The National List of Reportable Animal Diseases (NLRAD) was created through a deliberative process led by the United States Animal Health Association/American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians’ Committee on Animal Health Surveillance and Information Systems and the National Animal Health Reporting System Steering Committee. The paper proposes a single, standardized list of reportable animal diseases, and outlines who will be responsible for reporting, and describes how diseases are to be reported. [node:read-more:link]

It’s no secret that Millennials are changing the food and nutrition landscape, but Baby Boomers have their own set of unique ideas about what they want on their plate. [node:read-more:link]

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new USDA initiatives to strengthen outreach and education resources at the local level to combat the rural opioid epidemic, including an expanded series of state-led opioid awareness events and increased access to information in USDA local offices. The effort begins on Monday, Sept. 19, coinciding with President Obama's designated Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week from Sept. [node:read-more:link]

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association is looking to have a say in a lawsuit seeking to force disclosure of records that USDA gathered in an audit of the beef checkoff program. NCBA filed a motion to intervene this week in the case originally brought in 2014 by the Organization for Competitive Markets with the help of attorneys from the Humane Society of the United States. [node:read-more:link]

Another year of bumper crops and high inventories are likely to spell another year of lower prices for corn, soybean and wheat growers, and alternately keep some feed costs in check for livestock producers.  Ag economists at Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture laid out what grain growers are facing in a crop outlook webinar on Sept. 13 based on USDA’s latest crop estimates and world supply and demand report.  The wheat crop is expected to bring record yields of 52.6 per acre, although lower acreage won’t bring record production. [node:read-more:link]

Recently, the EPA released a draft Ecological Risk Assessment on atrazine, a popular herbicide used for weed control in growing the vast majority of corn, sorghum and sugarcane in the United States. Unfortunately, the federal agency is refusing to follow the law. Instead of using sound science in today’s review process, political activism is driving the re-registration of atrazine.  According to the latest assessment, EPA is recommending aquatic life level of concern (LOC) be set at 3.4 parts per billion (ppb) on a 60-day average. The EPA’s current LOC for atrazine is 10 ppb. [node:read-more:link]

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reports that conservation districts in 29 counties in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed have successfully applied to conduct farm inspections aimed at reducing agricultural runoff into local streams and rivers and the bay.  Nine conservation districts failed to meet application criteria or have declined to participate. Conservation districts were asked to conduct certain farm inspections on the DEP’s behalf, in exchange for funding to support bay technician staff. [node:read-more:link]

If you’re baffled by the latest good news/bad news for the American middle class – word that in 2015 typical family income got its best boost in five decades, but families are still worse off than in 2007, just think about trickle-down economics and how it works.  During an economic recovery, the modern U.S. business model of trickle-down capitalism focuses first on delivering corporate profits, then soaring stock prices on Wall Street and big stock bonuses for CEOs and corporate execs. [node:read-more:link]

Because I am a food industry attorney, my reputation is invariably tied to the successes and failures of the food industry as a whole.  And, as a result, I tend to care deeply how the industry is doing.  What I have learned over the last decade is that, whether we choose to accept it or not, there are a lot of food companies, every day, that are selling products that are making people sick.  Just look, for instance, at the growing list of recent examples which include Blue Bell, Dole, General Mills and CRF.  In each of these examples, the companies involved were selling foods that had becom [node:read-more:link]

ebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and six other Midwest governors have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency seeking regulation changes intended to increase sales of gasoline blended with a higher percentage of ethanol. Ricketts along with the governors of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota sent a letter Tuesday to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy requesting new standards that would allow stations to sell more gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol rather than the current standard of 10 percent ethanol. [node:read-more:link]