Now, there’s a new app that helps food-related small businesses improve their cash flow and nurture customers at the same time, “Credibles.” The San Francisco-based start-up aims to help small food businesses by letting  customers pre-pay from a growing number of small food companies, essentially setting up a prepaid tab. The businesses then have that money to use without having to take out loans.“It’s easier to put money into Monsanto and McDonald’s than invest in the bakery down the street,” said Credibles’ founder Arno Hesse.That’s because you can buy stock in large food companies. [node:read-more:link]

The Pentagon and other security agencies’ outsize consumption of federal research money would grow further under Republican plans, while nondefense research spending would drop, sometimes dramatically, a new congressional report shows. [node:read-more:link]

The growth of small-scale farms, along with the expansion of many existing farms, in the past 15 years has led to a 30 percent increase in the number of farms across Massachusetts. [node:read-more:link]

The FDA implemented the VFD on January 1. What significant changes and impacts have been witnessed to date?Recently the animal health industry has taken significant steps to promote the judicious use of antibiotics. The process of administering “medically important” (aka those that treat human and animal disease) antibiotics in livestock has been found to contribute to antimicrobial resistance, a scenario in which bacteria can withstand and eliminate the effects of drugs and related chemicals. [node:read-more:link]

In a recent study, Christianson and several colleagues looked at whether they could also remove phosphorus by adding a special "P-filter" designed to trap the fertilizer-derived pollutant. The team tested two types of industrial waste products in the P-filters: acid mine drainage treatment residual (MDR) and steel slag. Phosphorus binds to elements such as iron, calcium, and aluminum contained in these products, removing it from the water. [node:read-more:link]

Federal immigration enforcement agents arrested 650 people last week during an operation aimed at families and children who illegally crossed the border and had been ordered deported, officials said Tuesday. Those arrested included 73 individuals who crossed the border as part of family units and 120 who entered as unaccompanied minors. [node:read-more:link]

Silicon Valley is rallying around a startup that wants to disrupt the meat aisle. Impossible Foods sells burgers made from plants that sizzle on the grill and "bleed" juices like real beef. The company aims to make meat derived from animals the exception, not the rule.On August 1, the startup announced it had raised a $75 million investment from Singapore-based venture fund Temasek, Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures, and others. The new round brings the company's total funding to over $250 million and will likely serve its plans for expansion. [node:read-more:link]

Wayne County, New York, is the biggest producer of apples in the Empire State. Yet, in 2013 public school children in the county were being served apples from Washington on their lunch trays. At the end of the lunch period, the lovely, whole Washington apples ended up mostly uneaten in the garbage. Tom Ferraro, founder of the Rochester, NY, food bank Foodlink, set about solving the problem. Ferraro was familiar with a recent study showing that children were more likely to eat sliced fruit than whole. [node:read-more:link]

Don Koehler says the fact that net farm income has fallen to half of what it was four years ago will make writing the 2018 farm bill a “challenge.” That and the fact no new money is available for funding the legislation, according to leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. dairy sector is fighting harder than ever on several fronts to halt the European Union’s global efforts to block cheese producers in other countries from using names like Roquefort, Asiago and Gorgonzola on the products they export. The EU has been making progress in countries including Japan, China and Mexico, but U.S.-based groups like the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) are fighting back. [node:read-more:link]