When it comes to deciding how to overhaul the state's energy policy, the Michigan legislature isn't suffering from a lack of input. According to an analysis from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, at least 145 registered lobbyists have either submitted position statements to committees about proposed energy reforms or are registered as working for key players. That means the lobbyists outnumber the 144 state legislators -- a number which is typically 148 but has been lowered due to two resignations and two deaths. After the Nov. [node:read-more:link]

Drug resistant bacteria is showing its face around the world and causing worry that the golden age of antibiotics is coming to a close. At the University of Melbourne in Australia researchers have been working on something called structurally nanoengineered antimicrobial peptide polymers (SNAPPs), tiny microscopic devices that are able to damage bacterial walls without using any drugs. [node:read-more:link]

A state environmental review board voted Wednesday to allow Wyoming's first major coal mine in decades to proceed despite the objections of another coal company. Amid competition from natural gas and tougher environmental regulations, coal mines tend to be cutting back production or even shutting down — not opening anew. Kentucky-based Ramaco's relatively small Brook Mine would buck that trend but has faced opposition from another company and a ranch. The Wyoming Environmental Quality Council voted unanimously to allow Ramaco to go ahead despite the Big Horn Coal Company's objections. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service recently awarded the National Corn Growers Association and its Soil Health Partnership a $1 million Conservation Innovation Grant to help farmers better understand and adopt farming practices that help reduce climate change impacts. [node:read-more:link]

Growing up on a farm may help ward off allergies later in life, a new study suggests.  The study also found that women who spend their early years on a farm typically have stronger lungs than their suburban or city-dwelling peers.  Other research has suggested that exposure to germs and potential allergens in early childhood could protect people against allergies later. A team led by the University of Melbourne's Shyamali Dharmage put this "hygiene hypothesis" to the test. Dharmage is a professor in the Center for Epidemiology & Biostatistics. [node:read-more:link]

The upper echelons of America’s modern agricultural prowess are betting that massive mergers will allow it to seize powerful new gene editing technologies to fuel much needed growth.  All but one of the “Big Six” seed and agrotechnology companies, including number one ranked Monsanto Co., saw revenue declines in 2015. Farmers are buying less seed and fewer chemicals as U.S. farm income has plummeted 30 percent from a 2013 high. Mounting pest and weed resistance to genetically engineered (GE) seeds has also begun to worry farmers, as crop yields have begun to flatline in the last few years. [node:read-more:link]

Dan Zumbach lost 50 acres of corn when the Cedar River flooded. Yet he considers himself lucky.  Most of his 160 acres would have been lost if not for family, friends and neighbors who gathered Saturday with combines, grain carts and semitrailer trucks to harvest a field near Palo. They worked from noon until 11 p.m. before the rising waters forced them to quit. Iowa's widespread thunderstorms and torrential rains have done more than flood Iowa's  cities and towns. They have also slowed much of the state's corn and soybean harvest. [node:read-more:link]

A private member’s bill entitled the “Modernizing Animal Protections Act” will receive second reading on September 28, 2016. While the off-the-hop goals of avoiding shark harvesting in Canadian waters and shutting down puppy mills seem in line with the title, the bill, put forward by Liberal MP for Beaches-East York Nathaniel Erksine-Smith, goes much further than that.  Bill C-246 leaves enough to translation that it could, potentially, criminalize not just livestock agriculture, but hunting and fishing as well. [node:read-more:link]

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USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today the availability of an updated compliance guideline on documentation required to support animal-raising claims on product labels that processors must submit to the agency for approval of their use on product labels. The updated guideline reflects FSIS’s current position and procedures for reviewing animal-raising claims and includes explanations of animal-raising claims that FSIS may approve as well as the types of supporting documentation that the agency requires. [node:read-more:link]