County commissioners in eastern North Carolina have imposed an indefinite ban on the construction of solar farms after neighbors complained that they seem unsightly and said they’re afraid of flying glass in the event of severe weather. Local media outlets report that Currituck County commissioners voted Monday to extend a two-month moratorium into an indefinite ban. Board chairman Bobby Harig said commissioners have had many plans come at them in addition to the two large solar farms the county has already approved in the last three years. [node:read-more:link]

In a decade it has increased by 14 percent, or about a third of a mile. The loss of isolated forest patches has seen forests move farther on average from any given point in the continental US. In a new PLOS ONE study, Giorgos Mountrakis and colleagues looked at data from 1990 to 2000 and found that the shifting distance was more pronounced in rural areas than in urban settings, as they are at higher risk of losing forested patches. [node:read-more:link]

The Practice Act is the law that state legislators put in place. The board then serves to ensure that licensees are working within the scope of that act. There are many rules and regulations the board uses to make such determinations. The board is always under the advisement of a council. Realizing not all licensees serve the public directly, they are not immune from complying with the regulations that govern their license. For example, one may work in a research facility or other industry position.  Requirements for continuing education and the care of any animals they handle are still rel [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with a disabled Michigan girl whose school refused to let her bring her service dog to class, making it easier for students like her to seek redress for discrimination in federal court. The justices ruled 8-0 that Ehlena Fry, 13, and her parents may not be obligated to go through time-consuming administrative appeals with the local school board before suing for damages for the emotional distress she said she suffered by being denied the assistance of her dog, a goldendoodle named Wonder. [node:read-more:link]

"In the coming decades, agriculture will be called upon to both feed people and ensure a healthy environment," said Hunter. "Right now, the narrative in agriculture is really out of balance, with compelling goals for food production but no clear sense of the progress we need to make on the environment. [node:read-more:link]

The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s announcement Tuesday that it would not publish its proposed Georgia Premium Poultry Price Index (GPPPI) means it no longer will oversee price discovery efforts in Georgia. “Due to a lack of participation from Georgia poultry companies, we are ceasing all price discovery efforts,” spokeswoman Julie McPeake said. [node:read-more:link]

Land O’Lakes, Inc. is calling on innovators from the tech industry to enter the Land O’Lakes Prize: Drone Challenge, a crowdsourcing competition designed to develop proposed solutions that enable scalable, autonomous drone usage in precision agriculture. A prize of $140,000 will be awarded to a grand prize winner who is found to meet all the requirements of the challenge, and two $5,000 prizes are available to two runners up. Winners will retain intellectual property rights to the solutions they develop to help farmers use drone technology more effectively. [node:read-more:link]

The Canadian government said Wednesday it will permit the sale of fresh and frozen raw ground beef treated with irradiation.  [node:read-more:link]

An immigration related bill opposed by many Idaho farm groups has been amend ed and reintroduced in the Idaho Legislature. The new legislation initially appears to be more palatable to farm groups. The original legislation, House Bull 76, sought to prevent so-called sanctuary cities from being established in Idaho. But it also included a provision that ag groups believe would have required law enforcement officers to hold anyone arrested for up to 48 hours for further checks if they could not prove legal residence. [node:read-more:link]

California dairy co-ops and milk producers have a lot to evaluate in USDA’s recommended proposal for establishing a federal milk marketing order for the state, which has long operated under a state order. The biggest difference in the two is that California’s order regulates all milk prices, and all processors must pay those minimum prices established for different utilizations. [node:read-more:link]