Cathy Isom has some pointers on how to start your own hydroponic garden or farm. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Hydroponic gardens are becoming popular because of their ability to conserve water and pesticide use while providing a medium for urban gardeners to grow fresh produce in small spaces. Now that we know the advantages of this practice, …
Agriculture Looks for Ways to Boost Exports
Agriculture is looking for every way possible to boost farm exports, at a time when other trade avenues seem to be limited or closed. TPP is off the table, the NAFTA renegotiations may or may not bear fruit, and U.S.-imposed sanctions on China over North Korea could invite retaliation. So where does U.S. agriculture go? One answer came recently when …
Swine Disease Monitoring System in Development
Farm Journal’s Pork Network Dot Com reports the Swine Health Information Center has funded a nearly real-time monitoring system for swine disease across the globe. The system will include the capability for identifying potential hazards due to new diseases or potential changes in current diseases. It will also be able to screen the information collected and regularly report it to …
Amazon Cleared to Take Over Whole Foods
The Federal Trade Commission cleared Amazon to officially take over Whole Foods. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says Amazon will spend $13.7 billion to acquire the Austin, Texas-based high-end food grocery store chain. The FTC wrapped up its investigation and found no anticompetitive effects sufficient to block the deal. Acting competition bureau chief Bruce Hoffman says, “Based on our investigation, we’ve …
McDonald’s Announces Global Antibiotic Phase Out
McDonald’s Corporation announced it’ll be expanding its effort to cut back on the use of antibiotics critical to human health across the global chicken supply. The fast food giant will require its poultry suppliers to phase out drugs categorized under the highest priority category in the World Health Organization’s four categories by January of next year. Those antibiotics will disappear …
IBM Announces New Food Traceability Program
A group of companies in the global food chain announced a partnership with IBM intended to give consumers more confidence in the global food system. The group includes companies like Walmart, Nestle, Tyson Foods, and many others. They’ll work with IBM to find areas in the global supply food chain that can benefit from the IBM program Blockchain. An IBM …
Stabenow Supports Call to Withdraw Clovis Nomination
Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Brian Schatz of Hawaii called for President Trump to withdraw the nomination of Sam Clovis as USDA Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics. The Hagstrom Report says shortly the announcement, Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow says that if the Clovis nomination isn’t withdrawn, she will highlight his comments on minorities, gays, Barack Obama, and …
Brazil Slaps Tariff on U.S. Ethanol
The Brazilian Agriculture Minister announced on Wednesday that the country’s Chamber of Foreign Trade approved a recommendation to impose a 20 percent tariff on U.S. ethanol imports after a 600 million liter tariff rate quota. Brazilian media are reporting the tariff will be in effect for two years. This will make it much more difficult for U.S. ethanol to access …
Agri View: Resuming Beef Trade
Everett Griner talks about resuming beef trade with China in today’s Agri View. Well, China is buying American beef again. It is not what cattlemen would like to see, but it is happening. China stopped buying American beef 14 years ago. There is still no formal trade agreement between the two countries but, individual buyers, you know …
AFBF, AFBIS, Others, Propose Dairy Revenue Protection Insurance Concept
A proposal submitted to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), American Farm Bureau Insurance Services (AFBIS), and others would provide a revenue-based insurance option for dairy farmers, different from the current margin-based insurance options available. AFBF Market Intelligence Director John Newton explains how the Dairy Revenue Protection insurance concept will work for dairy farmers. …