Value-added and portion-controlled pork and veal products maker Delft Blue will close its pork processing plant in New York Mills, N.Y., just months after announcing it would expand its operation and add 22 jobs in exchange for a $330,000 government grant, according to local media reports. According to NewYorkUpstate.com, the expansion never happened, and now Delft Blue plans to close the plant and lay off its 83 employees, filing a notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act saying it will shut its plant in October. [node:read-more:link]

 The chicken industry can blunt the increasing calls from consumers for slow-growing broilers before the trend takes off like antibiotic-free has if companies change the way they market to millennial consumers. “Slow-growth will be the next antibiotic-free,” Richard Kottmeyer, senior managing partner of Farm 2 Fork Advisory Services, told attendees here at the Chicken Marketing Summit. [node:read-more:link]

Maine has a new law that allows towns to regulate local food production without requiring state and federal rules.  We’ll learn what this means for Mainers and how it ties into the national food sovereignty movement.  [node:read-more:link]

Since then we had another time when phone service was out for more than 36 hours and internet service was out for two days. No explanation, just frustration.A few years ago legislation was passed in Wisconsin that gives phone companies an out if they no longer want to provide landline service. Yes, I understand in our cities and villages that landlines have gone the way of eight-track tapes.But in many parts of rural Wisconsin — particularly in the Driftless Region, where we have many bluffs and valleys — cell phones don’t work or are unreliable at best. [node:read-more:link]

A new final rule establishing stricter animal welfare standards for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program are being delayed until at least November 2017, but Mid-States Specialty Eggs and Eggs “R” Us Inc. argue the final rule – originally published in January 2017 – won’t hamper the organic egg business or send prices skyrocketing as some are predicting. [node:read-more:link]

Motorists don’t like to pay more at the pump, and lawmakers worry that if they raise taxes on gasoline, they’ll be voted out of office. But states rely on those taxes to build and maintain roads and bridges. With revenue lagging, those structures have been falling into disrepair in many places. Despite the tough politics, 26 states have raised taxes on motor fuels in the past four years. [node:read-more:link]

New Jersey’s new telemedicine regulations are being held up as state officials try to determine whether they pertain to veterinarians. Gov. [node:read-more:link]

California dairy farmers are eager to abandon the state’s milk marketing order and join the federal marketing order system, hoping to increase the price they receive for their milk. They have, however, been adamant that loss of the state’s quota program would be a deal breaker.That program pays quota certificate holders $1.70 per hundredweight above the state blend price for the amount of milk covered by their certificate. [node:read-more:link]

The State of Utah passed an Act in 2012 making it a misdemeanor to record an agricultural operation without permission.  Simple enough, but a couple of animal rights groups objected and filed a suit to have the law overturned. [node:read-more:link]