A coalition representing more than 6,000 organic farmers from the western, midwestern and eastern U.S. has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reject the Organic Trade Assn.'s (OTA) proposal to establish a national organic checkoff program. The 2014 farm bill included language that would allow USDA to institute a multi-commodity organic checkoff program, if desired by the industry. [node:read-more:link]
The economic shocks of the housing-market crisis and Great Recession were associated with striking changes in net migration patterns in both rural and urban America, with rural farming communities experiencing different migration trends than other rural areas, according to new research funded by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station. Ken Johnson, a demographer and professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin, found: As the economic situation deteriorated, fewer Americans migrated. [node:read-more:link]
In an industry that’s lost over half of its jobs in the past decade, Mississippi’s catfish farmers have by no means given up to heated competition from abroad. Rather, the state’s catfish farmers, which produce over half of U.S. farm-raised catfish, labor daily under strict safety inspection laws while fighting to make sure their industry rivals in Asia are held up to the same standards. After an eight-year battle, American catfish farmers rejoiced when the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm has fined an insurance firm that sold crop insurance in that state and ordered restitution to farmers. The North Dakota Insurance Department announced the multi-layered disciplinary action against The Climate Corporation a/k/a The Climate Insurance Agency (formerly known as Weatherbill), a licensed business insurance entity that sold crop insurance products in the state from 2011 to 2014. [node:read-more:link]
There’s no doubt trade is critically important to the agricultural economy, particularly in places such as Manitoba where the productivity of farmers far exceeds the appetite of the resident population. As the province’s Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler pointed out Tuesday in his presentation to the Senate committee studying agricultural trade, two-thirds of the food products manufactured in Manitoba leave the province. Improved market access and fair trade rules are important. [node:read-more:link]
The National Corn Growers Association urged farmers to submit comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, following publication of the Agency’s draft Ecological Risk Assessment for atrazine, an herbicide used for weed control in growing corn and other crops. If it stands, EPA’s recommendation would effectively ban the use of atrazine in most farming areas in the U.S. Atrazine is a widely used herbicide proven to combat the spread of resistant weeds, while also reducing soil erosion and improving wildlife habitats. [node:read-more:link]
A new study reveals the full extent of globalization in the world's food supply. The researchers put together a series of interactives that visualize the results. The idea that crop plants have centers of origin, where they were originally domesticated, goes back to the 1920s and the great Russian plant explorer Nikolai Vavilov. He reasoned that the region where a crop had been domesticated would be marked by the greatest diversity of that crop, because farmers there would have been selecting different types for the longest time. [node:read-more:link]
Tyson Foods has named Tom Hayes president, a move reflecting the company’s increased emphasis on branded, packaged foods. Chief Executive Donnie Smith previously held the president title. Mr. Smith said in a statement that Mr. Hayes, who was chief commercial officer, has “played a key role in creating a united company and in our continued development of our branded products.” Mr. Hayes was chief supply chain officer at Hillshire Brands at the time of Tyson’s $7.7 billion purchase of Hillshire in 2014. [node:read-more:link]
Signed Monday afternoon, S. 260 is Gov. Peter Shumlin’s last bill. He said the bill addresses criticism of weak local control over wind and solar-energy projects, while simultaneously supporting the growth of green-energy infrastructure. The bill’s passage comes about a week after Shumlin vetoed S. 230, a very similar bill related to energy projects. On Thursday, the House and Senate pushed the bill S. 260 — essentially an updated version of S. 230 — through in one day. [node:read-more:link]
Oregon regulators are studying how to design an economywide carbon cap-and-trade system that would be able to link with other similar programs in neighboring states and provinces. While a bill to actually implement a cap-and-trade system eluded state lawmakers in the legislative session that ended in March, they did direct the state Department of Environmental Quality to study "a market-based approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions." DEQ staff are beginning the study now and said Friday that they plan to start with the assumption that they would be linking markets with California [node:read-more:link]
