Local farmer and rancher Boyd Foster has confirmed he’s better off financially to convert some pivots from wheat to grass. Foster explained that good irrigated pasture is in extremely short supply, but there’s a glut of wheat weighing down the market, forcing grain prices well below production costs.University of Idaho Extension economist Ben Eborn has reached the same conclusion, recently publishing an enterprise budget showing Eastern Idaho producers who raise irrigated pasture rather than wheat should stay in the black. [node:read-more:link]

Six percent of U.S. households are access-burdened: they do not use their own vehicle to travel to the store for groceries and live more than 0.5 mile from the nearest SNAP-authorized supermarket or superstore (SM/SS), which we use to proxy the nearest source of healthy and affordable food. Further analysis showed that: • Seventy-seven percent of access-burdened households reported a shopping event at a supermarket, superstore, large grocery store, or warehouse store during the survey week compared to 87 percent for households with sufficient access. [node:read-more:link]

There was no question what was to blame for the curled soybeans on the central Illinois farm in late June. The farmer, the neighbor who made the application, even the investigator from the neighbor's insurance company, all agreed. [node:read-more:link]

Here are some numbers worrying Nodaway farmer Bill Shipley: He could get $8.96 for each bushel of soybeans he brings to his southeast Iowa elevator. But the statewide average cost is over $9 a bushel.Corn prices are even more grim: Iowa farmers could potentially lose 30 to 40 cents per bushel, with prices around $3 at Iowa elevators, based on estimates from Chad Hart, an Iowa State University economist."It's getting tighter and tighter out here," Shipley said. [node:read-more:link]

When the winemaker Jean Hoefliger arrived at his small Napa Valley winery at 3:30 a.m. on October 9, the morning the Northern California fires broke out, he had a multimillion-dollar business decision to make. Two fires on opposite sides of the valley tore down the hillsides toward nearly $14 million worth of unpicked, almost-ripe Cabernet Sauvignon grapes at some of the vineyards scattered across the valley that supply or are owned by Alpha Omega Winery, where Hoefliger is the head winemaker. [node:read-more:link]

“As a result of weak farm income and low agriculture commodity prices, approximately 9.5% of bank CEOs expect farm loan foreclosures to pose the greatest threat to banking operations over the next five years,” said Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister chair in regional economics at Creighton University’s Heider college of business, according to a press release.  The farmland and ranchland-price index for October slipped to 39.3 from 39.6 in September. [node:read-more:link]

The manufacturing sector’s share of employment and earnings in rural (nonmetro) areas began to exceed its share in urban (metro) areas in the 1980s, when import competition forced domestic manufacturers to lower costs. Wages, property taxes, and land prices are generally lower in rural areas. And despite the sector’s declining employment since the 1950s, manufacturing jobs still represented 14 percent of rural private nonfarm jobs in 2015 (compared to 7 percent for urban). As a share, manufacturing earnings are even more important to rural America. [node:read-more:link]

An internal USDA audit has found shortcomings in the agency’s system for ensuring foreign meat and egg inspections are equivalent to those in the U.S. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspections Service is charged with ensuring meat and egg products imported into the U.S. are subject to equivalent protections against food safety hazards.Auditors from USDA’s Office of Inspector General said the agency has a “robust system” for scrutinizing countries that apply to export meat and eggs to the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

he U.S Food and Drug Administration is announcing public meetings to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Francisco, California, regarding its Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative. Congress appropriated $3 million to fund this initiative, which calls upon the FDA to work with USDA to provide education and outreach to the public on agricultural biotechnology and food and animal feed ingredients derived from biotechnology. [node:read-more:link]

If you could use biotechnology to solve any food problem around the world, what would it be and why?  SUbmit your 30 second video for a chance to win! As part of this year’s Get to Know GMOs Month in October, GMO Answers is challenging you to show us the importance of GMOs and biotechnology in addressing global food challenges.Submit a 15-30 second video answering the question If you could use biotechnology to solve any food problem around the world, what would it be and why?Use #GMOInnovationContest when uploading your video to Instagram, YouTube or Vimeo. [node:read-more:link]