Agriculture News
Delaware Court Awards Summary Judgment to John Deere & Co. in Asbestos Action
Harris Martin | Posted on May 18, 2017A Delaware state court has awarded summary judgment to John Deere & Co. in an asbestos action, finding that the plaintiff had failed to present sufficient evidence to support his assertion that he was injured by asbestos fibers in the defendant’s product. In the May 10 opinion, the Delaware Superior Court concluded that a reasonable jury could not find, beyond speculation, that the parts in question were actually manufactured or supplied by the defendant.Plaintiff Nathanial Harris contended in his complaint that he developed lung cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos fibers he encountered.
Feds: Arizona farm kept workers in squalor, didn't fully pay
The Sacramento Bee | Posted on May 18, 2017The federal government says an Arizona farm has kept temporary Mexican workers in squalid conditions and paid some of them only a fraction of what they are owed. The Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against G Farms in El Mirage, located just northwest of Phoenix, last week. A judge was scheduled to hear arguments on Tuesday.The department says that G Farms housed about 70 workers here on a visa in a dangerous and unsanitary encampment composed of school buses, semitrailers, a cargo container and an open-air shed.
For Poor Nations, Productivity Begins on the Farm
Bloomberg | Posted on May 18, 2017hen discussing countries that have undergone astonishing economic transformations -- as, most notably, China has over the past few decades -- observers usually credit success to industrialization. After all, that’s the visible consequence of rapid growth: Where sleepy fishing villages once lay, ports and factories and high-speed rail networks spring up. The people who lived in those villages are in turn far more productive, working in those factories and shipping goods to the rest of the world through those ports. Moving up the productivity scale from farm to factory -- that’s the key to growth, right? As it happens, the crucial breakthrough may not take place in cities at all, but on farms. If emerging nations like India want to replicate China’s success, they first have to improve their agricultural productivity. In theory, we’ve known this for awhile -- at least since the birth of the world’s first industrial nation. Centuries of rising agricultural productivity preceded and fueled the explosion of smokestacks and steamships in 19th century Britain. Economists still aren’t certain what caused this “agricultural revolution.” Was it the consolidation of landholdings? Or the development of crop rotation? Or, perhaps, turnips?Whatever the case, most historians agree that the steady growth in British agricultural productivity till 1850 -- it tripled over a few centuries -- permitted workers to leave their fields and caused the build-up of surpluses that allowed for investment. Excess labor and capital came together to power the first industrial nation.
Geneticists Enlist Engineered Virus and CRISPR to Battle Citrus Disease
Scientific American | Posted on May 18, 2017The agricultural company Southern Gardens Citrus in Clewiston, Florida, applied to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in February for permission to use an engineered version of the citrus tristeza virus (CTV) to attack the bacterium behind citrus greening. This disease has slashed US orange production in half over the past decade, and threatens to destroy the US$3.3-billion industry entirely. The required public comment period on the application ended last week, and the USDA will now assess the possible environmental effects of the engineered virus.Field trials of engineered CTV are already under way. If the request is approved, it would be the first time this approach has been used commercially. It could also provide an opportunity to sidestep the regulations and public stigma attached to genetically engineered crops.“There’s a real race on right now to try to save the citrus,” says Carolyn Slupsky, a food scientist at the University of California, Davis. “This disease is everywhere, and it’s horrible.”The engineered virus is just one option being explored to tackle citrus greening. Other projects aim to edit the genome of citrus trees using CRISPR–Cas9 to make them more resistant to the pest, or engineer trees to express defence genes or short RNA molecules that prevent disease transmission. Local growers have also helped to fund an international project that has sequenced citrus trees to hunt for more weapons against citrus greening.
The labels said ‘organic.’ But these massive imports of corn and soybeans weren’t.
The Washington Post | Posted on May 18, 2017A shipment of 36 million pounds of soybeans sailed late last year from Ukraine to Turkey to California. Along the way, it underwent a remarkable transformation.The cargo began as ordinary soybeans, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Like ordinary soybeans, they were fumigated with a pesticide. They were priced like ordinary soybeans, too.But by the time the 600-foot cargo ship carrying them to Stockton, Calif., arrived in December, the soybeans had been labeled “organic,” according to receipts, invoices and other shipping records. That switch — the addition of the “USDA Organic” designation — boosted their value by approximately $4 million, creating a windfall for at least one company in the supply chain.After being contacted by The Post, the broker for the soybeans, Annapolis-based Global Natural, emailed a statement saying it may have been “provided with false certification documents” regarding some grain shipments from Eastern Europe. About 21 million pounds of the soybeans have already been distributed to customers. The multimillion-dollar metamorphosis of the soybeans, as well as two other similar grain shipments in the past year examined by The Post, demonstrate weaknesses in the way that the United States ensures that what is sold as “USDA Organic” is really organic.The three shipments, each involving millions of pounds of “organic” corn or soybeans, were large enough to constitute a meaningful proportion of the U.S. supply of those commodities. All three were presented as organic, despite evidence to the contrary. And all three hailed from Turkey, now one of the largest exporters of organic products to the United States, according to Foreign Agricultural Service statistics.
