AgClips
Recent AgClips
European Union reviewing DuPont-Dow merger
Delawareonline | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe European Union's antitrust commission has raised concerns about the historic merger between Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. and may require more concessions before approving the nearly $122 billion deal. United States, Brazil and Canada are running similar investigations of proposed arrangement. Last week, the European Union's Competition Commission initiated a second review for the $130 billion merger, which was approved in July by shareholders of both companies. The panel will look at whether the merger will reduce competition in seeds, crop protections and other areas.
What’s the future of nuclear in the Midwest? A state-by-state look
Midwest Energy News | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Energy NewsNuclear power was born in the Midwest, and helped fuel the region’s once-vibrant manufacturing sector for decades. But the Midwest’s cheap power prices and, in some states, deregulated markets make it hard for nuclear to compete with cheaper natural gas and renewables.
What 10 Years of RGGI’s Carbon-Trading Agreement Means for the Future
Green Tech Media | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Energy NewsIn August 2006, a handful of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states signed an amended memorandum of understanding that would lay the groundwork for the first multi-state carbon-trading scheme in the U.S. A decade after that agreement, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, has cut CO2 emissions from generation sources in those states by 50 million short tons, or 36 percent, from 2008 to 2014. Nine states currently participate, including all of New England, Delaware, Maryland and New York (New Jersey pulled out in 2011).
COE Rejects Arizona Vet School Proposal
Veterinary Practice News | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Rural NewsThe University of Arizona’s plan to open the nation’s 31st veterinary school was dealt a severe setback when the Council on Education refused to issue a letter of reasonable assurance of accreditation, UA announced today. The decision will be appealed, said Shane C. Burgess, Ph.D., the interim dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Council chairman John R. Pascoe, BVSc, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVS, told UA in a letter that the school’s plan fell short on five of the 11 standards that colleges of veterinary medicine are expected to meet.
AVMA chooses Donlin as Executive VP
Veterinary Practice News | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe head of the AVMA Professional Liability Insurance Trust (AVMA PLIT) has been hired as the day-to-day leader of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Janet Donlin, DVM, CAE, will replace Ron DeHaven, DVM, MBA, as executive vice president and CEO of the 88,000-member organization Sept. 12. Dr. DeHaven is retiring after nine years in the post. The decision came days after the AVMA House of Delegates amended a bylaw so the position of executive vice president or assistant executive vice president may be filled someday by a non-veterinarian.
Wind Generates 100% of Scotland's Electricity Needs for Entire Day
Eco Watch | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Energy NewsAfter analyzing data from Weather Energy, the environmental group WWF Scotland announced that wind turbines generated more than 100 percent of the total amount of electricity used in the country on Aug. 7.
How Rural Farming Communities Are Fighting Economic Decline
NPR | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Rural NewsThe vacant storefronts on Main Street make it clear that the town is no longer in its prime. Like many rural towns, Brookfield's top moneymakers in decades past were agriculture, transportation and manufacturing. While those industries still exist today, each has taken a hit. The town lost an auto plant. The railroad station is no longer bustling. And farming isn't bringing in as much as it used to. This story is a familiar one for thousands of towns across rural America.
The brave new world of robots and lost jobs
The Washington Post | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Rural NewsThe deeper problem facing the United States is how to provide meaningful work and good wages for the tens of millions of truck drivers, accountants, factory workers and office clerks whose jobs will disappear in coming years because of robots, driverless vehicles and “machine learning” systems. The political debate needs to engage the taboo topic of guaranteeing economic security to families — through a universal basic income, or a greatly expanded earned-income tax credit, or a 1930s-style plan for public-works employment. Ranting about bad trade deals won’t begin to address the problem.
Beyond Spam, Hormels Secret Weapon for the future of food
Bloomberg | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Food NewsSpam, more than any other product, defines Hormel. Through its 125-year history, the company’s strategy has been simple: protein, preferably with a long shelf life. Its other brands—Dinty Moore beef stew, Mary Kitchen hash, Real Bacon toppings, Herb-Ox bouillon cubes and its eponymous chili—sound like the shopping list for a Cold War fallout shelter. But around 2007, Hormel quietly embarked on a venture that would take it deeper than it had ever been into the cupboards and kitchens of Americans, many of them immigrants, many of them young.
USDA finalizes swine price reporting changes
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted onAugust 17, 2016 in Federal NewsUSDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced a final rule amending swine and lamb reporting provisions related to the reauthorization of the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting program. The final rule, which becomes effective on Oct. 11, amends two swine reporting requirements and one lamb reporting requirement. For swine, packers are required to report purchases on a negotiated formula basis as a separate purchase category. Second, packers must report all barrow and gilt purchases made after 1:30 p.m. Central time in their morning submission on the next reporting day.