#MeToo reaches fast casual restaurants
Awareness of rampant sexual harassment in the U.S. workplace continues to grow. Now restaurant and food service workers have become the latest to step into the #MeToo spotlight.
In contentious hearing, House panel revisits glyphosate safety
At a high-tension House hearing, members of Congress and expert witnesses yet again debated the safety of the pesticide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, the most popular herbicide in the world. The hearing, convened by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, brought a diverse panel to weigh the Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of the chemical’s safety against the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s assessment.
Perdue asks for power to block food stamp benefits to able-bodied adults
The Trump administration wants to restrict the ability of "aggressive" states to evade the 90-day limit on food stamps to able-bodied adults, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue during a House hearing. Asked by reporters if other changes would be requested in food stamps, Perdue said he lacked the authority to block waivers from the 90-day rule and said, "I think you'll see some good suggestions in the farm bill (and) in the budget coming out as well."
Ag outlook: Low prices, trade challenges in 2018, says Perdue
Many farmers will "face tight bottom lines, even negative returns in some cases," during 2018, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in describing the state of the rural economy as fragile. "We project continuing low commodity prices and trade challenges in the face of large global supplies and a relatively strong dollar in the coming year."
Biofuels mandate doesn’t harm refiners, says Grassley, so stop ‘misleading rhetoric’
A Philadelphia oil refinery went bankrupt due to management decisions that backfired rather than the federal biofuels mandate, which requires refiners to blend ethanol and biodiesel into the gasoline and diesel supply, says a memo written by energy policy staffers working for Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a bulldog defender of corn ethanol. The bankruptcy filing has been cited as a reason for changing the Renewable Fuel Standard, or biofuels mandate.
Small farms, despite hardship, get less U.S. farm support
A new report from the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that as much as 75 percent of small farms in the U.S. are experiencing serious financial risks, compared to around 30 percent of large farms. The report, “America’s Diverse Family Farms,” concluded that despite their high level of risk, small farmers are also less likely to receive government farm supports, which disproportionately are allocated towards large-scale farms.
House passes ‘pizza exemption’ from menu-labeling law
On a mostly party-line vote, the House passed a bill that exempts restaurant chains from the menu-labeling law if at least 50 percent of their sales are made off-premises. The bill was then sent to the Senate. Critics such as the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the legislation, titled the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, is a favor to the pizza industry, the leading advocate for the bill.
Coastal states sue EPA over WOTUS delay
Ten states on the East and West Coasts sued the EPA for its decision to delay until 2020 a clean water rule issued during the Obama era, saying the suspension was hurried into effect "with inadequate public notice, insufficient record support and outside their statutory authority." The original rule was a prominent part of President Trump's campaign for regulatory relief.
Farm bill waits as leaders look for more money
The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee appealed for additional funding from Congress for cotton and dairy subsidies in the near term, a step that also would make more money available for those programs in the 2018 farm bill.
Lawsuits allege conspiracy by chicken processors to raise broiler prices
The biggest poultry processors in the United States face widespread allegations that they colluded to raise prices over the course of 10 years in the $30-billion broiler chicken market. In just three weeks, two grocery retailers and the country’s two biggest food distribution companies filed lawsuits against Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, Pilgrim’s Pride, Koch Farms, Sanderson Farms, and others. (No paywall)
Farm fumes contribute to deadly air pollution
Rising ammonia emissions from farm animal waste and fertilizer are a major contributor to air pollution, causing death and illness around the world, according to FERN’s latest story, published with Ensia. “In the past 70 years, global emissions of ammonia have more than doubled,” writes Lindsey Konkel. (No paywall)
Despite oversupply, farmers keep up high production
Prices of wheat and corn — among other agricultural products — are as low this year as they’ve been since 2014. But despite falling prices and an oversupply of the commodities, farmers continue producing grains at record-breaking rates, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Trump taps Missouri co-op official to run USDA rural utilities agency
The president of a rural electric cooperative in central Missouri is President Trump’s choice to head the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. The agency oversees programs that range from water and sewer facilities to electrical lines and telecommunications.
Food company coaches schools on ‘whole-grain waiver strategy’
A food service management company that operates in 600 U.S. school districts is offering them, in the words of its vice president for nutrition, “instructions” on how to get a waiver from the USDA requirement to serve whole-grain-rich bread, pasta, and baked goods to their students, said The Lunch Tray.
Post-Buffalo Wild Wings buy, Arby’s seeks more mergers
Yesterday, Arby’s closed its $2.9-billion acquisition of Buffalo Wild Wings. The combined restaurant chains will be renamed Inspire Brands Inc., and according to its chief executive, the company could acquire as many as 10 multibillion-dollar chains in the coming years.
Chinese policy statement calls for modernized farm sector
With an eye toward higher rural income and farm productivity, China issued a policy statement calling for a modernized farm sector by 2035. China also announced an investigation into whether U.S. sorghum is being sold at unfairly low prices on the Chinese market.
Interest rates surge at same time farmers are borrowing more money
Farm income is stagnant at the same time that farmers and ranchers across the country are borrowing larger amounts of money and paying sharply higher interest rates on the loans, said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. "Large loans drove the increase in farm lending, which may heighten concerns about cash flow in 2018."
Can the Arctic’s icy waters solve aquaculture’s sustainability problems?
In April, at a smelting factory in Arctic Norway, the world’s largest photobioreactor will begin churning out fish feed grown on pollution. The feed, or microalgae, will provide a critical source of omega oils for prized Norwegian farmed salmon, while digesting carbon dioxide from industrial smoke piped through the bioreactor, says Hans-Christian Eilertsen, a marine biologist with the Arctic University of Norway.
Low coal, uranium prices reduce interest in Bears Ears, Grand Staircase
The Trump administration's new and smaller boundaries for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments may not generate many immediate requests from energy companies to mine or drill on the 2 million acres of land, said the Associated Press. The Interior Department declined to say how many claims have been filed but a trade group said low uranium prices would "discourage any investment in new claims'" in the Bears Ears territory of Utah.
After Tyson pushback, Kansas considers local control
Last fall, a small community in northeast Kansas made headlines when thousands of residents protested the announcement that a Tyson poultry processing plant would soon be built nearby. Once the residents of Tonganoxie won their “No Tyson in Tongie” campaign, other communities followed suit. Now, state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it easier for communities to vote on whether to introduce new poultry processing facilities or large-scale farms in their communities, reports High Plains Public Radio.