The U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Suicide rates are soaring among the last of the independent Wisconsin dairy farmers getting squeezed out by consolidation and a USDA program that isn’t helping. Net farm income has dropped in half in the Midwest over the decade. Iowa corn and soy farmers have lost money five years in a row. Loan delinquencies are at their highest levels since the Farm Debt Crisis of the mid-1980s.“Farmers and bankers are having difficult conversations,” said Aaron Heley Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, himself a crop and livestock farmer from central Iowa. [node:read-more:link]

The Massachusetts House overwhelmingly approved $8 million Wednesday to offset the potential loss of federal funding to women’s reproductive health organizations under a new Trump administration rule. Twenty Republicans joined the vast majority of House Democrats in voting 140-14 to send the bill to the Senate, where approval is likely on Thursday. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has also voiced his support for providing state money to close any gap in funding in the family planning program known as Title X. [node:read-more:link]

The Maryland House of Delegates approved Wednesday a bill that would create a state board to set limits on how much state and local governments pay for medicines for their employees and retirees. The bill was approved largely along party lines on a 98-40 vote, moving the measure to the state Senate for consideration. [node:read-more:link]

After repeated food poisoning outbreaks tied to romaine lettuce, a U.S. food safety official shared his concerns in an internal email, saying the produce industry’s water testing “failed in an epic and tragic way.” How the industry tests water to grow leafy greens is “unacceptable” and needs to change, James Gorny, a senior adviser for produce safety at the Food and Drug Administration, wrote to agency leaders.The message last November, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, came days before the agency warned people to avoid romaine ahead of Thanksgiving. [node:read-more:link]

If you walk through the dairy aisle, there’s quite the variety: two percent, whole milk, almond, and soy milk. Those last two are now in question as the battle over what is considered “milk” is heating up.Louisiana State Senator Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, has introduced a bill that would remove the term “milk” from anything that is not dairy. For farmers like Mike Brian, it could help sagging profits.Sen. [node:read-more:link]

Meat and dairy are piling up across the U.S. It has cold storage places packed to the rafters, and the federal government, which subsidizes the agriculture industry, looking for ways to alleviate the problem, at least in the short-term. A combination of factors have led to this: increased production, flat demand despite near-record consumption of milk and cheese and trade issues. And in the long run, it’s unclear whether market forces will get production in line with demand. [node:read-more:link]

As part of her presidential platform, Elizabeth Warren is not just taking on big agriculture corporations like Bayer AG and Tyson Foods Inc. She’s also going after checkoff programs, which do marketing campaigns for commodities.Slogans like “Got Milk?”, “Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner,” and “Pork: The Other White Meat” are what’s at stake. By law, growers pay a portion of their sales into checkoffs, which then promote the commodities. But that process is rigged against family farmers, the Democratic presidential candidate wrote in a Medium posting Wednesday that detailed her plans for U.S. [node:read-more:link]

It's official. The bluetick coonhound is Tennessee's state dog — as if that was a debatable subject.Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law officially making the beloved University of Tennessee mascot a state symbol. The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville, in early February, sailed through the House and Senate with unanimous votes. [node:read-more:link]