Stabenow: Farmers need hurricane aid
Hurricane Helene struck the U.S. Southeast as crops were maturing for harvest and growers will need emergency assistance, said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on Monday. Poultry barns and processing plants along with field crops were damaged from Florida to North Carolina and Tennessee, according to early reports.
Dicamba-resistant weeds established in western Tennessee
The fast-growing weed Palmer amaranth has developed a tolerance for dicamba herbicide in least five counties in western Tennessee and likely several others, said University of Tennessee weed specialist Larry Steckel on Monday. The report was a setback for dicamba, which was introduced a few years ago as a new tool for control of invasive weeds that showed resistance to glyphosate and other weedkillers.
Missouri limits use of BASF’s dicamba weedkiller
After consulting growers, researchers and chemical companies, the Missouri Agriculture Department said it will ban use of BASF's dicamba weedkiller on cotton and soybeans after June 1 in 10 southeastern counties and in the rest of the state after July 15 in order to prevent damage to neighboring crops. The state agency said it expects to issue similar limits for Monsanto and DuPont versions of the herbicide.
Former House aggie Steve Fincher may run for Senate in Tennessee
Farm operator Steve Fincher, who served three terms in the House, including time on the Agriculture Committee, said he is probably going to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Bob Corker, said the Memphis Daily News. The newspaper quoted Fincher as saying, "We're very close to getting in. We're not 100 percent. But we're very close."
Farm Belt question: Are dicamba-tolerant seeds the only way to avoid crop damage?
Missouri has tightened its rules for dicamba, permitting use of the herbicide only during the day and if winds are mild, as agriculture officials in the mid-South try to contain crop damage from the weedkiller sprayed on cotton and soybeans. Widespread reports of damage have left some growers feeling forced into buying dicamba-tolerant GE seed.
Second outbreak of deadly bird flu found in Tennessee
The USDA confirmed the second case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in southern Tennessee since March 4, in a 55,000-bird broiler-breeder flock less than two miles from the first outbreak in Lincoln County. "Depopulation has begun," a standard step to prevent spread of the bird flu virus that can wipe out an infected flock in two days, said USDA.
Bird flu suspected in three counties in northern Alabama
The Alabama state veterinarian issued a "stop movement" order affecting poultry because of three suspected cases of bird flu in northern counties that border Tennessee, said the state Department of Agriculture and Industries. The incidents follow the confirmation of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a broiler-breeder farm in southern Tennessee last week.
In wake of bird-flu outbreak, weeks of tests and surveillance in Tennessee
Nearly 74,000 chickens were killed and buried on a farm in southern Tennessee in an effort to stem an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, said state officials. The first round of samples from flocks on neighboring farms were free of the disease, said state veterinarian Charlie Hatcher, who cautioned, "We'll be in this thing for a long haul."
Tennessee flock has first U.S. case of deadly bird flu this year
Agriculture officials ordered the culling of 73,500 chickens on a Tennessee farm near the border with Alabama, and put 30 nearby poultry farms under quarantine following discovery of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the breeding flock. It was the first case of "high path" bird flu in commercial poultry in the nation this year.
As drought spreads, the South prays for rain
At the same time rainfall is slaking drought in the Pacific Northwest, the southeastern quadrant of the United States faces intensifying drought, with the worst conditions in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and eastern Tennessee. Georgia's state agriculture director, Gary Black, is to take part in a rally to "discuss the drought facing Georgia's agricultural community and to pray for the rain Georgia so desperately needs" on Monday.
A primary election olio in three parts
1. North Carolina Rep Renee Ellmers won the Republican nomination for a third term on Tuesday in "the one House race where immigration matters," as Politico phrased it. Ellmers, with Tea Party roots, is one of a few Republicans to support legalization of undocumented workers. She beat her opponent, economic commentator Frank Roche, by a 3-to-2 margin, says the State Board of Elections Web site.
Series on food stamps wins Pulitzer Prize
Eli Saslow's "unsettling and nuanced reporting on the prevalence of food stamps in post-recession America, forcing readers to grapple with issues of poverty and dependency," won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting.