Veterinarians are seeing the aftershocks of the opioid epidemic as pets and police dogs have to be revived with opioid antidote. [node:read-more:link]

A proposal to ban the planting of soybeans in parts of Idaho where dry beans are grown has been nixed by the governor’s office. The Idaho-Eastern Oregon Seed Association and Idaho Bean Commission proposed a rule that would prohibit soybeans from being grown in southcentral and southwestern Idaho, where the state’s dry bean industry is located.Those groups say soybeans have the potential to bring in diseases that could significantly harm the state’s $70 million dry bean industry. [node:read-more:link]

Washington’s oversight of dairies could be toughened by stiffer penalties and more control over manure exported to other farms, according to a new Washington State Department of Agriculture report. [node:read-more:link]

It is a known fact that microbes on farms protect children from asthma and allergies. But even non-microbial molecules can have a protective effect. Immunologists have shown that a sialic acid found in farm animals is effective against inflammation of lung tissue. This study opens up a wide variety of perspectives for the prevention of allergies. [node:read-more:link]

A Russian government news release says the ban, first enacted in August 2014, includes products from the U.S., European Union member countries, and Canada, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The ban had been set to expire Jan. 1, but Russia extended it after the EU extended its trade sanctions on Russia through Jan. 31.Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a news release that the policy of mutual economic restrictions “does not have a future.”  [node:read-more:link]

A judge in northwest Missouri has ruled that the Andrew County Health Department’s regulation of a large hog farming operation is invalid and not enforceable.   Circuit Judge Randall Jackson ruled that Missouri statutes don’t authorize the county health department to pass an ordinance regulating the operation of concentrated animal farming operations, even for health-related purposes, the News-Press reported. Only county commissions have the authority to pass such regulatory ordinances, and then only in accordance with Missouri law, the judge said. [node:read-more:link]

Robots could grow your next salad inside an old steel mill on Pittsburgh's South Side.  And the four co-founders of the robotic, indoor, vertical farming startup RoBotany could next tackle growing the potatoes for the french fries to top it.“We're techies, but we have green thumbs,” said Austin Webb, one of the startup's co-founders.It's hard to imagine a farm inside the former Republic Steel and later Follansbee Steel Corp. building on Bingham Street. During World War II, the plant produced steel for artillery guns and other military needs. [node:read-more:link]

Less than four years later, however, after U.S. special forces raided an al-Qaida cave complex in eastern Afghanistan and found documents on sabotaging American farms through the intentional introduction of diseases that could infect livestock and crops, securing our nation’s food supply became a government priority.  In fact, the Department of Homeland Security, which was created in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was charged with implementing a series of Homeland Security Presidential Directives to safeguard agriculture. [node:read-more:link]

If one machine goes down inside the Country Maid plant, the whole operation devoted to churning out Butter Braid pastries comes to a screeching halt. [node:read-more:link]

The federal government is again trying to prop up the wild blueberry industry in Maine, where sagging prices jeopardize one of the state’s longest-standing agricultural industries.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved up to $10 million to purchase surplus Maine blueberries, the members of Maine’s congressional delegation said. Wild blueberries are one of the most important crops in Maine, but the industry is struggling with a steep decline in the prices paid to farmers. [node:read-more:link]