The meat and poultry industry agrees that animal care and handling is a complex issue, however according to Jason McAlister, animal welfare manager at Triumph Foods, St. Joseph, Mo., there are five steps any company can follow that will make the process a little more simple. [node:read-more:link]

The state overstated by about fourfold the impact that a carbon tax ballot measure would have on the price of electricity in 2020. The mistake has now been corrected. The measure imposes an escalating tax on fossil fuels, including coal and natural gas used to generate electricity, and also includes reductions in the state sales tax and business and occupation tax as well as an up to $1,500 tax credit for some 460,000 low-income families. [node:read-more:link]

A company with coal mines in Wyoming and Montana has begun exporting fuel to Asia through a Canadian port - a rare bit of a positive news for an industry that's been in a prolonged tailspin. Utah-based Lighthouse Resources had been seeking approval since 2011 for two coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington. It's faced strong opposition from environmentalists, American Indian tribes and some state officials. [node:read-more:link]

Survey Results at a Glance: • For a 13th straight month, the Rural Mainstreet Index fell below growth neutral.   Almost 4 of 5 bank CEOs indicated restructuring farm loans due to weak farm income. Farmland prices remained below growth neutral for the 34th consecutive month. Almost one-fifth of bankers reported increasing rejection rates on agricultural loans due to weak farm income. [node:read-more:link]

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing several enhancements to the Renewable Fuel Standard and related fuel regulations "to support market growth of ethanol and other renewable fuels in the U.S."  One of the key actions proposed is an update to fuel regulations to expand the "availability of high ethanol fuel blends for use in flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs)," said EPA in their proposal found on the agency's rulemaking website. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice have filed a complaint against NGL Crude Logistics, LLC and Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC and a $6 million settlement with Western Dubuque to address alleged violations of the Renewable Fuel Standard. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, alleges that NGL entered into a series of transactions with Western Dubuque in 2011 that resulted in the generation of approximately 36 million invalid Renewable Identification Numbers. [node:read-more:link]

Floods from Hurricane Matthew have taken a heavy toll on poultry in North Carolina, with as many as 5 million birds lost.  The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) confirmed with Reuters that 1.8 million head of poultry died, and most of those birds were broilers. However, Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, said the number of losses could be around 5 million birds. [node:read-more:link]

In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. The team used a catalyst made of carbon, copper and nitrogen and applied voltage to trigger a complicated chemical reaction that essentially reverses the combustion process. With the help of the nanotechnology-based catalyst which contains multiple reaction sites, the solution of carbon dioxide dissolved in water turned into ethanol with a yield of 63 percent. [node:read-more:link]

Elephants, pangolins and parrots are among the species that were given stronger trade protections at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which ran from 24 September to 5 October in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The 17th meeting of the CITES convention was its largest ever, attended by more than 3,500 people, including representatives of 152 governments. [node:read-more:link]

The government’s nutrition assistance programs don’t tend to get a good rap. [node:read-more:link]