South Dakota and Iowa are the only two states in the country where gross domestic product fell in the second quarter. Ultra-low crop and livestock prices stemming from a global oversupply have squeezed farm incomes, pulling down Iowa’s GDP 0.7% and South Dakota’s 0.3% from the prior quarter.Elsewhere, low farm prices dented growth in 23 other states but not enough to tip them into decline, the Commerce Department said in a recent report. Overall, U.S. GDP advanced 2.8% nationwide during the same period. [node:read-more:link]

The department has sent out 1,054 ballots, and only 400 had been returned before the deadline was extended from Dec. 4 to Dec. 22. At least 51 percent of eligible producers must vote to advance a stand-alone quota program if California joins the federal milk marketing order system. [node:read-more:link]

Increasing milk production and buyers’ inability to continue to move excess milk out of state is expected to reduce Idaho’s dairy herd by 10,000 cows in the next few months.he cause is an increase in milk supply and the inability of buyers to continue to move any oversupply to surrounding states because of high costs. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. farms will spend an estimated $14.9 million a year to report their livestock are giving off gas, a new federal requirement won by environmentalists. [node:read-more:link]

More than a dozen states banded together Monday to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block a California law requiring any eggs sold there to come from hens that have space to stretch out in their cages. In a lawsuit filed directly to the high court, the states allege that California’s law has cost consumers nationwide up to $350 million annually because of higher egg prices since it took effect in 2015. The lawsuit argues that California’s requirements violate the U.S. Constitution’s interstate commerce clause and are pre-empted by federal law. [node:read-more:link]

Biology has undergone a seismic shift as researchers around the globe have embraced a revolutionary technology called gene editing. It involves the precise cutting and pasting of DNA by specialized proteins—inspired by nature, engineered by researchers. But it’s Crispr, with its elegant design and simple cell delivery, that’s most captured the imagination of scientists. [node:read-more:link]

Visit the March Against Monsanto website and you'll see a strange ad peppering the pages, among the usual dubious stories about the evils of Monsanto, GMOs, pesticides and so on. It's an advert for a "docu-series" called Vaccines Revealed, claiming that it is "Exposing the biggest public health experiment... ever!". [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today published its annual report summarizing sales and distribution data for all antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals. The 2016 report shows that antimicrobial sales decreased from 2015 to 2016, with domestic sales and distribution of all antimicrobials decreasing by 10 percent and domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials decreasing by 14 percent. In previous years (between 2009 and 2015), overall sales volumes increased annually. [node:read-more:link]

The owner of one small ranch in Washington state is trying to educate firefighters on the value of rangeland and change policy that allows them to disregard it.Like many ranchers throughout the West, Molly Linville is trying to recover from a horrific fire season, but she’s also is trying to change how firefighters view rangeland and a state wildfire policy that allows them to let it burn.“Firefighters look out here and they don’t see anything. It’s wasteland in their minds. I thought they didn’t care. I said I lost everything and I got blank looks. [node:read-more:link]

North Dakota has 521 licensed veterinarians, about 270 who live in the state, Boyce said. [node:read-more:link]