Setting for a novel flu virus: the fair barn
Livestock shows are a standard part of county fairs nationwide and plenty of fair-goers walk through the barns to see hogs, cattle, sheep, chickens and other farm animal firsthand. And now, the Centers for Disease Control says 18 people, all but two of them children, tested positive for new strains of influenza after attending agricultural fairs in Ohio and Michigan during August, reports Harvest Public Media.
Bottled water sparks a lawsuit in Northern California
In Weed, CA, population 2,700, a David-and-Goliath story is playing out over bottled water. Residents are suing Roseburg Forest Products, an Oregon-based timber company for monopolizing the town’s drinking water, reports the New York Times. Roseburg owns the forest where a pristine spring surfaces, bringing water from Mount Shasta.
Biotech crops no better than non-GMO on yields or pesticide use
In the 20 years since GMO crops were approved for cultivation, U.S. farmers have embraced them almost to exclusion of other seeds while Europe has steadily refused to let them into its fields. The New York Times says its "extensive examination" of U.S. and European farming found that genetic engineering "has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides."
USDA spells it out: Grass-fed beef comes from cattle fed only grass
Eight months after one USDA agency rescinded its standard for grass-fed beef, a sister agency published a "labeling guideline" — open to public comment for 60 days — that says the term is available only for beef from cattle "that were only (100 percent) fed grass (forage) after being weaned." A small-farm group said the step would "preserve the label's strong reputation."
Profit motive has egg companies racing to give male chicks a more humane death
New technology may save billions of male chicks from an inhumane death and help hatcheries cut down on waste. “All male chicks born at egg farm hatcheries are slaughtered the day they hatch. This is typically done by shredding them alive, in what amounts to a blender,” says the Washington Post. Males are considered “useless” because they can’t mature to lay eggs and they aren’t the same breed that is raised for meat. But with huge profits at stake, egg companies are vying to be the first to change that system.
CDC closes investigation of illnesses linked to flour
Federal health officials closed their investigation into foodborne illnesses linked to wheat flour milled by General Mills with a renewed warning to consumers to look for, and discard, packages of flour covered by the recall. "Consumers unaware of the recall could continue to use these recalled flour products and potentially get sick," said FDA.
Whole Foods and Starbucks open in one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods
Whole Foods and Starbucks are opening locations in Chicago’s crime-ridden Englewood neighborhood as part of a $20-million project to bring better services and products to the area. “The typically upscale Whole Foods will occupy an 18,000-square-foot store in the newly constructed Englewood Square shopping complex during a notably violent year in the neighborhood, one of the city’s poorest — it served as the setting for Spike Lee’s controversial “Chiraq” movie, and median household income is under $20,000, according to Census data,” says MarketWatch.
Malheur verdict: Fire bell or false alarm?
The acquittal of by federal jurors of seven leaders of the 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon is hailed, alternately, as a verdict for liberty or an invitation to anarchy. "Most onlookers blamed prosecutorial over-reach — that the government stretched its case too far to fit the events at the refuge — or to stumbles in the presentation of evidence," said the New York Times.
California fishing faces a terrible ‘new normal’
California’s coastal ecosystem is in the midst of a massive “disruption” because of climate change, says the San Francisco Chronicle. For example, warmer waters have stalled the growth of kelp forests, causing sea urchins, which depend on kelp as their main food source, to mature abnormally. Their spiky shells are nearly hollow, and North Coast divers have brought in only one-tenth of their normally lucrative catch.
UN makes historic commitment to fight antibiotic resistance
On September 21, the United Nations General Assembly took an historic step: It acted on the danger posed by antibiotic resistance, which is rising around the world, killing an estimated 700,000 people each year. The U.N. action was only the fourth time that the General Assembly, which usually addresses economic and social issues, had ever considered a health problem. Its all-day “high-level meeting,” in which representatives of 70 governments shared their concerns about controlling resistance, resulted in a commitment by all 193 member nations to begin working on the problem. The first step was to create a “coordination group” to bring all the international efforts in line.
Weakening farm economy jeopardizes future of some farmers
The third year of weakening U.S. farm income will create "more questions about the ability of some producers to continue to operate after experiencing losses for multiple consecutive years," says the Kansas Federal Reserve Bank. The sour economy is causing ripple effects in farm towns in the Plains, ag bankers told the regional Fed.
Farmers increasingly pledge land as collateral to get a loan
With profit margins weak due to low commodity prices, farmers and ranchers are offering their land as collateral to obtain short-term operating loans — and banks are demanding it amid "a growing sense of risk in the farm sector," said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
Senate sends Obama bill to update livestock sales law
Before adjourning until mid-November, senators passed by voice vote and sent to the White House a bill to update the Packers and Stockyards Act, which oversees livestock sales, to cover electronic transactions, such as sales online. The House passed the bill, HR 5883, on Monday, also by voice vote.
Valadao vs. Huerta race heats up in California
The race between Republican David Valadao, a second-term Republican, and Democrat Emilio Huerta for a U.S. House seat in the Central Valley of California is becoming more competitive, says the political handicapper Sabato's Crystal Ball. Valadao serves on the House Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the USDA and FDA budgets and is a target for defeat by the food movement.
Bumper crops push world grain stocks to record size
With the world headed for record-setting wheat, corn and rice harvests, the inventory at the end of this marketing year will be the largest ever — a three-month supply that would weigh on commodity prices, said the International Grains Council. The council's index of grain and oilseed prices, "pressured by increasing heavy spot supplies," was near a five-month low, as farmers in the northern hemisphere report good overall yields.
DuPont Pioneer and CIMMYT to jointly develop CRISPR crops
The second-largest seed company in the world, DuPont Pioneer, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, or CIMMYT, said they reached an agreement to jointly develop improved crops using the gene-editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas for smallholder farmers around the world. The agreement, announced at CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary conference in Mexico City, brings the new technology into the public breeding organization for the first time.
Report: The world has lost more than half of its wildlife since 1970
“Worldwide populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have plunged by almost 60 percent since 1970 as human activities overwhelm the environment,” says Reuters, based on the 2016 Living Planet Report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
As drought spreads, the South prays for rain
At the same time rainfall is slaking drought in the Pacific Northwest, the southeastern quadrant of the United States faces intensifying drought, with the worst conditions in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and eastern Tennessee. Georgia's state agriculture director, Gary Black, is to take part in a rally to "discuss the drought facing Georgia's agricultural community and to pray for the rain Georgia so desperately needs" on Monday.
Trump ‘looking very hard’ at naming a rancher, or farmer, EPA chief
National policy adviser Sam Clovis says the Trump campaign is "looking very hard at putting a farmer or rancher in charge of the EPA." Given the impact that federal regulations can have on the sector, Clovis said on the AgriTalk radio program, "we think this would be an appropriate issue for us."
California’s dry farmers say, ‘Drought? What drought?’
In California, so-called dry farmers say that they’ve avoided the worst of the drought and produced more flavorful crops by keeping their plants thirsty, reports Ari LeVaux in FERN’s latest story, produced with National Geographic's blog, The Plate.