Farm incomes will likely continue to slump next year with grain prices remaining at or near their lowest levels in about a decade, according to an analysis by agricultural economists at Purdue University. The Purdue Agricultural Economics Report 2017 outlook was published by the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics this month. It includes 12 sections by 11 different authors. U.S. [node:read-more:link]
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a final rule that clarifies industry’s ongoing obligation to maintain accurate records of employee injuries and illnesses. The final rule becomes effective Jan. 18, 2017. “This rule simply returns us to the standard practice of the last 40 years,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. [node:read-more:link]
Farm policy opponents love to rail against “corporate farms.” These operations, they say, have run family farmers out of rural America. But is it true? Not according to a recent report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). It is true that modern-day farms in America are no longer one-or-two acre plots plowed by oxen and planted by hand — the inefficient, gothic scenes of yesteryear. Instead, farms now operate like small businesses that must borrow capital and use the latest technologies and farming practices to maximize efficiencies and offset stagnant commodity prices. [node:read-more:link]
As we approach the end of 2016, charities across America will be passing the hat. As usual, people should do their homework and make sure they give to a group that will use their money as intended. That means cross the Humane Society of the United States (doesn’t run a single pet shelter) and PETA (wastes money on juvenile street theater) off your list if you’re a discerning donor. It turns out things aren’t much better overseas. According to PETA Germany’s financials—viewable here if you sprechen some Deutsch—almost half the group’s donations are spent on staff salaries. [node:read-more:link]
The North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority has granted the town of Siler City $1.5 million to assist in providing expanded wastewater services in support of a 700-job expansion by Mountaire Farms. The Delaware-based poultry processor currently has five locations in the state. The grant supports a total capital investment of $70 million by the company. Mountaire Farms announced in May it entered into an agreement to acquire the former Townsend processing plant and an adjoining property in Siler City that it would renovate into a modern poultry plant. [node:read-more:link]
In many countries, the cause isn't a lack of food — it's a lack of safe food. The risk of malnutrition caused by unsafe food is increasing, as human populations grow and continue to urbanize. This public health problem can be solved — not by doctors but by veterinarians. They're crucial to safeguarding the health of animals that are the foundation of the world's food supply. Unfortunately, well-trained veterinarians are in short supply worldwide. To improve global food safety, that has to change. The world's population will increase by 2.6 billion by 2050. [node:read-more:link]
If Costco and Lincoln Premium Poultry plant comes into fruition, Nebraska broiler production would increase from 1 million head to 18 million. To support the plant’s production potential, an estimated 17 million birds would need to be raised by contract farmers in the area, reported KCUR. That would dramatically increase the amount of broilers raised in the state. According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, the most recent census, about 1 million broilers were being raised in the state. [node:read-more:link]
If you're shivering from unusually teeth-rattling cold this holiday season, global warming is probably the last thing on your mind. "The local weather conditions people experience likely play a role in what they think about the broader climate," says Utah State University researcher Peter Howe. "Climate change is causing record-breaking heat around the world, but the variability of the climate means that some places are still reaching record-breaking cold. [node:read-more:link]
A new study that inventories and tracks high concentrations of plastic in the Great Lakes could help inform cleanup efforts and target pollution prevention. Researchers found that nearly 10,000 metric tons -- or 22 million pounds -- of plastic debris enter the Great Lakes every year from the United States and Canada. [node:read-more:link]
Mississippi River Basin states should be given a chance to address nutrient pollution first, before the federal government steps in, a federal court ruled. “EPA's ‘policy' of partnering with the states and maintaining a states-in-the-first-instance approach is . . . an integral part of the (Clean Water Act) as enacted by Congress,” U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey said in his opinion, issued Dec. [node:read-more:link]
