The state of Michigan announced that bovine tuberculosis was recently confirmed in a large beef herd in Alcona County. The infectious bacterial disease, which is endemic in the free-ranging white-tailed deer population in a Michigan zone that includes four counties, was identified in the beef herd through routine surveillance testing. Annual surveillance and movement tests are required of cattle producers to help catch the disease early and prevent it from moving off the farm. [node:read-more:link]

Imagine being a farmer going about your business on a Sunday afternoon, checking on your livestock or poultry. Suddenly, 200 animal rights activists descend upon your property, demanding access to your barns. They stick a camera in your face to capture your pleas for them to stop as they check every door until they find one that will open. Sound crazy?Unfortunately, this exact scenario played out on a Petaluma, CA broiler farm at the end of September. [node:read-more:link]

This north-central Iowa town of about 4,200 people faces many of the problems other rural communities face: Shrinking population, deteriorating downtowns, aging homes and consolidating schools. But a unique agreement with a Des Moines technology consultant could change its future — and possibly provide a model for revitalizing other rural Iowa communities. Pillar Technology plans to open a $1.7 million office in Jefferson and hire up to 30 workers. [node:read-more:link]

Farming food crops of all kinds is likely to become more difficult as global temperatures increase, depressing yields for corn, soybeans, rice and wheat. That’s the bleak assessment set out by a United Nations panel of scientists gathered to assess the impact of a climate change. It warned the world is 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) hotter than it was at the start of the industrial revolution and is on track to warm 3 degrees by the end of the century.The global corn crop may shrink by 10 percent if temperatures rise 1.5 degrees, a threshold the panel expects may be reached by 2035. [node:read-more:link]

Negotiators for the United States and Canada continue work on finishing touches of the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement following a hard Sept. 30 deadline that spurred down-to-the-wire talks on a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement acceptable to both countries, CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange Division said in an analysis of the USMCA. The USMCA provides the US agriculture sector a level of certainty, improvements in market access for some ag-related products and momentum heading into trade talks with China, according to the report. [node:read-more:link]

President Donald Trump’s new trade deal, the USMCA, appears be beneficial to big oil and gas companies. Canada recently signed onto the new deal, along with the U.S. And Mexico, in a deal that replaces NAFTA. The new deal also has broad implications for the Texas economy, particularly energy production. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, says the new agreement includes provisions that help protect U.S. oil company investments abroad.“It also prohibits tariffs on oil and gas products, which is pretty handy for the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

A White House official says President Trump has ordered the EPA to set the wheels in motion for the year-round sale of gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol.Currently, gasoline with 10 percent ethanol may be sold at any time of the year in the United States. The oil industry has fought to preserve rules that have prevented higher percentages of ethanol from being added to gasoline during the summer.The announcement last night about year-round E15 sales sets Trump firmly on the side of corn growers. [node:read-more:link]

A local brewery and a community-owned electric cooperative have paired up to offer something many Missoulians might appreciate: Solar energy and free beer.The Missoula Electric Cooperative is in the process of installing a Community Solar Array at the new Kettlehouse K3 brewery in Bonner, which will open a brand-new taproom to the public early in 2019.Members of the cooperative can purchase one of the 188 available solar panels and get credited on their electric bill for the energy output of the panel for 25 years. [node:read-more:link]

An effort to put a tax on carbon dioxide emissions just won an unlikely underwriter: a top producer of oil and gas.Exxon Mobil Corp. is putting $1 million into a political campaign that, if successful, would effectively spawn a tax tied to the company’s core products.The move is consistent with Exxon’s longstanding support for a price on carbon dioxide, imposed instead of an array of environmental regulations that already elevate the cost of fossil fuels. [node:read-more:link]

In the past three years, Irvine went from treating its parks and nature areas with more than 50 pounds and about 60 gallons of synthetic weed and pest killers annually, all the way down to zero. The city now uses organic products with ingredients such as corn gluten meal and oil from soybeans, lemongrass or rosemary. And Irvine is not alone – it’s one of more than 150 U.S. [node:read-more:link]