Agriculture News
Why China is building its own version of an Iowa farm
USA Today | Posted on September 28, 2017China is eager to modernize the operations of its 260 million mostly small-scale farmers, with Iowa held up not only as a model but an ideal: In the words of one Chinese official, Iowa is “the place where the dream for modern farming began.” Iowa, meanwhile, craves ever more access to the Chinese market and its growing middle class.Kimberley stood there Saturday morning thanks to a famous visitor to his own Iowa farm in February 2012: Chinese President Xi Jinping surveyed the vast fields, towering grain bins and enormous tractors and saw inspiration for the future of rural China. Branstad stood there that day, too.Zhou Zhongming, the party secretary from Chengde who presided over Saturday’s groundbreaking, spoke of Xi’s explicit instructions two years ago that this province of Hebei should strengthen its agricultural cooperation with Iowa, its sister state.Kimberley, meanwhile, told the Chinese how his grandfather purchased his first modest tractor in 1930, a 30-horsepower John Deere. And since he began farming in 1972, his yields have doubled.
Court Holds Insurance Pollution Clause Excludes Coverage for Manure Contamination
Texas A&M | Posted on September 28, 2017Judge Thomas Rice of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washingon issued a ruling earlier this month that is important for agricultural producers to be aware of when purchasing liability insurance policies. Specifically, Judge Rice held that when a Washington dairy was sued for contaminating drinking water with manure, its insurance company was justified in denying coverage based upon absolute pollution exclusion clauses in the dairy’s policies.
How Heritage Foundation’s U.S. Farm Policy Proposals Would Put America Last
Farm Policy Facts | Posted on September 28, 2017The Heritage Report recommends that the safety net provided by the Farm Bill’s Commodity Title be eliminated for crop and dairy farmers although analysis of a more modest proposal offered during the 2008 Farm Bill debate concluded that most farms and ranches would not be able to survive the resulting erosion in farm income. The Heritage Report’s recommendation comes at a time when national net farm income has fallen 50 percent over the past four years and, regionally, farmers have endured difficult conditions for an even longer period. The previous proposal was put forward at a time when the farm economy was relatively strong affording farmers an opportunity to build up reserves and equity. The Heritage Report also recommends that crop insurance be cut but maintained in the short-term, along with livestock disaster assistance, until a complete transition away from any government involvement in agriculture is achieved. The cuts to Federal Crop Insurance recommended in the Heritage Report would erase the significant gains made under crop insurance over the past 23 years and, in effect, restore the previous federal policy of maintaining a weak crop insurance system buttressed by costly, un-budgeted ad hoc disaster assistance. The reversal in policy would come at a time when Congress has not enacted an ad hoc crop loss disaster program for 10 years and 90 percent of all U.S. planted acres are insured. The Heritage Report further recommends that the U.S. make total and unilateral concessions on agriculture in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and eliminate all domestic trade laws with the objective of causing foreign trading partners to do the same on the strength of America’s leadership. However, analysis of the Heritage proposal indicates that the high and rising subsidies, tariffs, and non-tariff trade barriers of foreign competitors would continue, leaving U.S. farmers and ranchers to fend alone against the predatory trade practices of other nations which is inconsonant with current U.S. objectives on trade.
ASA Steps up Urgency in Search for Answers on Dicamba Damage
American Soybean Association | Posted on September 28, 2017As nationwide reports of dicamba-related damage to soybeans and other crops continue to climb, American Soybean Association (ASA) President and Illinois farmer Ron Moore reiterated the association’s commitment to find a solution to the issue: “This issue isn’t going away—in fact, it’s only getting worse. There are now a reported 2,242 complaints affecting 3.1 million acres of soybeans in 21 of our 30 soybean-growing states, and we expect that number to continue to rise. This is unacceptable, and we are committed to establishing both a cause and a path forward on the dicamba issue, including what actions need to be taken to assure that soybean farmers can use the product safely without damaging their own or their neighbors’ crops.“We continue to strongly support independent research underway at several land grant universities and coordinated by the national soybean checkoff to find answers.“We need this independent university research as well as other efforts by the national and state soybean checkoffs to determine the root causes of this widespread problem and how to address them, whether that be additional education, application restrictions, or other actions to ensure that low-volatility formulations of dicamba stay on target and don’t damage neighboring crops.“There is an important good neighbor aspect to consider here as well. While damage may be related to product sprayed over soybeans, the effects have reportedly impacted other adjacent crops, including tree fruit and other specialty crops. As the policy representative for soybean farmers, ASA has a duty to ensure that we are successfully coexisting with other crops, so we take these reports very seriously.
