A Kentucky milk processing plant is slated to close next month, resulting in the loss of 52 jobs. The general manager of the Prairie Farms Dairy plant, David Atchley, notified the Kentucky Division of Workforce and Employment Services on Tuesday. His letter indicated employees will receive severance pay and benefits after the plant closes June 30. [node:read-more:link]

 A native Kansan returns home to find that the broken promises of commodity agriculture have destroyed a way of life. Most Americans experience Kansas from inside their cars, eight hours of cruise-controlled tedium on their way to someplace else. Even residents of the state’s eastern power centers glimpse its vast rural spaces at 85 mph, if at all.But on recent trips back, I wanted to really see my home state—so I avoided I-70, the zippy east/west thoroughfare. The slower pace paid off in moments of heart-stopping beauty. [node:read-more:link]

New research shows there might be health benefits to eating certain types of dark chocolate. Findings from two studies being presented today at the Experimental Biology 2018 annual meeting in San Diego show that consuming dark chocolate that has a high concentration of cacao (minimally 70% cacao, 30% organic cane sugar) has positive effects on stress levels, inflammation, mood, memory and immunity. [node:read-more:link]

In 1973, the state of North Carolina made plans to dump 31,000 gallons of the highly-carcinogenic compound polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in a landfill built in Shocco, a rural town in the northeastern part of the state. Shocco’s residents — 75 percent of whom were African American — immediately objected to the plan, fearing that the chemical would seep into their groundwater and contaminate their soil. Local leaders organized protests, laying down in front of dump trucks to prevent them from entering the town. [node:read-more:link]

A Virginia state senator filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday, claiming that federal officials are illegally blocking access to a road in the Jefferson National Forest where several people are protesting construction of a natural gas pipeline. State Sen. [node:read-more:link]

Wind turbines have cropped up like dandelions across large areas of the United States, and thousands more are coming. The US Department of Energy projects that we’ll have 404 gigawatts of wind energy capacity across the country by 2050, up from 89 GW today. [node:read-more:link]

SunPower is the nation’s No. 2 commercial solar-power company, employing thousands of workers directly and indirectly. But it makes most of its solar panels abroad, and with the tariffs recently imposed by President Trump costing it as much as $2 million a week, SunPower is fighting for an exemption. One of its rivals, SolarWorld Americas, produces panels domestically. [node:read-more:link]

This year Congress is expected to pass a piece of legislation that deeply affects the lives of all Americans and determines the strategic positioning of the United States in global agriculture for the next five years. The Farm Bill influences the food we eat, how we grow it, and the lives of the farmers who do so. Funding for agricultural research and development (R&D) only makes up a tiny sliver of the Farm Bill’s budget—about 0.2 percent in the 2014 bill—but it has profound consequences for U.S. agricultural competitiveness and global food security. [node:read-more:link]

A beef plant opened in southern Idaho earlier this year, giving the area’s dairy producers a local option to send cows nearing end of life. The Times-News reports the Ida-Beef facility in Burley harvests more than 100 cows per day, but it’s designed to eventually process 350 to 400 cows each day.The company says the plant can reduce the stress on the animals and save dairies on freight costs. The area’s producers have typically shipped their cows for slaughter to facilities outside the state. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. cheese exports to Mexico would be restricted from using some common cheese names, threatening well-established markets. U.S. dairy groups are disturbed by preliminary information that Mexico is poised to put new restrictions on common cheese names such as “parmesan” and “feta” for products sold within its borders. [node:read-more:link]