FDA, USDA Announce Key Step To Advance Efforts To Streamline Produce Safety Requirements For Farmers

FDA, USDA ANNOUNCE KEY STEP TO ADVANCE EFFORTS TO STREAMLINE PRODUCE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR FARMERS Jun. 6, 2018 Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ongoing effort to make the oversight of food safety stronger and more efficient, the FDA and the USDA today announced the alignment of the USDA Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices Audit Program with the requirements of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act's Produce Safety Rule. The new step is part of an ongoing effort to streamline produce safety requirements for farmers.

EPA staffer ran errands for Pruitt, looked into buying mattress from Trump hotel

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before a Senate Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the proposed budget estimates and justification for FY2019 for the Environmental Protection Agency on Capitol Hill last month.

House farm bill restricts food stamp benefits, benefits billionaires

Provisions inside the delayed House farm bill would roll back restrictions on the wealthy obtaining federal farm subsidies, as well as allow extended family members to receive lucrative payments. The language has generated opposition both from fiscal conservatives who say the payments amount to welfare for wealthy people and critics who note that the same bill proposes new work requirements for participants in the federal food stamp program, SNAP.

Twin Pine sanctioned for ‘inhumane’ treatment

Twin Pine Farms slaughter line shut down for 'inhumane' act; owner sees it differently Corrective steps are being taken after an "egregious situation" on a slaughter line in Seven Valleys. Check out this story on ydr.com: Federal inspectors said the slaughter line at his 66-year-old family farm had an "inhumane" kill at the end of April and shut it down for about three business days.

Trump’s tariffs: What they are and how they would work

U.S. companies that export products, such as agricultural producers in the Midwest, say their businesses will suffer if the U.S. moves forward with imposing tariffs, only to see other countries retaliate with similar measures. WASHINGTON - As a tool of national trade policy, tariffs had long been fading into history, a relic of 19th and early 20th centuries that most experts regarded as mutually harmful to all nations involved.

The fate of a proposed agricultural education facility hinges on how Sussex County officials and…

Farm owner Jeri Berc has been through a pair of public hearings on a conditional-use application she has filed to operate an agricultural education facility on Hudson Road near Milton. RON MACARTHUR PHOTO The fate of a proposed agricultural education facility hinges on how Sussex County officials and lawyers interpret deed restrictions.

Editorial: Tariffs and Trumpspeak

As we stumble into trade actions and retaliations that neither the U.S. nor anyone else needs, it's hard not blame President Donald Trump's peculiar and one-sided economic views. The European Union tried a wake-up call to Republicans, targeting retaliatory tariffs against products from Republican states: Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon felt the bite of new tariffs.

How Drones Are Revolutionizing the Way Film and Television Is Made

Around the time Leonardo Da Vinci was painting the Mona Lisa, he was also writing his Codex on the Flight of Birds, a roughly 35,000-word exploration of the ways in which man might take to the air. His illustrations included diagrams positing pre-Newtonian theories of physics, a rudimentary plan for a flying machine and many, many sketches of birds in flight.

Bayer to Sell $9 Billion in Assets to Get Green Light for Monsanto Deal

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday granted antitrust approval to Bayer AG's planned acquisition of Monsanto Co., reports the Wall Street Journal , after requiring the German company to sell off nearly $9 billion in assets as a means of preserving competition. The Bayer assets are being sold to chemicals rival BASF SE.

RPT-Cotton makes a comeback in U.S. Plains as farmers sour on wheat

Farmers in Kansas and Oklahoma are planting more land with cotton than they have for decades as they ditch wheat, attracted by relatively high cotton prices and the crop's ability to withstand drought. A 20-percent increase from last year marks a sharp turnaround for the crop that once dominated the Mississippi Delta into Texas.

U.S. Takes Action Against Canadian Trade Measures That Discriminate Against U.S. Wine

U.S. TAKES ACTION AGAINST CANADIAN TRADE MEASURES THAT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST U.S. WINE May 29, 2018 Source: USDA news release U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer announced today that the Trump Administration has requested that the World Trade Organization establish a dispute settlement panel to examine unfair regulations governing the sale of wine in grocery stores in the Canadian province of British Columbia . The Office of the United States Trade Representative is challenging BC regulations that discriminate against U.S. and other imported wine by allowing only BC wine to be sold on regular grocery store shelves.

Long-Term Study By U Of Illinois Shows Crop Rotation Decreases Greenhouse Gas Emissions

TERM STUDY BY U OF ILLINOIS SHOWS CROP ROTATION DECREASES GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS May 29, 2018 Source: U Of Illinois news release Many farmers grow corn and soybean in rotation to avoid the continuous corn yield penalty, but now there's another reason to rotate. Scientists at the University of Illinois have provided further evidence that rotating crops increases yield and lowers greenhouse gas emissions compared to continuous corn or soybean.