The message that plastic increasingly fills waste landfills and oceans peaked this spring, as Earth Month in April focused on plastic pollution. In recent years, some states have restricted the use of plastic bags. Other cities across the U.S. have banned plastic straws. It’s not the case in Iowa. Last year, it became Iowa law that cities and counties were barred from banning plastic bags. [node:read-more:link]
Half of New York's farm labor force is in the U.S. without documentation, New York's Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball estimated. Ball said immigration raids on farms throughout the state are creating a labor crisis that could close hundreds of farms and keep food from making its way to grocery stores and kitchen tables. "It's a large number, which should point us toward the fact that we need to stop kicking the ball down the field and deal with it," Ball said in an interview with Syracuse.com/NYUP.com Tuesday. [node:read-more:link]
Bayer has agreed to sell a second tranche of agrochemicals and seeds businesses to BASF for $2 billion. The move should enable Bayer to satisfy European Union competition rules and complete its $63.5 billion deal to acquire Monsanto—first announced in September 2016—by July.Bayer already agreed in October 2017 to sell significant parts of its seed and pesticides business to BASF for $7 billion in a bid to satisfy EU regulations. [node:read-more:link]
“The breakdown is 50% [of what we grow] is sold through the on-farm market, and 30% is at a local farmers market that we attend three nights a week, May through October. Only 20% is sold wholesale from our farm,” says Mike Janoski, third-generation family farmer. Janoski supervises some 30 able hands (10 of them family members, including sons, wives, nephews, and nieces) that help bring in annual gross revenues that hover around $3 million. Selling 80% of crops grown on 200 acres through only two outlets takes skill. The farm market isn’t huge. [node:read-more:link]
Like many rural areas in the United States, central and southern Delaware had no place for people to get withdrawal management services before the Harrington clinic opened in 2015. It quickly saw there was high demand. When the center looked for money to expand, it found an unexpected partner: the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Using a $1 million low-interest loan from the agency, the center is adding space for counseling, family therapy and primary care. [node:read-more:link]
A bill aimed at breaking up food deserts in Chicago and other cities by establishing “urban agriculture zones” moved forward last week in Springfield. The legislation, introduced last year by state Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, passed the Illinois House on Wednesday by a vote of 86-22, with affirmative votes from 65 Democrats and 21 Republicans. House Bill 3418 now moves on to the Illinois Senate, where it awaits a second reading. Harper said she introduced the bill in part because of her upbringing in West Englewood, where residents lack access to healthy, affordable food. Harper s [node:read-more:link]
Steep budget cuts have reduced the number of county agriculture agents in a key area of Wisconsin at a time when their knowledge and advice are in high demand. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the UW-Extension is currently operating with 15 fewer ag agents than last year. Republic Rep. Todd Novak, of Dodgeville, says Grant, Green and Lafayette counties don't have a full-time agent despite paying the required fees for them. He says officials are in the process of hiring an agent for Grant and five other counties. [node:read-more:link]
Company says it doesn’t feel the ads misled consumers into thinking all Perdue chickens are raised using organic methods and is appealing National Advertising Division’s decision.NAD, a unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation that is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, stated that it found advertisements for Harvestland to be potentially misleading to consumers who might think that all Perdue chickens – not just those raised for the Harvestland Organic label – are raised using organic farming methods.The ads in question do display the Perdue Harvestl [node:read-more:link]
This year, the Iowa State Fair will feature a new adults-only Fair After Dark series, giving attendees a behind-the-scenes experience that they won’t get with regular admission to the fair. The first two events will be Animals After Dark and Agriculture After Dark. Animals After Dark will be held Friday, August 10. Agriculture After Dark will be held Thursday, August 16.Both events run from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and cost $20 per person. [node:read-more:link]
A bipartisan coalition led by Senators Heidi Heitkamp and Susan Collins introduced the Next Generation in Agriculture Act (S. 2762), which will drive investments in the 2018 Farm Bill toward programs and policies that create economic opportunity for beginning farmers and ranchers. [node:read-more:link]