D.C. mayor backs off proposed chicken ban
The Washington Post | Posted on May 18, 2017Bowing to public uproar and deeply skeptical council members, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has scrapped proposals for a far-reaching set of animal regulations that would have decidedly cramped the style of cats, dogs and chickens in the nation’s capital. Bowser included the rules in legislation attached to her proposal for next year’s budget. But the mayor’s office had not reckoned with the public reaction to measures that included a ban on backyard chickens, a requirement that all cats be licensed and a provision that seemed to outlaw leaving dog feces in a private yard for more than 24 hours. After a Health Committee meeting last week at which council members jeered the regulations — which they said had nothing to do with the budget — and chicken and cat owners found common cause in defending their pets’ liberties, the mayor relented.
Judge Sides With Ex-EPA Employee in Monsanto Cancer Suit
Bloomberg | Posted on May 18, 2017A federal judge rejected an attempt by attorneys to pry more information out of a retired EPA scientist embroiled in a bitter battle between Monsanto Co. and thousands of cancer victims. The judge also criticized lawyers at a recent hearing for mounting a public relations campaign against the agrichemical giant.U.S. District for the Northern District of California Judge Vince Chhabria on denied a motion from victims’ attorneys to compel additional testimony from Jess Rowland, a former deputy director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs who led the cancer review for Monsanto Co.'s signature weedkiller, Roundup. The plaintiffs allege that the herbicide gave them non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a common form of cancer affecting the lymphatic system ( In re Roundup Products Liability Litigation , N.D. Cal., 3:16-md-02741, 5/15/17 ). Rowland wrote a preliminary report that found that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, is not likely to cause cancer, and left the agency shortly after that report was accidentally posted online. The attorneys have sought to portray Rowland as a key player in assuring glyphosate’s stamp of approval in the U.S., despite a 2015 finding from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that the herbicide is probably carcinogenic.
DFA to stop marketing independent farms’ milk
Farm and Dairy | Posted on May 18, 2017Approximately 225 independent milk producers in the Mideast marketing order have until Nov. 30 to find a new home for their milk. The dairymen received letters from Dairy Farmers of America’s Dairy Marketing Services, dated May 15, informing them that the cooperative will no longer market the independent producers’ milk. The farmers will receive a six-month notice of termination. The farmers will have the option of joining DFA or finding another market by Nov. 30, 2017. This action will affect approximately 92 farms in Ohio; 85 farms in Indiana; 35 in Pennsylvania; six in New York; four in West Virginia; and one in Kentucky. These farms contribute roughly 10 percent of the milk marketed by DMS in Federal Order 33. Dairy Marketing Services said growth in the region’s milk supply and declining consumer demand for fluid milk products has triggered a supply-demand imbalance, particularly in the eastern United States.
Lessons learned should guide dairy’s future
Madison.com | Posted on May 16, 2017Over the past month, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection focused on finding a short-term solution for the dozens of Wisconsin dairy farm families who suddenly lost their milk market. Thankfully on May 1, 99 percent of the milk had found a new home, at least temporarily. While we will continue to assist farmers through the Wisconsin Farm Center, it is now time for us as an industry to keep the conversation going and look long-term. The lessons we have learned should be what guides the future of Wisconsin’s dairy industry. Communication needs to start between the farmer and the processor. Processing plants and farmers will have to work together directly to determine how much milk is needed. We cannot produce milk that does not have a final market. Government can’t hinder advancement. Local, state and federal governments need to be consistent and predictable in their permitting and enforcement. The regulations and standards need to keep up with advancements in technology, such as ultra-high temperature processing, and be clearly communicated to ensure we have a safe, nutritious and reliable food supply for years to come
Scientists say ag is good for honeybees
Feedstuffs | Posted on May 16, 2017In a recent study, researchers with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture found the overall health of honey bees improved in the presence of agricultural production, despite the increased exposure to agricultural pesticides. The study, "Agricultural Landscape & Pesticide Effects on Honey Bee Biological Traits," which was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology, evaluated the effects of row-crop agriculture -- including the traditional use of pesticides -- on honeybee health.Results indicated that hive health was positively correlated to the presence of agriculture. According to the study, colonies in a non-agricultural area struggled to find adequate food resources and produced fewer offspring."We're not saying that pesticides are not a factor in honeybee health. There were a few events during the season where insecticide applications caused the death of some foraging bees," said lead author Mohamed Alburaki, a post-doctoral fellow with the University of Tennessee entomology and plant pathology (EPP) department. "However, our study suggests that the benefits of better nutrition sources and nectar yields found in agricultural areas outweigh the risks of exposure to agricultural pesticides." Meanwhile, bees located in a non-agricultural environment were challenged to find food. Although fewer pesticide contaminants were reported in these areas, the landscape did not provide sustainable forage. In fact, during the observations, two colonies in the non-agricultural areas collapsed due to starvation.