Farmers to receive $4 billion in subsidies for 2014 crops
Grain and oilseed growers will receive $4 billion in crop subsides due to low market prices for their 2014 crops, said the USDA. Payments are being sent to about half of the 1.7 million farmers who enrolled in the new Agriculture Risk Coverage program, intended to shield crop revenue from low prices and poor yields, or the traditionally styled Price Loss Coverage program, based on trigger prices.
WHO cancer rating amplifies message to limit meat intake
The identification of processed meat and red meat as cancer hazards buttresses public health recommendations to limit meat consumption, said the director of the WHO agency that investigated meat. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified processed meat as "carcinogenic to humans" - its strongest ranking - and red meat as "probably carcinogenic to humans," the second-strongest ranking. The meat industry disputed the evidence and accused IARC of scare-mongering.
USDA, the Egg Board and ‘Just Mayo’
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service is reviewing "the way the American Egg Board handled the 'threat' of Hampton Creek - the San Francisco-based start-up behind the egg-free spread Just Mayo - amid claims it overstepped its mandate by seeking to undermine Hampton Creek's progress," reports Food Navigator.
WHO agency finds cancer hazard in processed and red meat
The WHO's cancer agency, in a decision certain to intensify the debate over the American diet, classified processed meat as "carcinogenic to humans" and red meat as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
Greek farmer wants to disqualify part-timers and absentees
International lenders say, as part of putting its financial house in order, Greece must make its farmers pay higher taxes and pay more into pension funds. The demands have ignited protests by farmers, and one farm leader, Christos Gontias, has called for an overhaul of agricultural supports in a country where farmers are revered and a political force.
Pediatricians advised to screen children for food insecurity
Because of the effects of "this pervasive problem,” the American Academy of Pediatrics is advising its 64,000 members to screen children for food insecurity and to familiarize themselves with community resources that could help the children. Doctors also are encouraged to speak speak in support of local and federal programs that provide nutritious food.
Skyrocketing meat prices fall back to earth
Chicken prices at the grocery store are 2-percent lower than a year ago and wholesale beef prices have started to decline, two signs that meat prices are returning to normal, according to the Food Price Index.
Husking like it’s 1899
Near Roseville in west-central Illinois, Abby Wendle joined the Illinois State Corn Husking Contest, an event that replicates the fall harvest from the era before agricultural mechanization. "Whole families would head out at dawn to walk the rows with their horse-drawn wagons. They'd try to pick 50 bushels, 2,800 pounds of corn, before lunch and another 50 bushels in the afternoon, often harvesting until dark. Farm kids regularly missed weeks, even months, of school to help," writes Wendle, a reporter with Harvest Public Media.
USDA awards $2.1 billion in rural electric loans
Some 77 utilities and cooperatives in 31 states from Florida to Montana will receive a total of $2.3 billion in loans to improve rural electric service, said the USDA. The loans would support work ranging from building new transmission lines to constructing solar farms and adding "smart grid" technology to reduce costs.
Beaver ponds reduce nitrate runoff in streams
Nutrient runoff is a growing problem in many parts of the United States but researchers from the University of Rhode Island say beavers could be an ally in reducing nitrogen runoff that can lead to low-oxygen "dead zones,” says the American Society of Agronomy.
Britain rejects sugar tax, although experts back it
British Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out a sugar tax, with a spokesman saying there are "more effective ways" of dealing with childhood obesity, reports Sky News. Cameron’s decision came just as Public Health England (PHE) - "the government's own advisers," said Sky - recommended a sugar tax of 10-20 percent, restrictions on advertising high-sugar foods and drinks, limits on supermarket promotion of the sugary products, and calling on foodmakers to reduce the amount of added sugar.
Vilsack on USDA reorganization: It’s complicated
The first reorganization of the Agriculture Department in a generation may have to wait for the president who takes office in 15 months, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters. "It is not a simple matter. It is rather complex." Congress mandated the creation of an new USDA post, undersecretary for trade, in the 2014 farm law to give American agriculture more muscle in dealing with other nations.
GMO canola ‘volunteers’ found in Perth suburbs
Farmers in Western Australia grow GMO and non-GMO varieties of canola with safeguards in place to prevent commingling of the strains. The reliability of the safeguards was questioned after "volunteer" GMO canola plants were discovered growing along roadsides in four Perth suburbs, far from the nearest grain farm, said The Western Australian newspaper.
Trudeau might take ‘no’ for an answer on Keystone
With Conservatives voted out of power, the incoming administration of Justin Trudeau is "probably prepared to take No for an answer" from the United States on building the Keystone XL pipeline, says a CBC News analysis by Chris Hall.
Plentiful harvest pulls down walnut prices
With the USDA predicting a record 575,000-ton walnut harvest in California, which grows nearly all of the crop, "a price slide heralds the first sign of vulnerability for the Golden State's enduring nut boom," reports Capital Press.
Biotech corn blamed briefly for Iowa poll results
When a poll put Donald Trump in second place in Iowa, biotech corn was fingered as the culprit on social media before the Trump campaign apologized, says Agri-Pulse. The dustup began when Trump's Twitter feed reposted a tweet that originated with a Nevada businessman, who noted that surgeon Ben Carson was leading Trump in Iowa, and then added: "Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain?"
Baccam is appointed to oversee USDA farm programs
Lanon Baccam, a former assistant to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, was named as deputy agriculture undersecretary with responsibility for two agencies that deal directly with producers, the USDA announced.
Stabenow: GMO pre-emption ‘needs to move quickly’ in Senate
he Democratic leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee said she is committed to passing a bill that pre-empts state GMO food-labeling laws. "This needs to needs to move quickly," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Vermont's first-in-the-nation labeling law will take effect on July 1. The food industry says Congress needs to override the Vermont law before the end of this year to prevent a costly hodgepodge of labeling rules.
Farmland values declining but a collapse is unlikely
Farmland values and rental rates declined modestly in the first half of the year, "and it appears that downward pressures are likely to continue into 2016," say economists Gary Schnitkey, Bruce Sherrick and Todd Kuethe of U-Illinois. "While headwinds related to farm income will likely continue, current farmland prices do not appear out of line with current cash rent and interest rate levels."
Monsanto says California agency wrong on glyphosate
Monsanto told California regulators that they should withdraw their proposal to add the weedkiller glyphosate to a state list of chemicals known to cause cancer, said Reuters. The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment unveiled the plan in September and said it was required following an assessment by a World Health Organization agency that the chemical is a probable carcinogen in humans.