A coalition of biofuel and agriculture groups petitioned the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

he US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sent a letter last month to organizations regulated under the Animal Welfare Act announcing a pilot program that will sometimes alert facilities that inspectors are coming. Until now, such inspections have been unannounced. [node:read-more:link]

The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will not establish new criteria for recognizing third-party inspection and certification programs when determining the Agency’s own inspection frequency under the Animal Welfare Act. USDA says stakeholders on all sides of the issue expressed concern about APHIS’ ability to maintain responsibility for inspections and Animal Welfare Act compliance should third-party inspections be taken into account when determining APHIS inspection frequencies. [node:read-more:link]

Regardless whether you're a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or a card-carrying Mugwump, I think we can all agree that President Donald Trump is a man not afraid to change his mind. Of course, that's not to say that everyone would characterize this unique flexibility in the same way. [node:read-more:link]

Iowa pork producers already dealing with a 25 percent tariff on U.S. pork exports to China could face another trade hit, with Mexico considering a 20 percent tariff on hams and pork shoulders.Growing trade worries have cut pork prices in recent weeks, costing Iowa producers about $560 million, said Dermot Hayes, an Iowa State University economist.Mexico is the largest export market for U.S. pork, based on volume.Mexico bought $1.5 billion of U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The victims, predominantly Guatemalan minors, were told by a trafficker that a better life awaited them in the US and were brought to Trillium Farms to pay off $15,000 of imposed debt.There, they were forced to work in poor conditions, allowed to keep only a fraction of their pay checks, and met with death threats in the event of protest.They were given such little freedom that one teen was at Trillium for four months before he managed to call his uncle in Florida for help. [node:read-more:link]

For nearly 10 years, residents in a California farming community have had to drive nearly 40 miles (64 kilometers) to see the latest film, a rare trip for some in a place where a third of the population lives in poverty. That all changed in May when Moctesuma Esparza, a Latino movie producer, opened his latest Maya Cinemas theater in Delano in his ongoing effort to open theaters in poor, rural areas in the U.S. that lack entertainment options. The $20 million project gives Delano's 53,000 residents access to recent movie releases in a high-end experience with luxury seating. [node:read-more:link]

Getting high-speed internet service into less-populated areas of Georgia remains a top priority of the House Rural Development Council, although providers have yet to propose an overall fix.Towers aren’t going away but small cells — “about the size of garbage cans,” Lumsden said — can be added to increase capacity and coverage in targeted areas. [node:read-more:link]

The head of the Renewable Fuels Association says a potential “compromise” between big oil and renewable fuels on the renewable fuels program will NOT be good for the U.S. biofuels industry. Bob Dinneen tells Brownfield Ag News, “The so-called compromise that we hear is coming from the White House shortly, perhaps today, maybe later this week, is anything but a compromise. In fact, I would maintain it’s the worst of all possible worlds.” The expected deal would allow exported gallons of biofuels to qualify for the domestic fuel requirement, the RFS. [node:read-more:link]

When the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed at the end of 2017, analysts crunched the numbers and concluded that the cryptocurrency was set to consume the entire global energy supply by the end of 2020. “Mining” Bitcoin involves solving increasingly complex mathematical equations that secure the network in exchange for newly-minted cryptocurrency—which incidentally requires lots of energy. [node:read-more:link]