recently passed bill will allow farm distilleries to sell New York state-labeled beer, wine and cider on their premises. Such facilities were previously only allowed to sell spirits on their properties, unlike breweries, cideries and wineries. The new bill amends a section of the state's alcohol laws to change that. [node:read-more:link]

In discussing the agricultural budget, it is easy to focus in on commodity support, nutrition, and environmental programs and ignore the cost of maintaining the agricultural research facilities that are at the heart of the work of the USDA. [node:read-more:link]

It is disappointing the media, political leaders and even commodity groups will not place a high emphasis on agriculture research. Buchanan’s book reviews the history of agriculture and the emergence of agricultural research. No book on research would be worth reading unless a chapter was devoted to the land grant system and its impact on agriculture research. Buchanan quotes himself, “The 1862 Morrill (Land-Grant) Act changed forever how higher education is perceived in this country. [node:read-more:link]

hode Island is considering a bill recently rejected by Maine that would allow owners the right to pursue noneconomic damages in civil lawsuits involving the inadvertent injury or death of a pet through medical care, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. This could mean the state's veterinarians could be liable for damages for pain and suffering, loss of companionship and punitive damages. [node:read-more:link]

Sara Lilygren, former Tyson Foods vice president of corporate affairs, says animal rights activists and the National Rifle Association use similar tactics to implement change. When it comes to implementing change, two distinctly different causes take similar avenues. [node:read-more:link]

 The use of elephants, primates, snakes and other wild animals by businesses that profit from their exhibition could be banned in a Maryland county outside Washington, D.C.WTOP-FM reports the Montgomery County Council held the first hearing on Tuesday about a proposal to ban the use of animals in circuses or other business that "exhibit or financially benefit" from them. The bill wouldn't apply to agricultural fairs where livestock is displayed.Humane Society of the United States vice president Nicole Paquette says the bill would focus on prohibiting the use of wildlife in traveling shows. [node:read-more:link]

Parents whose kids will only eat a finite list of foods now wonder whether a pantry favorite is off limits, thanks in part to last week’s New York Times story about a study that found “potentially harmful chemicals” in mac and cheese. The group behind the study is calling on Kraft Foods to lead the industry in eliminating phthalates from its products because they can disrupt the production of testosterone, which raises concerns about birth defects, and because they’ve been linked to neurological problems. [node:read-more:link]

Predator concerns are rising for sheep producers all over the state. Along with coyotes, producers from across Ohio are experiencing black vulture attacks. [node:read-more:link]

The overall index slipped slightly to growth neutral. More than three-fourths of bank CEOsreport a shortage of qualified or skilled workers as having a nega-tive impact on economic growth. On average, bankers project that farmland prices will decline by another three percent over the next 12 months. Due to weak farm income, almost one fourth of bankers reported rejecting a higher percentage of farmer loan applications and approximately 60.9 percent reported boosting collateral on farm loans. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. economy exited the 2007-09 recession in July 2009. Despite consistent, but slow gross domes-tic product (GDP) growth since then, wages and salaries of American workers, adjusted for inflation, have actually declined for 10 of 23 occupations examined. Furthermore since the recession ended, U.S. workers have, on aver-age, increased their inflationadjusted salaries by only $1,000, or slightly less than 2%. [node:read-more:link]