A program that offers Tyson Foods the opportunity to provide fresh proteins to an expanding online grocery program is part of a strategy to grow Tyson’s “non-store retail” presence, President and CEO Donnie Smith told analysts this week. [node:read-more:link]

The adult children of aging parents live an average of 480 miles away.  You go anyway, because family is counting on you. But it’s often hard both mentally and physically, or at least it is at my age. It’s expensive, whether you fly or drive. And for many of us, it means taking time off work.....In the meantime, Bill and I have had lots of conversations about what happens when it’s our turn to face the transportation challenges that come with aging in rural America. We don’t have children to come to our aid, or the financial resources to hire many services. [node:read-more:link]

As a strong El Niño fades, the weather across the country will slowly change. In much of the eastern United States, a hot summer is in store.

Rain and thunderstorms will dominate the pattern in the central and southern Plains, while the opposite occurs in California and the Northwest, and scarce rainfall leads to severe drought conditions.

Heat will come on strong in June for the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, including in New York City, Boston, and Hartford, Connecticut. However, severe weather in July could turn the warm pattern on its head. [node:read-more:link]

With the move from burning coal to natural gas and low-sulfur coal and an increase in the use of scrubbers, only about 25 percent as much atmospheric sulfur is available today, compared to 40 years ago. Sulfur balances in agricultural fields are now negative, with more removed each year in crop harvests and leaching than is added from fertilizers and deposition, scientists have found, suggesting that farmers may need to apply sulfur fertilizer at some point in the future, particularly on fields with less soil organic matter. [node:read-more:link]

First question out of the mouth of one of the Docs during Q and A was, “So I am now OK with the use of most antibiotics used in animals and can better answer my patients’ questions about that practice. But what about hormones used in animals and their effect on earlier ages of puberty?”

I asked him if he ate ground beef. He answered yes. I suggested to him that the hormone levels in the meat from a spent dairy cow were certainly much higher than that in a steer with an implant. [node:read-more:link]

Chances are you’ve picked up an issue of Consumer Reports at some point, or navigated their website. The publication is typically viewed as a trusted source of product reviews of cars, appliances and electronics. What you may not realize is that Consumer Reports affiliated with Consumers Union – a nonprofit group that has decided to give modern agricultural practices a bad review. [node:read-more:link]

Since 2005, Rose Acre Farms has had, under protest, a Clean Water Act non-discharge National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit instead of a North Carolina permit, which all other egg farms in North Carolina are allowed to use. After reading a detailed account of Rose Acre's defense, the NCDEQ dropped its requirements and demands of the past 15 years and said it will allow the agricultural runoff exemption to be applied to Rose Acre and other similar entities. [node:read-more:link]

“Just Label It”, an anti-gmo organization funded by the organic industry and founded by the chairman of an organic yogurt company, has put out a cute video demonstrating how difficult it would be for mothers to use their smart phones to identify products with GMOs in them using a QR code. [node:read-more:link]

Most technologies developed in recent years to reduce odor and gas emissions from livestock never make it to the farm for further testing, researchers at Iowa State University said Monday.

 ISU researchers reviewed 265 academic papers published through the end of 2014 that looked at the effectiveness of technologies intended to control emissions from livestock and poultry operations. The practices focused on animal housing, manure storage and land application techniques. [node:read-more:link]