Nearly $1 million in penalties: The Labor Department issued 59 violations and proposed $998,637 in penalties against three firms responsible for operations at a Georgia poultry plant where six workers died from a nitrogen leak. (Labor Department)
‘Golden rice’ approval: The Philippines is the first nation in the world to approve cultivation of “golden rice,” genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene in hopes of reducing childhood blindness, after years of debate, said the developers. (Agence France-Presse)
USDA overstepped limits: The USDA decision to give a 10 percent inflationary increase for Conservation Reserve contracts and set a minimum payment of $15 an acre for the grasslands option risks “being ruled invalid in the coming weeks or months,” said the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee. (Agri-Pulse)
Klamath fish farming: California farmer Ron Barnes dug dozens of ponds on his farm and filled them with thousands of young suckerfish with the hope of de-escalating the fight over irrigation water in the Klamath basin by stocking the Klamath River with endangered fish. (Los Angeles Times)
Feral hog law: A new law in Missouri, which has a rapidly growing feral hog population, sets a fine of $2,000 for anyone who releases hogs “to live in a wild or feral state.” (Farms.com)