The Codfather gets nearly 4 years for evading fishing quotas
ABC News | Posted on September 28, 2017A U.S. fishing magnate known as The Codfather who pleaded guilty to evading fishing quotas and smuggling money to Portugal was sentenced on Monday to nearly four years in prison. Carlos Rafael, who owns one of the nation's largest commercial fishing operations, falsely claimed his vessels caught haddock or pollock when they had actually caught other species subject to stricter quotas, federal authorities said. He then sold the fish for cash, some of which was smuggled overseas.Rafael pleaded guilty in March to false labeling and fish identification and tax evasion, among other charges. He was sentenced in federal court in Boston to 46 months behind bars, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts tweeted.Rafael's fishing operation includes a fleet of more than 30 vessels, 44 commercial fishing permits and the Carlos Seafood business in New Bedford.
Farm mega-homes are on the rise, and their owners may be benefitting from huge tax breaks
Business Insider | Posted on September 28, 2017North America is seeing an increasing number of "farm mega-homes," large estates built on agricultural land. Even if mansion owners are not farming on a large scale, some have the ability to receive hefty tax exemptions, a loophole that city councils are trying to regulate.The loss of agricultural land to housing development could have consequences in the future. Farmland in North America is not only facing threats from increasingly temperatures and prolonged droughts — but also from the rise of mansions.
Deaths of farmworkers in cow manure ponds put oversight of dairy farms into question
Chicago Tribune | Posted on September 28, 2017Munoz's death, which occurred in the nearby town of Shelley last September, was one of two fatal accidents last year involving dairymen who either choked or drowned in pits of cow manure. Another laborer from Mexico died last month after he was crushed by a skid loader, used to move feed and manure. The deaths have rattled Idaho's dairy industry as well as local immigrant communities that do the bulk of the work producing nearly 15 billion pounds of milk annually on the industrial-sized farms in the state's southern prairie. As farms have transitioned from family operations into big businesses involving thousands of cows and massive machinery, new safety concerns have emerged. Agricultural workers suffer fatal on-the-job injuries at a very high rate - far higher than police officers and more than twice the rate of construction workers in 2015, the last year for which comprehensive records are available.Farms have become increasingly reliant on immigrant workers, who often have minimal training or experience dealing with dangerous equipment and large animals. That has left farm laborers especially vulnerable to workplace deaths, such as being electrocuted, crushed by tractors, kicked by a heifer or beat up by a bull.Despite injury rates far exceeding other industries, the agriculture industry receives relatively light federal oversight of worker safety. Regulations established when farms were more likely to be small, family operations haven't kept up with the rapidly consolidating industry. Historically, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has taken a hands-off approach, conducting inspections when there is only a report of a serious accident or fatality.
China postpones food import controls after global outcry
ABC news | Posted on September 28, 2017China has delayed enforcing sweeping new controls on food imports following complaints by the United States, Europe and other trading partners that they would disrupt billions of dollars in trade. Rules requiring each food shipment to have an inspection certificate from a foreign government were due to take effect Sunday. But Beijing has decided to grant a transitional period of two years following comments by other governments, according to a document submitted to the World Trade Organization. It gave no details, but the delay might help avert concerns that shipments of meat, fruit, dairy and other products could be disrupted, hurting thousands of farmers and food processors who look to China as a key growth market.The dispute added to trade tensions with the United States and Europe, which complain that low-priced exports of Chinese steel and aluminum are hurting foreign competitors and threatening jobs.
Chicken ‘rescuers’ take audacity to a new level
Watt Ag Net | Posted on September 28, 2017It’s nothing new to read about animal rights extremistsremoving animals from a farm because they believe they are rescuing them from a life of mistreatment. But a group of young people from an organization called Denver Baby Animal Save have entered territory that is at least new to me.Not only did they apparently steal three chickens from a farm, but they also admitted to doing so with a post on Facebook. Sadly, they see what they did as noble. Fortunately, it appears most people disagree. Long Shadow Farm co-owner Kristin Ramey told the reporter that the activists asked her 8-year-old daughter to show them to a building where chickens were housed. They left the facility with three chickens, including a rooster that belonged to one of the farm’s customers. They also set three other chickens free, but workers at the farm were able to round up those three.
EPA inspector general faults agency on livestock odor plan
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on September 28, 2017The Environmental Protection Agency has not held up its end of an agreement with the livestock industry to develop methods for estimating airborne emissions, particularly odors, from farms, EPA’s Office of the Inspector General said in a report. The agreement, reached in 2005, was intended to provide livestock operations with guidelines for complying with the Clean Air Act and environmental emergency response rules. According to the report, the industry developed emissions data seven years ago but has not released any information on methods for estimating emissions and has only drafted proposals for one-fourth of the pollutants named in the study. And, the agency has no plan for completing the work.