Hands off the lunch-time ‘share table,’ say school officials in two states
The USDA encourages "share tables" as a way to reduce food waste in school meals. The idea is that children can return untouched food and beverages that become available to children who are still hungry, says Civil Eats, "But there has also been some surprising pushback lately."
Trump signs repeal of BLM planning rule, says more regulation-busting on the way
As he signed legislation to repeal it, President Trump called an Interior Department land-management rule a federal power grab and, hinting at action planned for today on power plant emissions, said he would "eliminate every unnecessary, harmful, and job-killing regulation that we can find." The Interior Department rule covered 245 million acres of land under control of the Bureau of Land Management.
Locally-grown food available daily to 30 percent of schoolchildren
If they serve locally-sourced food at all, school districts are likely to serve it every day, say five economists who produced the first USDA study of the prevalence of local food in school meals. They said 19 percent of school districts serve at least one locally-sourced item daily, and because the districts tend to have large enrollments, 30 percent of all students have the option of local food.
In the Central Valley, separating salt from agriculture
The four-year drought in California has heightened attention to a long-running problem for irrigated agriculture in the Central Valley: the salt that accumulates in the soil over the years from the crop-sustaining water, says Environmental Health News. Options range from draining away briny subsoil water to retiring land altogether because crops can no longer grow on it.
USDA nixes planned glyphosate tests
EU punts GMO vote
The EU voted to block two kinds of GMO crops, but weren’t able to get the “qualified majority” required to completely ban them. Instead, the vote has been kicked to the European Commission’s executive, President Jean-Claude Juncker, says Reuters.
Monsoon season in India may escape El Niño’s touch
The monsoon rains that are the lifeblood of India's farmers may be unaffected by forecasts of an El Niño weather pattern at mid-year, a top weather official told Reuters. The rains usually arrive around June 1 at Kerala, a state at the southern tip of India, the second-most populous nation in the world, and retreat by September from Rajastan, which borders Pakistan in northern India, some 2,000 kilometers away.
EPA nears deadline for decision whether to ban chlorpyrifos
Last summer, a federal appeals court gave the EPA until March 31 — this Friday — to decide whether to ban or allow continued use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos, used on more than 50 crops, including alfalfa, corn, peanuts and wheat. Mother Jones says the new administration "will have to make a momentous choice" in its early days in office.
Low-inflation years change U.S. average for grocery inflation
Since 2013, grocery prices have risen so slowly that the Agriculture Department has lowered its calculation of the "historical" inflation rate — the 20-year average — to 2.2 percent annually, down from 2.5 percent in 2016. USDA economists say 2017 is shaping up as another year of negligible price increases at the grocery story, now forecast at 0.5 percent.
Trump expected to roll back Obama’s clean-power plan on Tuesday
President Trump will sign an executive order this week to undo President Obama’s 2015 clean-power plan, EPA secretary Scott Pruitt revealed in an interview with ABC’s This Week. The plan was designed to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. by 30 percent from 2005 levels before 2030, in part by targeting carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
One way to boost ag productivity in developing world: support women farmers
Women make up two-fifths of the agricultural work force in developing countries yet are often at a disadvantage in gaining access to land, credit, training and "inputs" such as seed and fertilizer, says the Farming First coalition. A research paper underlines that point by looking at differences in fertilizer use by women and men farmers.
Perdue says he’ll be ‘USDA’s chief salesman’; some of his work may be at home
A shoo-in to become Agriculture secretary for President Trump, former Georgia Gov .Sonny Perdue says he will be "USDA's chief salesman around the world." Farm-state senators say the sales work should include the Trump team, which has threatened to disrupt relations with major customers for U.S. farm exports.
Drought expands as spring reaches winter wheat areas
For the fifth week in a row, drought has expanded in the winter wheat-growing central and southern U.S. Plains, says USDA's Ag in Drought website. Some 26 percent of winter wheat land is moderate to severe drought, up 2 percentage points in a week.
New World screwworm is eradicated in Florida, ending livestock threat
Five months after the New World screwworm was detected in the United States for the first time in more than 30 years, the pest, a maggot that kills animals by eating their flesh, has been eradicated, said USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. No new cases have been reported since Jan. 10 in Florida.
Europe considers total ban on anti-bee insecticides
The European Commission is considering draft regulations to ban the mostly widely used insecticides in fields across Europe in order to protect bees, according to documents obtained by The Guardian via the Pesticide Action Network Europe. A vote is expected this May; if passed the ban could take effect within months.
Brazilian packer cuts production as sales fizzle in beef scandal
The largest meatpacker in the world, JBS, has suspended operations at 33 of its 36 plants in Brazil "amid the corruption scandal that has caused some of the country's biggest export markets to ban Brazilian meats," said Reuters. A police investigation says meat inspectors accepted bribes to allow sales of low-quality meat, or did not inspect plants at all; the Agriculture Ministry says only a couple of dozen plants were targeted.
IPFRI: World progress in reducing hunger
Despite a stagnant global economy, the world made progress against hunger, says the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in an annual report: "For the first time in modern history, the number of people living in extreme poverty fell below 10 percent of the global population and the global rate of under-nutrition was expected to fall below 11 percent." IFPRI singled out Bangladesh and Ethiopia for halving hunger rates since the 1990s.
A smooth path to USDA for Perdue, but not speedy
Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, the last of President Trump's nominees for the cabinet, is sailing, albeit slowly, to confirmation as agriculture secretary with the backing of the major U.S. farm groups. The agricultural community talks so much about Perdue buckling down to work at USDA that today's confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee or Senate approval of the nomination seems like a formality.
Low on personnel and money, Marine Protected Areas struggle
Only 9 percent of Marine Protected Areas have enough staff and only 35 percent receive adequate funding, says a report published in the journal Nature. MPAs, which include marine reserves, no-take zones, sanctuaries, and parks, are an increasingly popular way to conserve marine species by restricting fishing and energy extraction.
Whole Foods and others say their tuna will be ethically-caught
Retailers across the country, including Whole Foods, are upping their tuna game with new sustainability standards focused on how the fish was caught. “Last Wednesday Whole Foods Market announced that by January 2018, all canned tuna sold in its stores or used in its prepared foods departments will be sourced from fisheries that use only pole-and-line, troll or handline catch methods that eliminate bycatch (accidental harvest of other fish, birds or mammals) because fishermen are catching tuna one at a time,” says NPR.