Skip to content Skip to navigation

SARL Members and Alumni News

California provides grants for store refrigerators

California Department of Agriculture | Posted on March 4, 2019

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is pleased to announce a competitive grant application process for the Healthy Stores Refrigeration Grant Program. CDFA will fund energy efficient refrigeration units in corner stores and small businesses in food deserts throughout the state to stock California-grown fresh produce, nuts and minimally processed foods. The purpose of the program is to improve access to healthy food choices in the small retail environment for underserved communities, while promoting CA-grown agriculture. This program is established in California Food and Agricultural Code section 49015and funding was made available in the Budget Act of 2018.


Arizona House OKs requiring labels that almond milk is 'fake or alternative milk'

Tucson.com | Posted on March 3, 2019

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to prohibit sale of “almond milk” in Arizona for the reason that almonds do not lactate.Consumers could still buy that product. But under the terms of House Bill 2604 it would have to be labeled as “fake milk” or “alternative milk.” And there would have to be a “prominent statement” on the package that the product is made from plants, grown in a lab or other similar disclosure.The bill would impose a similar restriction on the word “meat,” saying it could be used on packages for sale only if what is inside came from what had once been a living, breathing animal.


Washington legislators remake hemp program

Capital Press | Posted on March 3, 2019

Washington lawmakers and the state Department of Agriculture are taking down barriers to growing hemp in time for spring planting, though how much farmers will pay in the future for the privilege has not yet been decided. The House Appropriations Committee unanimously endorsed a bill Tuesday that lifts a ban on moving harvested hemp across state lines. The bill also would allow hemp to be grown for CBD, an oil extract marketed for a wide range of ailments.Meanwhile, the agriculture department plans to abolish two rules by April 23. One rule prohibits hemp from being grown within 4 miles of marijuana. The other rule requires farmers to get permission from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to import hemp seeds. The House bill agrees with those steps.


Ohio dredging facility would be first of its kind

Star Beacon | Posted on March 3, 2019

The new dredge material facility in Conneaut will be unlike anything else in the state, officials said at a public meeting about the project. State Rep. John Patterson said the state banned open lake dumping of dredged material because 10 percent of all harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie have been traced to the practice. Patterson supported one of two bills establishing the fund used to finance the Conneaut dredge material project, and he attempted to pass another bill to fund Lake Erie cleanup by putting a ballot initiative before Ohio voters to approve $1 billion over 10 years.


Landmark ruling issued in Oregon landfill dispute

Capital Press | Posted on March 3, 2019

Negative impacts from non-farm developments can’t be offset by making payments to surrounding farmers, according to the Oregon Supreme Court. The state’s highest court has also concluded that such developments can’t significantly change agricultural practices or costs for individual growers in “exclusive farm use” zones.A longstanding legal battle over a planned landfill expansion in Yamhill County has led to the landmark ruling, which requires such developments to be analyzed “practice by practice and farm by farm.” The decision has determined that it’s not enough for such developments to avoid reducing the “overall supply of agricultural land” — they must also refrain from disrupting “particular farms and farming practices."


Oregon Lawmakers may ease small-scale on-farm processing

Capital Press | Posted on March 3, 2019

Small-scale processing on Oregon farmland would be subject to fewer county restrictions under legislation favored by both agriculture and property rights advocates. However, one provision in the proposal has become a point of debate: whether the exemption should apply to on-farm processing of cannabis.Oregon’s land use laws currently allow crop processing on farmland in facilities smaller than 10,000 square feet, but the buildings are still subject to county siting standards, such as landscaping and parking requirements. Under House Bill 2844, such county siting standards wouldn’t apply to on-farm processing facilities smaller than 2,500 square feet, which proponents argue will allow farmers to avoid costly and time-consuming requirements without “spill over impacts onto neighbors.”


2018 trade disruptions lost Iowa gross state product up to $2 billion

The Gazette | Posted on March 3, 2019

While it might be some time before the direct impacts of the trade war with China has affected Iowa’s economy, a group of eight economists and agriculture development experts at Iowa State University attempted to make exactly those projections this past September. “The Impact of the 2018 Trade Disruptions on the Iowa Economy,” published by ISU’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, looked at the lead up to the ongoing tariffs and counter-tariffs between the United and China, and estimated some of the near-term impacts for Iowa for the year 2018.Among their findings:• Overall losses in Iowa’s gross state product are calculated to be $1 billion to $2 billion, off a GSP of $190 billion.• Overall losses to the state’s soybean industry of $159 million to $891 million. Iowa soybeans are a $5.2 billion industry, according to the researchers.• Overall losses to Iowa’s corn industry of $90 million to $579 million. Iowa corn is an $8.5 billion industry.• Overall losses to the state’s pork/hog industry of $558 million to $955 million. The Iowa pork/hog industry is a $7.1 billion industry.• A 2 percent drop in ethanol prices, resulting in approximately $105 million in lost revenues to Iowa producers.

 


Rescue Network Sends Southern Puppies North

Pew | Posted on February 28, 2019

The dogs, loaded onto a Dodge cargo van marked “Mississippi Mutts On the Move,” like at least tens of thousands of others making the trip northward might once have died for lack of shelter space. Before the Oktibbeha County Humane Society shelter started shipping puppies and dogs north a decade ago, half the dogs and cats in its care were put down — a “kill rate” of 50 percent. Last year, when the humane society transported 3,000 dogs north, 93 percent of its animals left the shelter alive.“We are the epitome of the Southern shelter. We are too small for the amount of animals coming in,” said Michele Anderson, a humane society board member. The shelter was built in 2005 to hold 100 dogs and cats, but typically has 120, using crates in hallways to hold the excess. Every day brings in as many as 20 more animals.The trend of relocating animals began in the mid-2000s, when a slew of massive hurricanes devastated the South and left thousands of pets homeless. Shelter dogs, many lost or abandoned by fleeing residents, were moved around the country by volunteers hoping to eventually reunite them with owners. Animal rescuers took note, set up a travel network and since then, thousands of Southern animals have made treks north.


Permitless gun carry bill first signed by Oklahoma governor

AP News | Posted on February 28, 2019

 Oklahoma residents will be able to openly carry firearms without a background check or training under a bill given final legislative approval hat quickly became the first signed into law by the new Republican governor. Dubbed “constitutional carry” by its supporters, the bill passed the Senate on a 40-6 vote with every Republican and one Democrat voting in favor. It already sailed through the GOP-controlled House .

 


Hog-And-Chicken Farm Raises Controversy

Jefferson Public Radio | Posted on February 28, 2019

Natural farming is a popular concept right now.  The "eat local" movement only added to a standing desire for food that is grown in natural conditions, and not far from the table where it is served.  Uproot Meats appears to check those boxes, but it has run into controversy over its hog-and-chicken operation on the south end of Ashland.  Opponents are not happy with the business model of growing animals--and their wastes--on a sloping hillside above other agriculture operations. 


Pages