David Wiens thought the 2,500-gallon (9,470-liter) stainless steel milk tank he purchased 20 years ago would provide more than enough storage for his dairy farm in Manitoba. These days he’s producing so much he’s had to order a new tank that can hold almost three times as much. “We have to have everyday pickup now because we don’t have the capacity,” Wiens said from Skyline Dairy, a 240-head operation near the small town of Grunthal that he and his brother Charles have owned since 1989.As the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Big cities in the Midwest are gaining ground on the rural communities that, for many decades, have thrived on the edges of urban development. Since 1980, the amount of land being farmed or grazed in the U.S. has dropped 13 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Much of it now is covered by housing subdivisions, big-box stores and computer-server farms.Outward growth from metropolitan areas can strain courts, schools and traffic. [node:read-more:link]

The Trump administration and House Republicans are pushing a crackdown on food stamps, but their effort to shrink a safety net program that boomed during the Obama era might come at a great cost — derailing a massive farm bill that’s heavily supported in Trump country. Talks between House Democrats and Republicans on the farm bill broke down two weeks ago over proposed changes to the nutrition program that Democrats say would cut off an estimated 1 million participants — a bad sign for the historically bipartisan legislation. [node:read-more:link]

 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today issued a statement providing clarification on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) oversight of plants produced through innovative new breeding techniques which include techniques called genome editing. Under its biotechnology regulations, USDA does not regulate or have any plans to regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding techniques as long as they are not plant pests or developed using plant pests. [node:read-more:link]

A new law legalizing free-range parenting will soon take effect in Utah allowing children to do things alone like travelling to school.  The bill redefines "neglect" in Utah law so that kids can participate in some unsupervised activities without their parents being charged. “Kids need to wonder about the world, explore and play in it, and by doing so learn the skills of self-reliance and problem-solving they’ll need as adults," Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, a sponsor of the bill, said in a statement to ABC News. [node:read-more:link]

It is widely assumed that high-tech employment, for the most part, will cluster either in big cities or their suburbs. But some venture funders, including some from Silicon Valley, are taking a look at smaller cities, notably in the Midwest. Several smaller cities have achieved growth in STEM jobs (science, technology, engineering and math-related) that are far above the national average over the past decade. Much of this has to do with the location of federal labs or universities. [node:read-more:link]

State attorneys general warned such a question could lower immigrants' voting and cause a population undercount. [node:read-more:link]

 A full-page ad in the New York Times, purchased by six animal activist groups, is calling for McDonald’s Corp. to source its chicken from suppliers who follow specific breeding practices. The coalition of activists includes Mercy for Animals, Animal Equality, Compassion in World Farming, Compassion Over Killing, The Humane League and World Animal Protection. [node:read-more:link]

The FDA has detected Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O128 and Salmonella in samples of raw pet foods manufactured by Arrow Reliance Inc. The samples were collected by the FDA to determine whether the firm had addressed an ongoing pattern of pathogenic contamination in Darwin’s and ZooLogics raw pet foods.The firm has recalled the affected products. [node:read-more:link]

It’s the biggest cull of its type in New Zealand’s history and officials say it’s the only way to fully eradicate the disease from the 28 properties.It’s hoped the cull will completely eradicate Mycoplasma bovis. [node:read-more:link]