Fighting a spike in chicken farms (Tulsa World): In Oklahoma, the planned arrival of a Simmons Foods poultry processing plant in nearby Arkansas is bringing an influx of chicken houses—and residents are angry.
What is all our land used for? (Bloomberg): Forty-one percent of land in the 48 contiguous United States is used for feeding livestock, either pasture or cropland that is used to produce feed.
Green Plains becomes No. 4 cattle feeder (Drovers): Green Plains Cattle Co., a subsidiary of ethanol maker Green Plains Inc., says it will buy two feedlots with a total capacity of 97,000 head from Bartlett Cattle Co. in a transaction that will make Green Plains the fourth-largest feeder in the country, with capacity for 355,000 head.
Restaurant calories don’t register (Gallup): Some 45 percent of Americans pay attention to nutrition information, such as calorie counts, at restaurants. This represents little change from the 43 percent who said they paid attention five years ago, despite new FDA rules mandating the information.
Food-safety challenges for small farms (Food Safety News): Auburn University researchers say many small livestock producers have workers who would benefit from additional training in food-safety practices.
FDA may redefine ‘farm’ (The Hagstrom Report): In a five-page letter, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told state agriculture directors that the FDA is reconsidering the definition of a “farm” in its enforcement of food safety laws. The letter is available here.
Aggies to meet on nuisance lawsuits (Rouzer): Five state agriculture commissioners, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey, state lawmakers and farm group leaders are “to discuss the threat that nuisance lawsuits pose to the U.S. agriculture industry, rural America, and farm families” in North Carolina on Friday.
Most people don’t know about lab meat (Faunalytics): Sixty percent of Americans who took part in an online survey said they had never heard the term “clean meat,” one of the phrases used for cell-cultured meat or lab-grown meat, but two-thirds said they were willing to try it after a description that it is “real meat … the same taste, texture and same or better nutritional content” as conventional meat.