Agriculture News
An odd trend in wheat country: not much wheat
ABC News | Posted on August 31, 2017An odd thing has happened in wheat country — a lot of farmers aren't planting wheat. Thanks to a global grain glut that has caused prices and profits to plunge, this year farmers planted the fewest acres of wheat since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began keeping records nearly a century ago.Instead of planting the crop that gave the wheat belt its identity, many farmers are opting this year for crops that might be less iconic but are suddenly in demand, such as chickpeas and lentils, used in hummus and healthy snacks."People have gone crazy with chickpeas. It's unbelievable how many acres there are," said Kirk Hansen, who farms 350 acres (142 hectares) south of Spokane in eastern Washington, where wheat's reign as the king crop has been challenged.American farmers still plant wheat over a vast landscape that stretches from the southern Plains of Oklahoma and Texas north through Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas as well as dry regions of Washington and Oregon. However, this year's crop of 45.7 million acres (18.49 million hectares) is the smallest since 1919.North Dakota harvested wheat acres are down 15 percent, Montana 11 percent and Nebraska 23 percent, to the state's lowest winter wheat acres on record.
The rise of the machines: robots and the future of farming
Swiss Info | Posted on August 30, 2017Drones, milking robots, driverless vehicles, intelligent sensors, bio-surveillance, data-sharing – the Swiss economics ministry is calling for farmers to embrace a “digital revolution”, marking a turning point in agricultural practices that is not without risk. Far from being science-fiction, modern tools which enable precision farming are already indispensable in delivering greater efficiencies and boosting productivity.Switzerland is at the heart of developments which have seen drones equipped with cameras capable of detecting disease or estimating the precise nutritional needs of large-scale crops, hydroponic lettuce grown in a soil-free environment fed by a cloud of 100% organic nutrients, or solar-powered robots that can target individual weeds and reduce pesticide use.
Local farmers say immigration reform should not hurt their operations
Tribune Democrat | Posted on August 30, 2017With a presidential administration that continues to call for immigration reform and secured borders, local farmers say any solution should consider the potential effects on the agriculture industry’s workforce. “Americans don’t want to do a lot of the things farmers need done,” said Marty Yahner, of Patton, who owns a sixth-generation farm with his brother, Rick, that produces corn, oats, wheat, hay and soybeans. “You can’t pay them to do it,” added Jim Benshoff, another sixth-generation vegetable farmer, calling much of the work on his farm “stoop labor,” which requires stooping down to hand-pick peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage. “We have to have this labor.” Not every migrant worker “is a violent criminal or a drug mule,” Benshoff added, saying they are often reliable and experienced.
Hop broker bankruptcy may signal industry turbulence
Capital Press | Posted on August 30, 2017The bankruptcy of a Washington hop merchant may signal renewed turbulence in the hops market, with lower-than-expected demand for the crop raising oversupply concerns. 47 Hops of Yakima, Wash., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which shields the company from creditors while it develops a restructuring plan to repay debts and remain operational.The hop broker has more than $7.4 million in debt and $4.3 million in assets, according to the filing. In 2016, the company earned $10.6 million in revenues, up from $7.1 million the previous year.
Judge gives preliminary approval of $600,000 wage settlement for Yakima Valley dairy workers
Yakima Herald | Posted on August 30, 2017A Yakima County Superior Court judge has given preliminary approval for a $600,000 settlement for a group of dairy workers at a Lower Valley dairy.Jose Martinez-Cuevas and Patricia Aguilar, on behalf of the group of nearly 300 workers, filed a class-action lawsuit against the DeRuyter Brothers Dairy of Outlook in December claiming the company failed to provide adequate meal and rest breaks and that workers were not paid for all time worked.They said they worked at the 5,000-herd dairy nine to 12 hours a day, six days a week without rest breaks, meal periods or overtime pay.
Harvey’s toll on Texas’ $100 billion ag industry still unknown
My San Antonio | Posted on August 30, 2017Losses to Texas’ $100 billion agriculture industry had not even begun to be tallied Tuesday, with farmers and ranchers still unable to get out to find stranded livestock or survey how many acres of grain, rice and cotton was destroyed by Harvey’s once-in-a-millennium downpours. Texas A&M University agricultural economist David Anderson said it was too soon to even ballpark the monetary extent of the damages.“I haven’t even tried,” he said. “It’s going to be a big number.”Texas leads the nation in production of cattle, cotton, sheep and goats and hay, and it also produces a sizable amount of wheat and corn. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 54 Texas counties declared a disaster area contain more than 1.2 million beef cows, or about 27 percent of the state’s herd. Anderson said that was a conservative census, as 14 of the counties only have estimates.
Some commercial beekeeping practices may harm honeybees more than help them
Science Daily | Posted on August 30, 2017A review paper draws on scientific studies to recommend ways to reduce honeybee disease impacts, such as limiting the mixing of bees between colonies and supporting natural bee behaviors that provide disease resistance. The paper draws on scientific studies to recommend ways to reduce disease impacts, such as limiting the mixing of bees between colonies and supporting natural bee behaviors that provide disease resistance. The paper also highlights honeybee management practices in need of more research.
Report:Effect of pesticide exposure on birth outcomes
University of California Santa Barbara | Posted on August 30, 2017Researchers unravel the negative effects of pesticide exposure on birth outcomes, such as weight, gestation and abnormalities. A new study by researchers at UC Santa Barbara addresses the issue in a novel way — by analyzing birth outcomes in California’s San Joaquin Valley.With more than one-third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts produced there, the San Joaquin Valley, not surprisingly, is a heavy pesticide-use region. The UCSB team investigated the effect of exposure during pregnancy in this agriculturally dominated area and observed an increase in adverse outcomes accompanying very high levels of pesticide exposure.Their findings appear in the journal Nature Communications. “For the majority of births, there is no statistically identifiable impact of pesticide exposure on birth outcome,” said lead author Ashley Larsen, an assistant professor in UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. “Yet mothers exposed to extreme levels of pesticides, defined here as the top 5 percent of the pesticide exposure distribution, experienced between 5 and 9 percent increases in the probability of adverse outcomes with an approximately 13-gram decrease in birth weight.”They found negative effects of pesticide exposure for all birth outcomes — birth weight, low birth weight, gestational length, preterm birth, birth abnormalities — but only for mothers exposed to very high levels of pesticides — the top 5 percent of the exposure distribution in this sample. This group was exposed to 4,200 kilograms of pesticides applied in the 1-square-mile regions encompassing their addresses during pregnancy.
Increasing Property Taxes Impact Land Owner Returns and Equilibrium Land Values
Farm Doc Daily | Posted on August 30, 2017Since 2008, per acre property taxes in Illinois have increased substantially. These increases lower returns to farmland owners and magnify the losses associated with lowering cash rents. If per acre property taxes have reached a permanently higher level, equilibrium farmland values should be expected to adjust downward. Per acre property taxes in Illinois increased in recent years, as is illustrated in Figure 1 for high-productivity farmland in central Illinois. Between 2008 and 2016, property taxes increased at a rapid rate, increasing from $24 per acre in 2008 to $53 per acre in 2016. During this eight year period, property taxes increased an average of 9.6% per year.
Hurricane Harvey: Beyond the city limits
Daily Yonder | Posted on August 30, 2017An Austin television station shows flooding in La Grange, Texas, which is about 100 miles west of Houston. Residents there pitched in to help some businesses evacuate before the waters rose.