Agriculture News
Monsanto sues Arkansas board for banning disputed herbicide
KATV | Posted on October 23, 2017A major agribusiness company is suing Arkansas regulators over their decision to ban its version of an herbicide.Monsanto asked a state judge on Friday to block the Arkansas Plant Board from enforcing regulations that prevent the company's dicamba weed killer from being used from April 15 through September 15 each year.The herbicide has drawn complaints from farmers in several states who say the weed killer has drifted onto their crops and caused widespread damage.Monsanto says the board's decision is arbitrary and deprives farmers of a needed tool to combat weeds.
UI economist sees greater profits in pasture than wheat
Capital Press | Posted on October 23, 2017Local farmer and rancher Boyd Foster has confirmed he’s better off financially to convert some pivots from wheat to grass. Foster explained that good irrigated pasture is in extremely short supply, but there’s a glut of wheat weighing down the market, forcing grain prices well below production costs.University of Idaho Extension economist Ben Eborn has reached the same conclusion, recently publishing an enterprise budget showing Eastern Idaho producers who raise irrigated pasture rather than wheat should stay in the black.
Insurance claims denied as companies grapple with dicamba injury
The Progressive Farmer | Posted on October 23, 2017There was no question what was to blame for the curled soybeans on the central Illinois farm in late June. The farmer, the neighbor who made the application, even the investigator from the neighbor's insurance company, all agreed. Off-target dicamba movement was the culprit.Yet the letter the injured farmer received months later from the insurance company was quite clear: "We do not find any negligence on the part of our insured and are respectfully denying your claim." The company concluded that the dicamba damage had occurred from volatility -- a factor beyond the applicator's control -- and that fault lay with the product, not the application of it.DTN acquired copies of these letters, but because of the sensitivity of the situation, allowed the sources to remain anonymous.The dicamba injury crisis of 2017 has forced many farmers and applicators to delve more deeply into the world of liability insurance, full of confusing language and important legal implications.
Iowa farmers face fourth year of possible losses heading into harvest
Des Moines Register | Posted on October 23, 2017Here are some numbers worrying Nodaway farmer Bill Shipley: He could get $8.96 for each bushel of soybeans he brings to his southeast Iowa elevator. But the statewide average cost is over $9 a bushel.Corn prices are even more grim: Iowa farmers could potentially lose 30 to 40 cents per bushel, with prices around $3 at Iowa elevators, based on estimates from Chad Hart, an Iowa State University economist."It's getting tighter and tighter out here," Shipley said. "Corn and soybean demand is good, but there's just a lot of it."Despite drought concerns this growing season, Iowa farmers are expected to produce the state's second-largest soybean crop, behind last year’s, and third-largest corn crop, following only 2016 and 2015 harvests.Nationally, it's the largest soybean crop and second-largest corn crop ever.
Thousands of jobs depend on the wine industry’s uncertain recovery from fires
The Atlantic | Posted on October 23, 2017When the winemaker Jean Hoefliger arrived at his small Napa Valley winery at 3:30 a.m. on October 9, the morning the Northern California fires broke out, he had a multimillion-dollar business decision to make. Two fires on opposite sides of the valley tore down the hillsides toward nearly $14 million worth of unpicked, almost-ripe Cabernet Sauvignon grapes at some of the vineyards scattered across the valley that supply or are owned by Alpha Omega Winery, where Hoefliger is the head winemaker. Smoke plumed high overhead, snowing ash down on what are Alpha Omega’s most valuable grapes.* That morning, Hoefliger faced a simple question: to pick, or not to pick?It’s a question countless other winemakers across Napa and its wine-producing neighbors, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, have had to answer as deadly wildfires carry on throughout the region for a second week. As he stood near rows of grapes, I asked Regalia how much his grapes had been affected by the smoke. He said he didn’t know, but that his dog Arlo, a yellow lab who followed us around the winery and regularly eats mouthfuls of grapes off the crush-facility conveyor belt, may be the best judge. “He usually loves Malbec and Grenache,” Regalia said. “But I tried to give him some the other day and he spit them right out.”
