A working group at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has finalized its report on proposed changes to improve the efficiency of approvals for the use of multiple new animals drugs in combination drug medicated feeds, while still protecting public health. These proposed changes are consistent with a performance goal in the Animal Drug User Fee Amendments of 2013 (ADUFA III) goals letter and are based on public comment. [node:read-more:link]

Several senators criticized Tuesday a recent Washington Supreme Court decision that threatens to halt home building in farm communities and said they will try to counteract the decision in the upcoming legislative session. “It’s totally ridiculous, what’s going on. It’s killing rural America,” said Republican Sen. Brian Dansel, who represents the state’s sparsely populated northeastern corner.  The 6-3 ruling in Hirst v. Whatcom County in October struck down the routine approval of new domestic wells. [node:read-more:link]

Seafood mislabelling can actually lead consumers to eat more sustainably, concluded scientists from the University of Washington (UW) broadly examining the ecological and financial impacts of the issue. These scientists found that the substituted fish is often more plentiful and of a better conservation status than the fish on the label or in the restaurant menu. [node:read-more:link]

The streak continues for the Colorado cannabis industry.  Colorado marijuana shops in September reeled in $127.8 million in sales of medical and recreational cannabis, notching a new revenue record for the third consecutive month, according to newly released data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.  So far this year, sales have topped $974.3 million in nine months, about $22 million shy of the $996.2 million revenue totaled for the entirety of 2015. [node:read-more:link]

South Dakota’s sheep population peaked in 1943 at 2.4 million head. Now there are only 255,000 sheep in the state, a 89 percent drop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s South Dakota office of ag statistics.The reasons for the decrease are several, but key ones have to do with U.S. trade policies that have given other countries more access to America’s meat-loving consumers, says Bryan Hanson. [node:read-more:link]

hildren who drink full fat milk are slimmer than those who drank semi-skimmed milk. Researchers think that the blue cap milk left kids feeling more full so were less likely to snack on unhealthy foods. The researchers also found that the children had higher levels of Vitamin D – the 'sunshine vitamin.' Because vitamin D is soluble in fat rather than water, the higher fat content in full milk means it carries more of the vitamin.

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The fight over the federal ethanol mandate that has pitted corn farmers and oil refineries against one another is not taking a break now Donald Trump is heading to the White House.  Executives from BP Fuels and Marathon Petroleum were in Washington this week meeting with political leaders about legislation that would cap the amount of ethanol that could be blended below the so-called blend wall of 10 percent. [node:read-more:link]

The contiguous U.S. experienced its third warmest October in 122-years of recordkeeping, with an average temperature of 57.7°F, which is 3.6°F above the 20th-century average. Forty-seven states were warmer than average. The precipitation total for the month was 0.17-inch above average. [node:read-more:link]

It's not a clear choice which of the possible living conditions for egg-laying hens -- enriched cages, cage-free systems, free-range setups -- serve them the best. The philosophical question of whether animals deserve any kind of moral consideration has been debated at least since the ancient Greeks. Cage-free and free-range systems clearly do a better job of allowing hens to express behaviorsthat are similar to those of wild jungle fowl. They can move around, and they have better opportunities for scratching, dust bathing and foraging. [node:read-more:link]