Farmers engaging on climate change (Politico): Profoundly dubious of outside regulation and fiercely independent, farmers are “waking up on climate change” and taking practical steps to mitigate the impact of global warming and to find ways to profit from it.
Ammonia from Maryland’s chicken farms (Chesapeake Bay Foundation): A new study found that poultry farms on the Eastern Shore of Maryland emit an estimated 33.8 million pounds of ammonia each year.
U.S. to meet Mexico on final trade deal details (Reuters): Two senior U.S. officials are to fly to Mexico City to try to pin down refinements of labor provisions in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, potentially opening the way for congressional approval of the “new NAFTA” this year.
RFS coming soon, says EPA (Bloomberg): EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler told biofuel leaders that the agency aims to to issue the Renewable Fuel Standard for 2020 by Dec. 20, three weeks after the statutory deadline, amid complaints the agency is undermining the ethanol mandate by exempting some small refineries from it.
Five new members for organic board (USDA): The Agricultural Marketing Service appointed five new members, effective in January, to the National Organic Standards Board, the 15-member board that represents the organic community and advises USDA on regulatory standards for the National Organic Program.