GMO Innovation Contest
GMO answers | Posted on October 20, 2017If you could use biotechnology to solve any food problem around the world, what would it be and why? SUbmit your 30 second video for a chance to win! As part of this year’s Get to Know GMOs Month in October, GMO Answers is challenging you to show us the importance of GMOs and biotechnology in addressing global food challenges.Submit a 15-30 second video answering the question If you could use biotechnology to solve any food problem around the world, what would it be and why?Use #GMOInnovationContest when uploading your video to Instagram, YouTube or Vimeo. *Remember to make your profile public!Videos will be judged based on content, creativity and ability to present biotech as a crucial part of our planet’s health, safety and future. Submissions accepted from now through Oct. 23.
Biodefense Panel finds animal agriculture increasingly threatened
Biodefense Study | Posted on October 20, 2017The increasing rate of emerging and reemerging animal diseases, along with threats and attempts by those with nefarious intent to attack food and agriculture, point to the need to reduce the biological risk to America’s food and agricultural sector. That is the finding of a new report out today from the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense: Defense of Animal Agriculture. This is the first in a series of special focus reports. It includes the Panel’s evaluation of threats to animal agriculture, central to the health and well-being of the population and the security of one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy. “Every year, we discover new threats to the Nation that could severely impact our animal agriculture,” said Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader and Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Panel Member. “Whether these threats arise here at home or abroad, we need to ensure that both domestic and international agrodefense efforts occur in concert. Governmental and non-governmental stakeholders also need to work together to eliminate vulnerabilities and reduce potential consequences that would affect our animals, lives, and economy. Implementing the proposals contained in this new report will prevent illness, death, and economic disaster.”
Minnesota grants fund on-farm livestock improvements
Farm Forum | Posted on October 20, 2017Livestock producers may apply for a portion of $1.9 million in Livestock Investment Grants. Funds are provided by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) Agricultural Growth, Research and Innovation (AGRI) Program and may be used for on-farm improvements. “Livestock Investment Grants help farmers stay competitive and reinvest in their industry,” said MDA Commissioner Dave Frederickson. “Last year, 105 livestock farmers received grants to improve their operations.”
In glyphosate review, WHO cancer agency edited out 'non-carcinogenic' findings
Reuters | Posted on October 20, 2017The World Health Organization’s cancer agency dismissed and edited findings from a draft of its review of the weedkiller glyphosate that were at odds with its final conclusion that the chemical probably causes cancer. One effect of the changes to the draft, reviewed by Reuters in a comparison with the published report, was the removal of multiple scientists’ conclusions that their studies had found no link between glyphosate and cancer in laboratory animals.In one instance, a fresh statistical analysis was inserted - effectively reversing the original finding of a study being reviewed by IARC.In another, a sentence in the draft referenced a pathology report ordered by experts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It noted the report “firmly” and “unanimously” agreed that the “compound” – glyphosate – had not caused abnormal growths in the mice being studied. In the final published IARC monograph, this sentence had been deleted.Reuters found 10 significant changes that were made between the draft chapter on animal studies and the published version of IARC’s glyphosate assessment. In each case, a negative conclusion about glyphosate leading to tumors was either deleted or replaced with a neutral or positive one. Reuters was unable to determine who made the changes.
Vidalia onion farmer ordered to pay $1.4M in overtime suit
The Seattle Times | Posted on October 20, 2017One of the largest producers of Georgia’s famous Vidalia onions must pay $1.4 million in damages and unpaid overtime owed to hundreds of workers, a federal judge ruled. A U.S. District Court judge found that Bland Farms Production and Packing LLC failed to pay overtime to 460 workers during spring harvest seasons from 2012 through this year. The U.S. Department of Labor filed suit against the company, owned by farmer Delbert Bland of Glennville, in 2014.