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After 118 years in business, rural Nebraska retailer is closing up shop for good

When it comes to small-town businesses, Lukasiewicz Furniture, Flooring and Appliances has always been the exception.  As the bank, the grocery store and even the gas station closed up shop in this Polish farm town of 122 people, the furniture store thrived and even expanded over the decades.At its peak, the business employed a dozen people and occupied 12 storefronts on both sides of the main street in town. “The Farwell mall,” it was called. Five generations of the Lukasiewicz family drew in customers with the promise of quality merchandise, competitive prices and good service. [node:read-more:link]

Kansas farmer sues to stop wind farm to protect cranes

A Kansas farmer has filed a federal lawsuit to stop a new wind farm from operating out of concern for the endangered whooping crane. Edwin Petrowsky of Pratt County filed the lawsuit last month seeking injunctions against NextEra Energy Resources, whose Ninnescah Wind Farm is scheduled to start operating next week, The Hutchinson News reported. Petrowsky contends the wind farm is located in the bird’s flyway. At last count, there were an estimated 329 wild cranes in the flock that migrates between Canada and Texas. [node:read-more:link]

Schumer to Canadians: Your milk policies hurt NY, eh?

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer huddled with Canadian officials on Thursday to discuss policies that are said to be harmful to New York milk producers, Schumer’s office said in a release.  Schumer met with new Canadian Consul General Phyllis Yaffe and Canadian Ambassador David McNaughton to urge them to reverse “the protectionist and restrictive trade policies that are currently threatening the upstate New York milk industry.”  Ontario has implemented a new provincial pricing policy said to discourage imports of ultra-filtered milk from the United States. [node:read-more:link]

Topless Women Tell Dairy to Stop Stealing Babies’ Milk

A troupe of topless female PETA supporters with “Milk Is for Babies—Dump Dairy” written on their chests gathered outside the B.C. Dairy Industry Conference in Vancouver on Wednesday. They pointed out that, just like humans, cows produce milk only to feed their babies and that farmers forcibly impregnate cows over and over again on what the industry calls a “rape rack.” Newborn calves are torn from their mothers within 24 hours, and the males are sold for meat while the females are condemned to endure the same vicious cycle as their mothers until they’re killed at around 5 years of age. [node:read-more:link]

New EPA grant tightens oversight to prevent another What’s Upstream

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Western Washington tribes another $25 million for Puget Sound projects, but with stronger instructions to collaborate with others, a response to congressional complaints that one tribe misspent EPA funds to malign farmers.  The new grant to the 20-tribe Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission extends for five years a federal program that financed What’s Upstream, a media campaign directed by the Swinomish Indian tribe portraying farmers as careless and unregulated polluters. [node:read-more:link]

Companies bid for struggling Alaskan meat plant

Two meat companies have put in bids to buy financially strapped Mt. McKinley Meat and Sausage, the only USDA-inspected meat plant in southcentral Alaska.  Mike’s quality Meats of Palmer, Alaska, and Mt. McKinely Meat Co-op of Delta Junction, Alaska, responded to the state’s latest request for proposals (RFP) to lease or purchase the long struggling plant. [node:read-more:link]

Group petitions USDA for cancer-risk warning labels on meat

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) on Thursday petitioned the USDA to require labels on packages of processed meat and poultry that would warn consumers that eating those products is associated with colorectal cancer.  In its petition CSPI cites findings of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), “which concluded in 2015 that processed meat is ‘carcinogenic to humans.’”  [node:read-more:link]

Anti-hunger advocates slam Cuomo's farm-to-foodbank veto

 Anti-hunger advocates and agriculture groups are criticizing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's opposition to legislation that would give farmers a tax break for donating surplus fruits, vegetables and other locally grown products to food banks to address New York state's growing hunger problem. The Democratic governor vetoed the bill this week. It's the second year the bill has passed the Legislature only to be blocked by Cuomo. He says that while he supports the idea, the measure would reduce state revenue and should be handled in the state budget process. [node:read-more:link]

California’s new water conservation plan focuses on cities

California officials crafting a new conservation plan for the state’s dry future drew criticism from environmentalists on Thursday for failing to require more cutbacks of farmers, who use 80 percent of the water consumed by people. Gov. Jerry Brown ordered up the state plans for improving long-term conservation in May, when he lifted a statewide mandate put in place at the height of California’s drought for 25-percent water conservation by cities and towns. [node:read-more:link]

Weed, predator funding on chopping block at ODA

Funding for weed biocontrol and predator control is on the chopping block at the Oregon Department of Agriculture as the state prepares for a budget shortfall.  The agency plans to eliminate state funding for USDA’s Wildlife Services program, which kills coyotes and other predators that prey on livestock. The move would save more than $460,000. [node:read-more:link]

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