AgClips
Recent AgClips
American Protein Consumption Growing Again
DTN | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Food NewsRecord-high meat prices over the last several years pushed more than a few consumers away from grocery store meat counters. That trend is beginning to reverse now, as falling prices bring buyers back and build per capita protein consumption. A new report from Rabobank Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory group, "Chickens, Cows, and Pigs ... Oh My!", described 2015 as a "momentous" year for the livestock industry, with the largest increase in U.S. meat consumption seen since the 1970s, at 5% per capita.
Cow belches help drive California dairy industry lobbying blitz
Sacramento Bee | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsCow dung and cow stomach gas: not just smelly, but also politically loaded.
Cargill stops using anitbiotics in turkey production
Brownfield | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Food NewsCargill says it has stopped using an antibiotic for disease prevention in its turkeys that is also used in human medicine. The company says as of August first, the use of gentamicin was stopped for turkeys harvested for its two largest brands. However, the company says turkeys will still be treated with antibiotics for control and treatment of disease. Cargill says it’s making good on its promise to reduce its overall use of antibiotics in its turkey business and that products covered by this decision will be available starting next year.
Legal Guide for Using Food Scraps as Animal Feed
Food Recovery Project | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Food NewsThe use of food scraps as animal feed has been a common practice worldwide for centuries. The vision of a classic agrarian homestead often features the farmer’s children bringing dinner scraps out to “slop the pigs” and feed the chickens. Yet the practice of feeding food scraps to animals has declined precipitously since the 1980s, when several disease outbreaks were linked to animal feed (specifically, animal products in livestock feed), including foot-and-mouth disease in swine and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly referred to as mad cow disease, in cattle.
Illinois leaders promote NY energy program as model
Quad City Times | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Energy NewsA group of Illinois mayors and community leaders encouraged state lawmakers in a letter Tuesday to follow the lead of the state of New York, which has adopted a new energy program that will help preserve several of that state's struggling nuclear plants. The letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders was sent on the same day as Exelon Generation announced an agreement to assume ownership and management of Entergy Corp.'s James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, New York.
Report: States stand to gain if corporations have better access to renewables
Midwest Energy News | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Energy NewsFour Midwest states rank among the top in the nation for making it easier for corporations to gain better access to wind and solar. According to a report by Advanced Energy Economy. The report lists the top 11 states that are “above average” when it comes to clean energy resources available as well as having large industrial energy loads, which includes Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. The report makes six policy recommendations that would make it easier for large energy users in those states to access renewable energy.
USDA predicts record corn crop; slashes corn, soybean price outlook
meatingplace.com | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsU.S. corn production is forecast at a record 15.2 billion bushels, up 613 million from the July projection, according to USDA’s first survey-based corn yield forecast of the year. Consequently, USDA slashed its projected range for the season-average corn price by 25 cents on both ends to $2.85 to $3.45 per bushel for the 2016/17 crop year. This would be down 45 cents at the midpoint from the $3.55 to $3.65 per bushel range now expected for 2015/16. Corn ending stocks for 2016/17 are projected 328 million bushels higher and, if realized, would be the highest since 1987/88. U.S.
Britain's Post-Brexit Promise of Farm And Science Subsidies Is Only Temporary
Forbes | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Federal NewsPhilip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that Britain will continue to pay the usual farming and scientific subsidies beyond the time that Britain leaves the European Union. This seems sensible as it at least provides certainty in the short term. We don’t even know how long it will take to leave the EU so the promise PMSEY +% to continue the subsidies to 2020 does indeed make that sense.
Low prices force some farms to their knees financially
MPR News | Posted onAugust 15, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe U.S. agriculture department predicted another record harvest this fall on Friday, raising the prospect of yet more financial pain in farm country. Crop, livestock and dairy farms are all suffering. Some are filing for bankruptcy, among them John Quaal, who runs a dairy farm near Fergus Falls. It's nearly impossible to break even producing milk, he said. Milk, like corn and soybeans, has been fetching less money than it costs to produce the commodity for most of those two years. Grain producers are in the third year of a financial downturn.
Rx Drug Death Rate Grows Fastest in Rural
Daily Yonder | Posted onAugust 12, 2016 in Rural NewsRural counties have seen a disproportionate jump in deaths from prescription-drug overdoses in the past 15 years, increasing at a pace three times that of the nation’s most urban counties. About three-quarters of all U.S. deaths caused by prescription drugs in 2014 were from opioid pain killers, making prescriptions a major part of the nation’s opioid epidemic. Rural – or “noncore” – counties saw an average increase in prescription drug deaths rates of about 9 percent per year from 1999 to 2014.