A planned dairy farm in Hawaii has taken a step back by withdrawing parts of its application to allow more time for discussion of its likely environmental impact. Kauai’s Hawaii Dairy Farms withdrew its Final Environmental Impact Statement from state consideration on Tuesday, reported The Garden Island. Spokeswoman Amy Hennessey said in a release that the dairy wants to allow time for additional responses to comments on its plan to keep a minimum of 699 dairy cows on a 557-acre site in Kauai’s Mahaulepu Valley. Opponents of the dairy see a chance to stop its construction [node:read-more:link]

I've worked in agricultural marketing for 25 years and have done a lot of work on branding, including developing logos. Logos have a great deal of power and there are many good ones — think Tim Hortons.  But one logo seen on some food products infuriates me — that of the Non-GMO Project. According to their website, “The Non-GMO Project is a non-profit organization committed to preserving and building the non-GMO food supply, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. [node:read-more:link]

Storms in California combined with already high river and creek levels and saturated ground to cause widespread flooding, waterlogging field crops and interfering with the almond blossom. [node:read-more:link]

An environmental advocacy group in Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court today alleging that a Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. chicken processing plant is polluting the Suwannee River. [node:read-more:link]

The future of Hawaii agriculture hangs in the balance this legislative session.  Having lost in the courts the battle over whether county governments even have the jurisdiction to regulate genetically modified crops, anti-science advocates have moved to state government, hoping there to revive the “genetic modification (sic)” Salem Witch Trials. [node:read-more:link]

Should air contaminant emissions from large dairies be tracked and regulated in Oregon? A legislative task force concluded in July 2008 that they should.The Legislature didn't implement the recommendation, and dairy industry officials say voluntary actions are better than regulations. Buta proposal for a new mega-dairy in Eastern Oregon has prompted legislators to take a second look. [node:read-more:link]

One in four Ohio hospitals could close if an Affordable Care Act replacement rescinds Medicaid expansion without a new revenue source, Ohio Hospital Association CEO Mike Abrams said, one of a growing chorus of Ohioans speaking up about the GOP health-care proposal. [node:read-more:link]

The Maryland state Senate passed a bill extending the EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency program, following similar action in the House of Delegates. Senators voted, 32-14, to extend the program, which was created in 2008 to require utility companies to reduce per capita electricity use by 10 percent by 2015. The law didn't require the program to continue past 2015, although the state's Public Service Commission has supported the program and asked utilities to lay out plans to invest more in energy efficiency. [node:read-more:link]

The National Milk Producers Federation Board of Directors today unanimously approved a series of recommended changes to the dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP) that will restore several key elements first proposed by NMPF during development of the 2014 Farm Bill. These changes to the MPP will ensure an effective safety net for the nation’s dairy farmers – if the recommendations are adopted by Congress. The recommendations range from changing the way dairy feed costs are calculated, to providing farmers greater flexibility in signing up for coverage and using other risk management tools. [node:read-more:link]

A profusion of biotechnology products is expected over the next five to 10 years, and the number and diversity of new products has the potential to overwhelm the U.S. regulatory system, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. [node:read-more:link]