Pruitt says year-round E15 hinges on authority, not policy
Last fall, the EPA said it would investigate whether it has the authority to allow year-round sales of E15, a higher blend of ethanol and gasoline than the traditional 10 percent ratio. Administrator Scott Pruitt said there has been no decision yet, reported DTN/ProgressiveFarmer.
Head of Humane Society accused of sexual harassment
Wayne Pacelle, the scourge of the U.S. meat industry in his role as chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, is the subject of three complaints of sexual harassment, said the Washington Post.
CDC director bought tobacco shares after taking office
Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “bought shares in a tobacco company one month into her leadership of the agency charged with reducing tobacco use,” reported Politico.
U.S. wants ‘much faster’ NAFTA pace, ag issues unresolved
Negotiations for the new NAFTA will resume in late February in Mexico City, with agricultural trade among the undecided issues. Canadian trade groups said there was progress on agricultural biotechnology and on food safety rules during a week of work in Montreal. U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer said he hoped for "major breakthroughs" in the interim. "We owe it to our citizens, who are operating in a state of uncertainty, to move much faster."
NATO plants biofuel-grass to clean contaminated military sites
Miscanthus, a fast-growing grass often grown as a biofuel, is now planted on six military sites, from Kansas to Kazakhstan, in a three-year NATO-run effort to clean up contaminated soil. At a conference earlier this month at Kansas State University, researchers reported that the grass stabilizes contaminants in the soil, preventing them from escaping into the air and water, and then gradually absorbs them.
EPA ‘ready’ to work with Alaska gold mine but retains Obama-era doubts
After more than 1 million public comments, the EPA said it will not dismiss an Obama-era conclusion that the proposed Pebble gold mine in southwestern Alaska could cause "significant and irreversible harm" to the Bristol Bay watershed, reported the Washington Post. Instead, the EPA said it will seek additional comments and that its decision "neither deters nor derails the application process" for the mine. Opponents worry the mine could ruin the Bristol Bay fishery, the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.
New cotton subsidies in 2018 farm bill could be costly, says think tank
Cotton growers are pushing for the second overhaul of USDA subsidies in four years and the results could be expensive to taxpayers and risk another trade complaint at the WTO, says the free-market American Enterprise Institute. Congress totally re-wrote the cotton program in the 2014 farm bill to resolve a WTO ruling, sought by Brazil, that over-generous U.S. subsidies distorted world trade.
Access to safe and healthy food is in peril, says food movement group
The Trump administration is imperiling access to safe and healthy food, throttling organic farmers and siding with meatpackers on livestock sales regulation, said the Food Policy Action Education Fund in a "State of the Plate" report. "This administration’s regulatory rollbacks, political appointments, and executive orders have affected everyone within our food system–from workers to producers to consumers," said Monica Mills, head of the group.
Tyson Food takes a nibble at ‘clean meat’ Memphis Meats
The venture arm of the giant meat processor Tyson Foods invested in Memphis Meats, a food tech start-up that is developing cultured meat produced directly from animal cells. The Arkansas-based company declined to say how much money Tyson Ventures injected into Memphis Meats for a minority stake in the "clean meat" operation.
Foraging, the newest step in hyper-local craft beer
In the small town of Ava in southern Illinois, brewers Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon take a look outside when they need ingredients for their brewery. With a garden on their property and a "commitment to sourcing their hops and malt close to home," Scratch Brewery "is part of a new movement of breweries that want to use foraged beers—beverages brewed with wild ingredients sourced hyper-locally—to educate drinkers about agriculture," says Civil Eats.
U.S. sees first two-year streak of food deflation since 1950s
Grocery prices are down for the second year in a row, the first multi-year run of food deflation since the mid-1950s. In its monthly Food Price Outlook, the USDA credits the strong dollar for the year-on-year decline in grocery prices of 1.3 percent in 2016 and 0.2 percent in 2017; only the seventh and eighth years, respectively, of deflation since World War II.
His eye on USDA office, Northey hears electoral clock ticking in Iowa
President Trump's nominee to run USDA's farm subsidy and land stewardship programs has waited for three months for a Senate vote, and acknowledges he faces a decision: To file for a fourth term as Iowa state agriculture secretary in this year's elections or wait for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to end his opposition to a vote on him. "I believe there is still hope right now," said nominee Bill Northey told Successful Farming.
NAFTA talks could spill into 2019; ag is a key issue
Negotiations over the new NAFTA could run far beyond the March 31 deadline, and perhaps into 2019, said the Washington Post, citing "industry leaders and others close to the negotiations," including the head of Farmers for Free Trade. The U.S. farm and agribusiness sector is pressing loudly for a new pact and against President Trump's threat to withdraw from the treaty.
Neonics found year-round in Great Lakes tributaries
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey found neonicotinoid insecticides in 74 percent of the water samples they analyzed from 10 major tributaries of the Great Lakes. The insecticides were "detected in every month sampled and five of the six target neonicotinoids were detected." Environmental Health News says the study "suggests the Great Lakes' fish, birds and entire ecosystems might be at risk" from the insecticides that are believed to be a factor in high mortality rates of honeybees.
USDA says aeroponics are still eligible for sale as organic
Two months after an advisory board voted to deny organic certification to aeroponic agriculture, the USDA said aeroponic crops remain eligible for the organic seal. "USDA will consider this [advisory] recommendation; aeroponics remains allowed during this review," said the Agricultural Marketing Service in a bulletin to organic growers.
Consolidation may be factor in low rural wages
As farms got bigger over the years, so did the equipment that farms use to cover the land. Farm equipment dealerships also got bigger, buying or pushing out competitors, and that may explain the problem of stagnant wages in rural areas: When there are fewer employers, wages show less growth, reports the New York Times.
Few states offer work programs for people at risk of losing food stamp benefits
Stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients, particularly able-bodied adults, “can increase earnings and training,” but they can also mean a loss of benefits for people who can’t find a job, says a USDA report. Only five states currently guarantee a slot in a job-training or workfare program to able-bodied adults who are jobless and at risk of losing their benefits.
Big Beef targets Virginia ranchers with increased checkoff tax
Virginia State Sen. A. Benton Chafin last week introduced a bill that would significantly hike “checkoff” taxes that cattle growers in the state must pay. The move follows efforts in other states to increase or introduce state-level checkoff taxes, which are charged in addition to the $1-per-head tax collected at the federal level. (No paywall)
Wheat groups in Canada, Mexico, and U.S. ask for NAFTA update, not breakup
In a letter to leaders of the NAFTA nations, seven wheat groups that span the continent and represent a range of players, from growers to millers to bakers, said an updated NAFTA that continues duty-free agricultural trade is critical to their success.
Study finds obesity may be contagious
Two researchers who studied Army families say that those assigned to communities with higher rates of obesity were more likely to be overweight or obese than those assigned to bases where obesity was less common.