The approval of a new factory just outside the Great Lakes Basin could mark the beginning of a manufacturing revitalization that relies on draining millions of gallons of water from the lakes. It’s what Wisconsin’s government hopes for — and environmentalists fear.If given the go-ahead by Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, which is based in Taiwan, would make liquid crystal displays, more commonly known as LCDs, in a factory just outside Racine, Wisconsin.Wisconsin courted Foxconn hard. [node:read-more:link]

A research scientist at the Census Bureau produced a report based on unusual findings in the field. Across a number of projects and “pretests” (or training exercises) conducted between February and September 2017, bureau researchers discovered that survey respondents who were asked questions during focus groups or sample tests were behaving in unexpected ways: They were giving false names or incorrect birthdates, leaving family members out of questionnaires, or abandoning interviews before they were finished. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture published in the Federal Register a final decision to establish a Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) for California. The proposed FMMO would incorporate the entire state of California. The final decision is based on the evidentiary record of a public hearing held in Clovis, Calif., from September to November 2015. A recommended decision regarding the proposed program was published Feb. 14, 2017. USDA will conduct a referendum among dairy producers to determine whether they support the proposed FMMO. [node:read-more:link]

Rep. Andy Gipson will succeed fellow Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith once she moves to the U.S. Senate. He will serve the rest of the current commissioner's term, which ends in January 2020.Gipson, 41, is an attorney and Baptist pastor and has been in the state House since 2008. [node:read-more:link]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry is considering a request from utility First Energy for an emergency order to save nuclear and coal power plants in the regions where it operates. The Energy Department confirmed the request by the utility company for an emergency must-run order under section 202 of the Federal Power Act, which gives Perry the authority to direct the "temporary" continued use of power plants in circumstances that include war, energy shortages or sudden surges in demand. [node:read-more:link]

President Donald Trump is seriously considering abandoning efforts to remake the nation’s biofuel laws after wading deep into an issue that divides some of his core constituencies, according to three sources familiar with the administration’s thinking. Advisers have urged Trump to instead let Congress tackle the biofuel reforms, but use the threat of administrative action to help rival lawmakers come together and solve the intractable issue.The U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Agriculture is the least digitized of all major industries, according to the McKinsey Global Institute’s Digitization Index. That’s right. Agriculture is dead last for living up to its digital potential. It’s never good when you realize you’re even being outflanked by slow-moving sectors such as government and education. In the digital horse race, our industry is being left in the dust. When you’re being beat by a bureaucracy, you know you’ve got serious problems. [node:read-more:link]

 Seventeen states, the District of Columbia and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying the addition of a citizenship question to the census form is unconstitutional. Federal funding and congressional representation are at stake in the dispute over the Trump administration’s move to reinstate the citizenship question to the 2020 census. It would be the first time in 70 years that the government uses the form sent to every household to ask people to specify whether they are U.S. citizens. [node:read-more:link]

China's tariff of up to 25 percent on U.S. agriculture could be good news for Australia's nut, wine and fruit producers. Almost 40 percent of Australia's fruit exports last year went to greater China, and Chile also is a major fruit producer that could benefit. Australia's wine exports to mainland China rose 63 percent last year, while U.S. wine exports to the world's second-largest economy were down. Beijing also imposed new tariffs on American pork, a move that could benefit the European Union, Brazil and Canada — major exporters to China [node:read-more:link]

An escalating trade war between the U.S. and China will hit two key parts of Iowa's economy — farming and manufacturing. And the timing is terrible.China said Monday it will levy tariffs of up to 25 percent on pork, ethanol and dozens of other products that would hammer Iowa's ag economy as it struggles to get out of a lingering downturn."It's going to make a bad situation worse for agriculture," said David Swenson, an Iowa State University economist. "You're going to see hits across the board," including job losses, said Chad Hart, an ISU agriculture economist. [node:read-more:link]