In the dense woods of Northeastern Louisiana, Penny, a 52-year-old chimpanzee, doesn’t let age discourage her – she’s an avid climber of the forest’s lofty conifers. After living for decades as a captive animal in a treeless laboratory, Penny was retired to Chimp Haven in 2011, a spacious sanctuary for retired laboratory chimpanzees. And Penny is hardly alone. [node:read-more:link]
Tourism officials in Oregon and Montana are courting a trade show for outdoor retailers that is leaving Utah after the state's stance on public lands sparked some brands to boycott the biannual event. Outdoor Retailer organizers made the decision after Utah Gov. Gary Herbert refused to rescind his call for the reversal of a new national monument designation. Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario said the industry is all about defending public lands and cannot stand by Utah's decision. The event has grown from 5,000 people at the first show in 1996 to about 29,000 last summer. [node:read-more:link]
A Georgia lawmaker wants to do away with “no trespassing” signs and instead allow property owners to paint their trees purple.Senate Bill 159, sponsored by freshman state Sen. Lee Anderson, follows the decades-old lead of other states, starting in 1989 in Arkansas. At the time, according to reports, rural property owners wanted an alternative to the “no trespassing” signs that they said were too easily removed, vandalized or just wore out too quickly.Nearly a dozen states have followed suit, including Texas, North Carolina and Illinois. Why purple paint? [node:read-more:link]
Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Brynwood Partners VI L.P. to acquire Lightlife Foods, a leading manufacturer and brand of refrigerated plant-based protein foods in the United States, for $140 million (U.S. dollars) and related costs. [node:read-more:link]
Minnesota legislators are now hearing that a market-based broadband solution is near. 5G wireless to the rescue! Learning that public dollars would not be necessary for rural broadband development would be soothing music to elected officials’ ears as other groups line up for funds– roads, schools, health care, tax cuts; the list is endless. [node:read-more:link]
Imports of organic grains, particularly corn, from countries such as India, Ukraine, Romania, and Turkey surged in 2016 to meet the burgeoning U.S. demand for organic food products. Organic corn imports more than doubled from 2015 to 2016 and accounted for nearly one-half of the U.S. organic corn supply. The domestic shortfall for organic soybeans was even greater, with roughly 80 percent of soybeans supplying the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Washington marijuana growers want to take another step toward joining mainstream agriculture, though their presence may raise questions about taxes and labor law. Cannabis advocates are championing legislation to insert marijuana into the state’s right-to-farm law. The law bars new neighbors from claiming dust, odors and noise from an existing farm’s lawful operations are a nuisance. Outdoor marijuana farms in particular need protection from disgruntled neighbors, the advocates say. [node:read-more:link]
There are many challenges to farming for a living: It's often grueling work that relies on unpredictable factors such as weather and global market prices. But one aspect that's often ignored is the cost of health care. A University of Vermont researcher found that nationally, most farmers cited health care costs as a top concern. Shoshanah Inwood is a rural sociologist at UVM. She has been studying the aging and shrinking farm population, and what components are needed to build a prosperous farm economy. [node:read-more:link]
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland's ban on assault rifles, ruling gun owners are not protected under the U.S. Constitution to possess "weapons of war," court documents showed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided 10-4 that the Firearm Safety Act of 2013, a law in response to the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, by a gunman with an assault rifle, does not violate the right to bear arms within the Second Amendment [node:read-more:link]
The ongoing spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to take its toll in France and two Asian nations as new incarnations of the virus continue to pop up. In France, the agriculture ministry said all 600,000 ducks in a prime region for the production of foie gras will be culled [node:read-more:link]
