After viewing video depicting mishandling of chickens, Tyson Foods re-emphasizing proper animal welfare procedures. In a statement, the company remarked that it will also stress the consequences of not complying with its animal welfare policies. Part of the retraining includes a video conference with live production management at all of its poultry locations. According to Daugherty, 10 workers have now been fired as a result of the mistreatment of chickens. [node:read-more:link]

The president of a Vancouver-based casual dining chain apologized to Canadian beef producers Wednesday over his company’s April announcement that it would begin serving 100-percent Certified Humane beef — a move that meant that it would source from the United States, not Canada.  Canadian suppliers would not be able to keep up with Earls Kitchen + Bar’s demand for Certified Humane, antibiotic-, steroid-free beef, the company reasoned.  Almost immediately, the announcement was met with intense criticism from both consumers and beef producers, especially in Alberta — the heart of the nation’s [node:read-more:link]

Laura Wahl stands in the pasture with her lambs eight hours a day during peak lambing season to protect them. The predators aren’t coyotes or cougars; they are bald eagles. Wahl runs Wahl Grazing, a sheep and goat operation, with her family near Albany, Ore. She estimates that she loses 300 lambs a year to eagle depredation — a loss of approximately $37,500. During lambing season, Wahl is used to seeing 20 eagles lining the perimeter of her pastures waiting for ewes to give birth to their lambs. [node:read-more:link]

The Pacific Legal Foundation petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to repeal a regulation that applies the take provision of the Endangered Species Act to every threatened species listed, according to a 19-page petition. [node:read-more:link]

Anyone observing America’s ongoing culture wars, especially as they surface in the current presidential election cycle, is forcefully reminded that we are not a country divided by red and blue states; it’s an urban-rural divide that represents the political and cultural fault lines in the nation. The difference is no longer where people live, it’s about how people live: in widely-dispersed, open rural areas with plenty of privacy or in high population density, diverse urban areas where tolerance becomes almost mandatory among its residents. But how far back does the urban-rural divide go? [node:read-more:link]

A state question seeking to enshrine the rights of farmers and ranchers in the state constitution will stay on the ballot, according to an opinion released Monday by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.  Lawmakers put State Question 777 — dubbed “Right to Farm” by supporters and “Right to Harm” by critics — on the Nov. 8 ballot.SQ 777 would add a section to the Oklahoma Constitution that would create a constitutional right to engage in farming and ranching. It would protect the use of agricultural technology, livestock procedures and ranching practices. [node:read-more:link]

Dean Food Co. struggled with a glut of milk in the second quarter, obliging the dairy giant to cut prices on the private-label products that make up much of its milk and ice-cream sales. Even though consumers are paying less, they didn’t buy more milk, contributing to what Dean Foods said on Monday was an 8.2% drop in second-quarter revenue to $1.85 billion. Analysts expected profit to fall, but Dean Foods’ earnings announcement still sent shares down as much as 8% in early trading. They regained some ground to close Monday’s session at $18.16, a drop of 3.5%. [node:read-more:link]

Following breakthroughs the Arctic Golden and Granny, Canada-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF) is one step closer to having another genetically modified apple cultivated in the U.S.  The U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) publicly shared OSF’s final version of a petition seeking regulatory approval for non-browning Arctic Fuji apples. APHIS said it had reached a preliminary decision to extend its determination of non-regulated status to the variety.

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Agriculture and the overexploitation of plants and animal species are significantly greater threats to biodiversity than climate change, new analysis shows.  Joint research published in the journal Nature found nearly three-quarters of the world’s threatened species faced these threats, compared to just 19% affected by climate change. [node:read-more:link]