tens of thousands of retail samples of pasteurized milk, cream, yogurt and sour cream are tested annually. [node:read-more:link]

Animal drug companies are being asked to revise the labels of medicine made to treat certain internal parasites in livestock and horses. The goal is to add information that will spread awareness of antiparasitic resistance.The U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Typically, cannabis is not part of the conversation around farm subsidies, nutritional assistance, and crop insurance. The new Farm Bill does not create a completely free system in which individuals or businesses can grow hemp whenever and wherever they want. There are numerous restrictions. Hemp cannot contain more than 0.3 percent THC, per section 10113 of the Farm Bill.Second, there will be significant, shared state-federal regulatory power over hemp cultivation and production. [node:read-more:link]

Funding for a wide-ranging renewable energy funding program that benefits farmers and other rural businesses somehow made it into the new Farm Bill intact.  REAP is already laying plans for its 2019 round of funding. Eligible clean power projects include:Biomass (for example: biodiesel and ethanol, anaerobic digesters, and solid fuels)Geothermal for electric generation or direct use. [node:read-more:link]

Hunters harvested the deer in Fayette and Hardeman counties. Targeted sampling by the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) indicated the presence of CWD. CWD has no known risk to the health of humans or livestock. However, testing is recommended prior to consuming deer or elk meat harvested within the CWD Management Zone, which includes Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy Counties. CWD is a contagious and deadly neurological disorder that affects cervids, which are animals in the deer family including deer, elk, moose, caribou, and reindeer. [node:read-more:link]

Controlled deer hunting actually got its Ohio start in 1943 when a first-ever, very short, buck only “season” was held in three rural counties with a total kill of just 168 bucks. [node:read-more:link]