“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it,” said Ronald Reagan. “But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. [node:read-more:link]
Almost anyone spending time outdoors knows about the link between ticks and Lyme disease. But there may be far more lurking in tick bites than previously thought – a cocktail of bacteria and viruses that may uniquely affect each bite victim and inhibit the remedies meant to cure tick-borne diseases. “Climate change is expanding tick ranges, and we’re spending more time in tick habitats all the time,” said Catherine Hill, a Purdue professor of entomology and vector biology. [node:read-more:link]
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is vetoing bills that recently passed the Legislature dealing with public debt, price gouging during emergencies and agricultural education.The third veto was of a bill addressing federally funded agricultural education programs.
Utah public health officials are investigating an increase in Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections across the state, and while the source of the infections has not been identified, several infected individuals reported visiting petting zoos, corn mazes and farms. Since Oct. 1, there have been 20 cases of the toxin-producing E. [node:read-more:link]
Marion Lambert sits near the wood-burning stove in his living room. There's an outhouse in back, 1,000 chickens, dozens of dairy cows, steer and hogs, all in the middle of would-be posh South Tampa.McMansion neighbors occasionally drive their sedans through mud and what they say is manure, tracked into the streets by Lambert's scratched and dented Dodge pickup.This is South Tampa Farm. It's no petting zoo or field trip. [node:read-more:link]
A new dairy insurance plan by USDA became available Oct. 9 and offers a way to protect dairy farmer revenue — functioning in a manner similar to traditional crop insurance, as opposed to other dairy insurance programs aimed at margins between milk prices and the cost of feed. [node:read-more:link]
That agenda has left farmers ill-prepared to cope with effects of climate change—droughts, heat and storms—while neglecting a key climate solution.The damages to agriculture from climate change are already happening and getting worse; and the latest science suggests they will be much more costly than previously thought. [node:read-more:link]
In a report titled "Chain Reaction IV: Burger Edition," only two hamburger restaurants, California-based Shake Shack and Florida-based BurgerFi, earned A grades based on their public policy of sourcing meat raised without antibiotics.The report was co-authored by Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumer Reports, Center for Food Safety, FACT: Food Animal Concerns Trust, and the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Both the grain elevator general manager and his wife went on an Australian safari hunt within 30 days of a multi-million fraud that forced the Ashby Farmers Elevator Cooperative to sell out and dissolve, officials say in a complaint.The elevator’s lawyer, Erik Ahlgren, of Fergus Falls, on Oct. 16 filed a civil complaint with Grant County District Court asking for $9.8 million in actual and punitive damages.The co-op details $4,900,186.72 in unauthorized amounts by former general manager Jerry Hennessey. [node:read-more:link]
Another tariff deadline imposed by the Trump administration is fast approaching, and a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next month at the Group of Twenty summit may be the last chance for a breakthrough. [node:read-more:link]
