Ag groups are weighing in on Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s announcement that the U.S. has suspended all fresh beef imports from Brazil due to safety concerns. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Craig Uden supports the move to suspend Brazilian imports because it’s a result of USDA’s science-based testing protocol of imported beef. “This proves our food safety system works …
Syngenta Ordered to Pay Farmers Over $200 Million
A federal jury has ordered Swiss giant Syngenta to pay $217.7 million to Kansas farmers after a verdict was announced this week at a trial in Kansas City. The class action lawsuit was brought because of the Viptera line of corn seed Syngenta began selling to farmers in 2011. At the time, Syngenta hadn’t received Chinese approval of the trait …
Agri View: Job Losses Due to Automation
Everett Griner talks about how automation and technology advances have caused job losses in today’s Agri View. More and more farming is becoming an automated industry. It speeds up production and increases overall output. Driverless tractors, milking machines, drone aircraft, just to name a few. It keeps growing. But, there is a downside to all of this advancing technology. The …
Southern Peanut Farmers Federation applauds U.S. House Ag Committee Listening Session
The Southern Peanut Farmers Federation applauded U.S. House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway and the other members of the committee who held a listening session about the 2018 Farm Bill. “I’m pleased Chairman Conaway was in Florida today and wanted to hear directly from peanut farmers,” said Armond Morris, chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission and a member of the Southern …
Weekly Livestock Market Reports
Here are the Alabama and Georgia livestock market reports for the week ending June 23rd, compiled by the Livestock Market News Service for both states. AL Livestock Market Report: At Alabama Livestock Auctions for the week ended June 23, 2017, receipts at 21 markets totaled an estimated 9,400 head compared to 12,227 last week and 10,975 a year ago. …
New Leadership Team Elected at ASTA Annual Convention
Seed industry professionals from across the nation are gathered in Minneapolis for the American Seed Trade Association’s (ASTA) 134th Annual Conference. ASTA’s annual meeting, June 21-24, brings together its diverse membership to tackle collective issues and develop a policy to guide the future of the association. During the meeting, ASTA elected its 2017-18 leadership team which will continue to oversee the …
UF Scientists Work to Develop Heat-Resistant ‘ Cow of the Future ’
by Brad Buck, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences University of Florida scientists are working to breed the “ cow of the future ” by studying the more heat-tolerant Brangus cow — a cross between an Angus and a Brahman. Raluca Mateescu, an associate professor in the UF/IFAS department of animal sciences, is part of a team …
Disaster Declaration Sought for South Alabama Counties from USDA
Farmers were already in dire need of relief from several weeks of large rainfall totals where rain has saturated fields in central and southern Alabama. To add insult to injury, Tropical Storm Cindy dropped additional extensive rainfall across the region this week. Widespread flooding in South Alabama along with localized flooding in central Alabama have created multiple problems for Alabama …
GA Tech President Learns about Peanut Industry
Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson and his wife Val Peterson stopped by the Georgia Peanut Commission office this week as a part of their South Georgia tour to visit Georgia Tech alumni, Regents, business leaders, lawmakers and other friends of the Institute. The Georgia Peanut Commission has funded research with Georgia Tech since 2015 in the Agricultural Technology Research …
Growers and Beekeepers Meet with EPA
This week has been National Pollinator Week, as designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior. And stakeholders in the cotton industry, along with beekeepers and researchers from several state universities, met with representatives from the EPA and USDA to start the conversation on how to develop and adopt more appropriate steps for assessing …