The Obama administration is moving forward with an optional cap-and-trade system that states could use to comply with its climate change rule for power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final model trading rule went to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, the office said Friday, despite the fact that the underlying Clean Power Plan is on hold by order of the Supreme Court. [node:read-more:link]

The debate around policing food and controlling the diets of others has been largely captive to the elite and monetized by special interest groups like the $125 million DC-based “non-profit” sponsoring the $2 million Question 3 campaign. I’ve been through homelessness and poverty, and as a potential victim of Question 3, I am crashing their exclusive party. The deceptive ballot statement makes no mention of consumer impacts or animal welfare trade-offs. [node:read-more:link]

A group of Ohio landowners who are hoping the courts can bring some relief to their farm real estate taxes will keep their case before a Franklin County judge. In the initial lawsuit, the landowners argued that the state determined CAUV values based on crop commodities — like corn, soybeans and wheat — and neglected to take into consideration acres that grow other crops, such as grapes, woodlands or pastureland, or are not suited to grow crops. “Basically, they (state officials) used the rise in commodity prices as an excuse for the fact that they changed other parts,” said Roberts. [node:read-more:link]

Canada's dairy sector will receive help to adjust to increased competition from the new European cheese imports expected under the terms of the Canada-European Union trade deal signed last weekend.  But don't call it compensation: the Liberals have something else in mind.  Senior government officials from Global Affairs Canada gave a technical briefing to reporters on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, also known as CETA. [node:read-more:link]

A consumer “vote” with every purchase may become easier to tally. Food activist groups will reunite to seek full transparency next. Faber says consumers want access to complete lists of ingredients—including potential allergens—in all the foods they buy, as well as seed-to-table tracking of ingredients and disclosures about fair wage practices.  This data can be organized with the “internet of things” technology that has revolutionized other industries. Recent food poisoning incidents have added urgency to tracking efforts. [node:read-more:link]

This is usually around the time when Oregon wildlife officials start planning to move some bighorn sheep around Eastern Oregon in an effort to bolster genetic diversity.  Not this year.  The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has instead focused its efforts on researching a bacteria that can lead to pneumonia in the animals, a problem that has killed large numbers of bighorn sheep throughout the West over the past several years. [node:read-more:link]

Animal biotechnology is a rapidly growing field due to the vast benefits it can bring to both human and animal health. For example, by carefully modifying the genome of livestock to provide disease resistance, we simultaneously improve animal health, welfare and food safety.  This practice reduces the use of antibiotics in livestock, helping to preserve an antibiotic’s clinical efficacy in humans. By using biotechnology to reduce disease in livestock, we lessen the likelihood of microbes infecting humans. [node:read-more:link]

Several agricultural groups and farmers have written comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) urging that a proposed rule change for the taxable value of assets be amended to consider family farmers and ranchers.  The IRS plan for more restrictive rules for using valuation discounts would make it more difficult for farmers and ranchers who operate family-owned partnerships, LLCs or corporations to transfer their farms and ranches to the next generation.  Reportedly, of the nearly 9,500 comments on the proposed rule, 16% cite the potential negative impact on farmers as reason for oppos [node:read-more:link]