The Canadian government has announced an investment of up to C$14 million to help the country’s beef industry to boost sustainability and exports, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said in a news release.  Ottawa’s contribution to the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) adds to the BCRC’s own contribution of up to C$7.6 million, for a total investment of about C$21 million. BCRC is a division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, AgriScience Clusters. [node:read-more:link]

An active summer pattern continued over the central and northern Plains and into the upper Midwest, with several areas seeing well above normal precipitation associated with thunderstorms. Along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, precipitation was plentiful and widespread as ample moisture continued to be transported into the region. The precipitation along the Gulf also helped to keep temperatures 1-3 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. [node:read-more:link]

EPA Administrator and refining industry ally Scott Pruitt resigned earlier this month after losing the support of the White House. Shortly before his departure, the EPA implemented substantial reductions to biofuel blending volumes under the national blending mandate. Recently-released EPA documents show that the reductions were implemented in a way that will keep ethanol blending at roughly 10 vol% of gasoline consumption. The EPA documents also show that the reduction decision occurred shortly before Mr. Pruitt's departure. [node:read-more:link]

Squabbles over a government contract may prevent low-income families from having easy access to farm-fresh fruits and vegetables. At issue: The ability of low-income Americans on government assistance to use their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards to buy food at farmers’ markets. Farmers’ markets have to be equipped to accept the EBT cards. If markets are not able to operate devices that can handle EBT payments, vendors must use manual paper vouchers instead. Congress has approved $4 million each year so the USDA can provide EBT equipment to markets and farmers, the USDA said. [node:read-more:link]

 WeWork is trying a new tactic in the push toward corporate sustainability by saying it was committed to being “a meat-free organization.” The global network of shared office spaces said in an email to employees last week that “moving forward, we will not serve or pay for meat at WeWork events and want to clarify that this includes poultry and pork, as well as red meat.” The company’s co-founder and chief culture officer, Miguel McKelvey, said the new policy was one way it could do more to become environmentally conscious. [node:read-more:link]

The consequences of America’s swelling wildfire problem are traveling well beyond blackened, ashy forests. [node:read-more:link]

For more than 50 years, since the nullification of the Bracero Treatyand left-unprotected U.S. border, the issue of illegal immigration has vexed our democracy. If there is one thing worse than the byzantine immigration system left in its wake, it’s the unending blame game from the very people charged with providing sound immigration policy: Congress.   On one side are the hardliners more than willing to cast the first stone at the illegal immigrant, yet completely unwilling to see their own neglect of leaving a border wide open to a poverty-stricken nation for so many years. [node:read-more:link]

A new lawsuit alleges that Monsanto knew that a potent herbicide would harm crops that weren’t resistant, but sold a product based on it anyway. As a result, potentially thousands of acres of crops that weren’t resistant to the herbicide died, the lawsuit says. The legal complaint was filed by 4-R Farms, which lost 200 acres of soybeans. [node:read-more:link]

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says the number of fatalities in agriculture is 18 times higher than the average across other major UK industries. Among the 29 farm workers killed, the biggest cause of death was livestock, accounting for almost a quarter of all fatalities (24%), followed by being struck by a farm vehicle (18%), and trapped by a structure collapsing (15%). Other causes include being struck by an object, falls from height and contact with electricity. [node:read-more:link]

upermarket executives seeing strong sales of products with claims and certifications that indicate better animal welfare, and are motivated to provide them with precious shelf space. However, supermarket decision-makers largely do not understand the differences between animal welfare claims and animal welfare certifications, according to a study co-authored by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Technomic, summarizing the grocery retail landscape for products that bear animal welfare-related claims. [node:read-more:link]