We investigated organic milk in Ontario, tracking its journey from cow to carton, and found the product is no different than cheaper conventional milk. So why are we paying more? [node:read-more:link]

The milk giant Dean Foods is closing one of its Illinois facilities this year.A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter sent by the Texas-based corporation says 131 people will lose their jobs at the Huntley dairy plant and office. The Northwest Herald reports that the layoffs will occur Sept. 14-28.The facility is one of several Dean Foods plants to close this year. In its 2017 annual investors report, the company attributed shutting down plants to decreased dairy consumption trends and a highly competitive industry. [node:read-more:link]

PETA is putting up a billboard in Des Moines that will say: "America's Soybean Farmers Want You … to Go Vegan! Tofu: Born in China but Raised in the U.S.A." But the Iowa Soybean Association says it's not encouraging consumers to give up meat."The billboard is misleading and disingenuous," said Aaron Putze, an Iowa Soybean Association spokesman.Its efforts "to capitalize on a painful trade dispute to further its anti-meat agenda is in poor taste," he said. "It's a new low for PETA.""PETA doesn't speak for Iowa or U.S. soybean growers," Putze said. [node:read-more:link]

The Animal Agriculture Alliance released a report detailing observations from the Animal Rights National Conference, held June 28 through July 1 in Los Angeles, Ca. The event was organized by the Farm Animal Rights Movement and sponsored by Mercy for Animals, The Save Movement, Compassion Over Killing and The Humane League, along with other animal rights extremist groups. [node:read-more:link]

When Trump administration officials opposed a WHO breast-feeding resolution, they followed a long history of policymakers listening to baby-formula manufacturers. American officials at the World Health Assembly in Geneva this spring wanted to modify a breastfeeding resolution, and they went to the mat to do it, threatening other countries unless they promised to drop it. [node:read-more:link]

 More than 4 of every 5 acres of non-federal land in Colorado would be off-limits to new oil and gas drilling if voters this fall approve a proposed ballot measure that aims to significantly widen the distance wells have to be from occupied buildings and water sources, according to an analysis released this month by state energy regulators.The report, which doesn’t directly address the initiative’s potential economic impact, comes at the fever pitch of a yearslong dispute over how and where companies access mineral rights. [node:read-more:link]

In recent weeks, cash corn prices have declined by $.50 per bushel and soybean prices by $1.80 per bushel, resulting in much lower 2018 income expectations.  Crop revenue and returns are projected for corn and soybeans on high-productivity farmland in central Illinois.  These per acre returns then are used to project 2018 net income on a 1,500 acre grain farm.  At prices of $3.40 for corn and $8.45 for soybeans, 2018 net incomes could approach the average for the past two years if three conditions are met: 1) a significant amount of grain produced in 2017 was sold in 2018 for a marketing ga [node:read-more:link]

Massachusetts, like the rest of the country, is experiencing growing disparity between rural and urban centers.To reverse this trend, Massachusetts requires a rural strategy for economic growth. We must do more to attract investment that retains and expands existing jobs, stimulates the creation of new jobs and attracts new business and industry in these parts of the commonwealth. Between 2010 and 2017, the nation’s population grew by some 17 million people. [node:read-more:link]

The recent award of $25 million in damages to residents who sued a Smithfield hog farm prompted a rally this week in support of hog farmers, and proposals that could restrict such lawsuits are moving through the state legislature. Several hundred people gathered in Duplin County, N.C., to support hog farmers across the state that could become targets of what the protesters called nuisance lawsuits over the disposal of hog waste or other environmental impacts. [node:read-more:link]

There are problems with rural areas, but if everyone were like me and saw the hospitals leaving and decided this is it, this is where I pack my bag and run, it would only get worse. We all have such great opportunity to help here. Even if it’s just by dumping the negative views of these rural areas. Even if it’s realizing that there is more than the two severe points on the spectrum, that the middle ground exists and should be acknowledged. I hate the negative attitude I have adopted about my rural area, that I have accepted all the one-sided stories. [node:read-more:link]