Two dairy farmworkers were heading back to a Franklin Country farm where they live and work after participating in a 13-mile march from Montpelier to the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. That’s when U.S. Border Patrol agents detained them on Saturday night.Immigrant dairy farmworkers and activists Yesenia Hernández-Ramos and Esau Peche-Ventura, 19 and 26, continue to be detained, and the immigrant justice group they’re involved with, Migrant Justice, is planning a rally outside of the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility where Hernández-Ramos is detained. Both are in U.S. [node:read-more:link]

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

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today named Jason Hafemeister as his acting Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agriculture Affairs and two other individuals to key leadership roles as he continues the reorganization plan he announced a month ago. Robert Johansson was appointed acting Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, while staying on as USDA’s Chief Economist, a position he has held since July 2015. [node:read-more:link]

Friction between the U.S. and Mexico over trade is starting to cut into sales for U.S. farmers and agricultural companies, adding uncertainty for an industry struggling with low commodity prices and excess supply.Over the first four months of 2017, Mexican imports of U.S. soybean meal—used to feed poultry and livestock—dropped 15%, the first decrease for the period in four years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shipments of U.S. chicken meat fell 11%, the biggest decline for the period since 2003. U.S. corn exports to Mexico declined 6%. [node:read-more:link]

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published in the Federal Register its proposed rule regarding China’s  poultry slaughter system and its equivalence to the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

This week a federal court had its own interpretation of the rule of law. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg wrote: “Lake Oahe holds special significance for the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes. Its creation necessitated the taking of approximately 56,000 acres of some of ‘the best land’ from Standing Rock’s Reservation, as well as 104,420 acres of Cheyenne River’s trust lands. [node:read-more:link]

According to a new report from Farm Credit System member CoBank, global demand and the potential for profit are creating strong incentives for US pork producers to expand capacity. While this means favorable conditions for producers, it also means intensified competition among packers and possible short-term compression in packer margins. “US pork packing capacity will increase eight to 10 percent by mid-2019, when five processing facility construction projects are complete and fully operational,” Trevor Amen, an economist with CoBank who specializes in animal protein said in a statement. [node:read-more:link]

Amazon has agreed to acquire Whole Foods Market, Inc. for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion, including Whole Foods Market’s net debt. Whole Foods Market will retain its headquarters in Austin, Texas, and John Mackey will remain CEO. The retailer will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods Market brand and source from established vendors and partners around the world, the company said. [node:read-more:link]

A rollback of Obama administration efforts to open Cuba to U.S. tourism and trade may chill a rebound in agricultural sales to the island nation, setting back a farm-lobby push that’s weathered two decades. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled Tuesday that changes would come as soon as Friday, when President Donald Trump visits Miami. The moves may include new limits on travel and investment policies. [node:read-more:link]

In the developed world, we have been working on ever cleaner ways to burn coal since the first coal-fired generator began running in England back in the late 1800s. First, we moved away from burning coal inside our homes, concentrating the production of soot into a few large power plants and moving the soot plumes outside of cities. Then we began to make our smokestacks taller, so that pollution plumes would be lofted higher and distributed more broadly downwind of power plants. [node:read-more:link]