Brewery non-competes cause controversy (Good Beer Hunting): A conflict between two craft brewers has sparked a debate in the beer industry about non-compete clauses meant to prevent key employees from moving to competitors and sharing trade secrets.
Costco chicken barns stalled (NET Nebraska): A planning commission in Lancaster County, Nebraska, did not have enough votes to pass a proposal to build four chicken barns in the county to supply the new Costco plant near Fremont.
Copycat food in the school cafeteria (The Lunch Tray): The Houston public school system has signed a deal to sell Domino’s “Smart Slice” pizza — a copycat product tweaked to meet USDA nutritional standards, in the a la carte lines at middle and high schools.
Perennial sorghum in Ethiopia (SciDev.Net): A new perennial variety of sorghum that offers higher yields than traditional varieties was released to Ethiopian farmers, who sow almost 2 million hectares of the grain annually.
Climate change = lower corn yields (DTN/Progressive Farmer): Corn yields in Indiana could fall by as much as 20 percent by mid-century as climate change brings warmer days and nights to the state along with more frequent heat stress and water deficits, says a Purdue University study.
Homegrown edamame is hard to find (Modern Farmer): Although the United States is the world’s largest soybean grower, almost all the edamame Americans eat is imported; domestic production is small, and U.S. farmers have little experience with it.
USDA surveys online (USDA): Online versions of the surveys farmers and ranchers are asked to take part in by the USDA should be faster and easier than the paper questionnaires used for decades, says the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Oats, not just for breakfast anymore (Food Business News): Researchers at South Dakota State, looking to improve the quality of oats grown in North America, are developing new products that use the grain. Graduate students are working on an oat beverage, adding oat flour to noodles, and using oats as a thickener for soups and other foods.
‘White Wash’ wins book award (SEJ): The book, which is about glyphosate, the most-used weedkiller in the world, and the debate over its safety, won the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award for 2018.