FCC commissioner will view rural broadband projects
Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr will visit Nebraska next week to view rural and community broadband deployments in the state west of Lincoln and Omaha.
Category Archives: Science
Kick Off Grilling Season with Food Safety in Mind
For many Americans, the summer grilling and travel season begins this upcoming weekend. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service wants to make sure you and your family avoid food poisoning this summer.
World Governments are Ignoring Health Danger of Monsanto/Bayer Merger …
Bayer-Monsanto merger plan protests Campaigners say the proposed Bayer-Monsanto EU deal will create a large conglomerate with too much market share.
Honeybee Death Survey Masks True Scale of Pollinator Crisis
The Bee Informed Partnership today released results of its annual survey of honeybee colony losses. Beekeepers reported 40.1 percent bee colony losses between April 2017 and April 2018.
Zika detection breakthrough by University of Queensland
A cheap and effective tool that could save lives by helping health authorities target mosquitos infected with Zika virus has been developed by researchers from the University of Queensland and colleagues in Brazil. Dr Maggy Sikulu-Lord and Dr Jill Fernandes, at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation , found Near Infrared Spectroscopy was 18-times faster and 110-times cheaper than the current detection method.
USDA: 81% Of Corn, 56% Of Soybeans Planted
USDA: 81% OF CORN, 56% OF SOYBEANS PLANTED May 23, 2018 Farm Futures magazine reports: The 2018 planting season started relatively slowly for corn, but the crop has officially caught up to the five-year average, with 81% of the crop in the ground as of May 20. Spring planting progress for soybeans and spring wheat also made big strides this past week. Some states are even further along than the national average - even some major Midwestern states such as Illinois , Indiana and Iowa .
If Californiaa s foie gras ban survives, it could have major…
Foie gras producers and an acclaimed Los Angeles restaurant are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their appeal of a Ninth Circuit Court ruling, which upheld California's wrongheaded foie gras ban. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will take the case because it could have lasting implications for the future of animal agriculture in America.
USDA announces new process to purchase food
USDA will purchase up to $177.4 million in American-grown products for nutrition assistance programs using a new streamlined process. The products will be provided to families in need through USDA's nutrition assistance programs.
Legislative panels vote to stall groundwater nitrate rule
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota lawmakers have moved to stall implementation of the state's proposed rule for reducing nitrate levels in groundwater supplies in farm country.
Months of inaction led 20 Republicans to take a stand on immigration
They played basketball with his kids. They were the pride of the immigrant families upon which the Central Valley's agricultural economy relies.
Nbaf Update | Officials planning for possible change in federal ownership
There has been some interest in the proposed changes in federal ownership of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that were included in the President's FY 2019 budget request. The President's request calls for transitioning ownership and responsibility for operating NBAF from the Department of Homeland Security to the U.S. Department of Agriculture .
USDA Unveils Prototypes For GMO Food Labels, And They’re … Confusing
We recently got the first glimpse of what that label might look like, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its proposed guidelines . This is the product of a decades-long fight between anti-GMO campaigners and Big Agriculture companies, which left neither side completely satisfied, as NPR has reported .
Experts unsure when Hawaii’s volcano will calm
It came after the volcano had sent lava flows into neighborhoods 25 miles to the east of the summit and destroyed at least 26 homes since May 3. "Trying to understand when a volcano is going to stop erupting is nearly impossible, because the processes driving that fall below the surface and we can't see them." said volcanologist Janine Krippner of Concord University in West Virginia.
Scientists unsure when Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano will quiet
People watch as ash rises from the summit crater of Kilauea volcano, Thursday, May 17, 2018, in Volcano, Hawaii. . This Thursday, May 17, 2018 image provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a view of the ash plume resulting from an early morning explosion at Kilauea Volcano, in Hawaii.
Concordia schools to provide summer free meals for children
Meals will be served at the USD 333 Service Center, the old Middle School from May 30 through August 3 and at the Concordia Junior-Senior High School from May 30 through July 20. At the Service Center, breakfast will be served Monday through Friday from 8:30-9:00 a.m. Lunch will be served Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. until noon. Visitors are asked to use the parking lot entrance on the north side of the building.
Humane Society: Ban retail stores from selling puppies. They’re unfit
Throughout the nation, Americans are taking a stand against cruel puppy mills by supporting efforts to prohibit puppy mill operators from selling dogs in pet stores. Recently, Maryland became the second state in the nation to ban the sale of puppy mill puppies in pet stores when Gov. Larry Hogan signed bipartisan legislation to protect dogs and the state's consumers.
Critics say US sugar program a sour deal for consumers
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., promotes this year's renewal of the farm bill during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 17, 2018.
Must-do for Florida’s midterm candidates: A stop in Puerto Rico. Or three.
Holding political office in Florida increasingly requires trekking to Puerto Rico, the former home of a growing number of Florida residents. More than a million Puerto Ricans already lived in the state before the hurricane, and another 56,000 joined them in the first six months after Maria.
Email challenges Pruitt account on motorcade lights, siren
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt appears before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies on budget on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 16, 2018. Pruitt goes before a Senate panel Wednesday as he faces a growing number of federal ethics investigations over his lavish spending on travel and security.
Ozone-Eating Chemical Emissions on the Rise
Something strange is happening with a now-banned chemical that eats away at Earth's protective ozone layer: Scientists say there's more of it - not less - going into the atmosphere and they don't know where it is coming from. When a hole in the ozone formed over Antarctica, countries around the world in 1987 agreed to phase out several types of ozone-depleting chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons .