Not that long ago, Alex Caicedo was stuck working a series of odd jobs and watching his 1984 Chevy Nova cough its last breaths. He could make $21 an hour at the Johnny Rockets food stand at FedEx Field when the Washington Redskins were playing but work was spotty  Today, Mr. Caicedo is an assistant manager at a pizzeria with an annula salary of $40,000 and health benefits.  The Caicedos are among the 3.5 million Americans who were able to raise above the poverty line last year according to census data.  [node:read-more:link]

German lawmakers called on regulators to curb Bayer’s $66 billion takeover of U.S. seed giant Monsanto in a skepticism-laced parliamentary session that highlights the backlash to the deal Bayer faces in its home market. The debate Wednesday in the lower house of parliament, called by the opposition Green Party, laid bare the depth of resistance to Bayer’s buying a U.S. company that many Germans view as a champion of genetically modified crops and a weedkiller they believe might cause cancer. [node:read-more:link]

Canada and China said on Thursday they will launch exploratory talks on a free trade agreement and explore a possible extradition treaty for Chinese fugitives from Canada, even as they announced agreements on beef and canola exports to China.  Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the trade and extradition treaty talks were part of their goal to improve the relationship between the two countries, though Trudeau is already under fire from human rights activists for considering an extradition treaty. [node:read-more:link]

The federal government's 5-year, $67 million rehabilitation effort following a 2015 rangeland wildfire in southwest Idaho and southeast Oregon is entering its second year with another round of herbicide applications combined with plantings of native species. The U.S. Bureau of Land Managementhas started applying the herbicide Imazapic on federal lands to knock out invasive weeds in Oregon and will begin in Idaho in October, officials said. [node:read-more:link]

A nationwide coalition of farmworker and community health groups, including the Farmworker Association of Florida, Thursday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to immediately ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos, sold under the brand names Dursban and Lorsban, because it harms workers and their families. Jeannie Economos, pesticide safety and environmental health project coordinator at the Farmworker Association of Florida, said a class of pesticides known as chlorphyrifos is widely used in Florida agriculture on nursery plants and vegetable crops. [node:read-more:link]

Clare Heinrich became fascinated by honeybees after hearing a presentation at the 2015 Iowa State Fair. She earned a scholarship from the Iowa Honey Producers Association to take three months of classes to learn more. “I know they are important pollinators, and they are disappearing,” said Heinrich, who plans to study environmental science in college. [node:read-more:link]

New research published in the journal Nature Climate Change by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Wisconsin-Madison illuminates where and why novel species combinations are likely to emerge due to recent changes in temperature and precipitation. The study includes global maps of novelty that offer testable predictions and carry important implications for conservation and land management planning. [node:read-more:link]

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recently launched a new podcast series that offers insights into some of the state’s hottest topics in food and agriculture and other issues the department is addressing on behalf of Michiganders.  The first round of podcasts included such topics as bovine tuberculosis, credit card skimmers, migrant labor and the federal H2A program, as well as the first international trade mission to China this year for MDARD Director Jamie Clover Adams, which laid the groundwork for an upcoming mission in November that will also include a number [node:read-more:link]

Dairy organizations in the U.S., the European Union, Australia and New Zealand are calling on their trade and agriculture officials to stop a new Canadian dairy policy, saying it will expand that country’s already protectionist policies on dairy trade.  The organizations, including the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association was recently notified that Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) attorneys have filed a lawsuit against USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) on behalf of the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM). This lawsuit seeks to divide the beef industry against itself by opening old wounds and weakening the beef checkoff as HSUS drives toward its ultimate goal of ending animal agriculture.
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