The 2018 Farm Bill officially reclassifies hemp for commercial uses after decades of statutes and legal enforcement conflating hemp and marijuana, the Farm Bill distinguishes between the two by removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. (While the two are closely related, hemp lacks the high concentration of THC that is responsible for the high from smoking marijuana.) This would effectively move regulation and enforcement of the crop from the purview of the Drug Enforcement Agency to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. [node:read-more:link]

Farmers in North America generally did well in the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). But there is one nasty surprise buried in the agreement that should unite all Canadian farmers—intellectual property rules that prevent circumvention of digital locks on electronics including sophisticated farm equipment like tractors and combines that will apply to Canadian, but not to American, farmers. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced details of actions the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will take to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation by foreign nations. President Donald J. Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a short-term relief strategy to protect agricultural producers while the Administration works on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets in the long run to help American farmers compete globally. [node:read-more:link]

For this initial review of the conference product, the discussion will focus on the four key mandatory titles in the farm bill.  The CBO cost estimate (score) reinforces the view that the bill is largely status quo.  CBO estimates very little net change in spending: an increase of $1.8 billion through 2023, but sustained reductions in assumed outlays from 2024-2028 result in only a $70 million increase over the entire 10-year budget window. [node:read-more:link]

Out of all the alternative milks on the market, oat milk may be the hardest to find right now—and if you do find it, be ready to cough up some serious cash. The United States is currently experiencing a national oat milk shortage, according to a new Eater report, and Amazon sellers are taking advantage of the current imbalance in supply and demand. Cases of Oatlyoat milk are currently selling for upwards of $200 per case, (which adds up to about $16.50 for a 32-ounce carton) compared to its usual price of $4.99. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. baby boomers increased their spending on pet food nearly 32 percent in 2017, after their spending fell the year before; and perhaps even more positive for the future of the pet food market, Generation X pet owners’ spending climbed 12.4 percent last year, and millennials’ rose 5.2 percent. In addition to these numbers, a disparate set of data on veterinarian-pet owner conversations about pet food and nutrition provide a snapshot of the market’s status and future heading into 2019. [node:read-more:link]

In mid-November, a protest was held outside of a hog farm in Utah as part of the Animal Liberation Western Convergence. Again, the group called for “just one pig” to be released to them. In rural Iowa last week, a car started following a truckload of pigs being moved from one farm to another. When the truck stopped, the car’s driver got out and began to beg for one of the pigs to be released to her. Over the weekend, a large group of protesters went to a dairy farm in California where they attempted to steal a calf earlier this year. [node:read-more:link]

“We knew what we wanted. We wanted to milk about 100 cows, we wanted to have registered Holsteins and we wanted to be able to run the business as a business, but run it by ourselves. We wanted to be big enough that we could have employees, that we could get involved in the things our kids are involved in, but manage it without employees,” she said. [node:read-more:link]

The brainchild of Cleveland-based Adrian Bota, the Origin brand​ ​– launched in early 2016 – sources 100% certified a2 milk from Guernsey cows that produce milk containing only the a2 beta casein protein. [node:read-more:link]

When I returned this fall to sit down with farmers, ranchers, dairymen and other rural Kansas leaders I asked what, if anything, is being done to stabilize the state. Rather than talk solutions, however, a different theme quickly emerged: In conversation after conversation, the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer was top of mind. [node:read-more:link]