Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Agriculture, Farming, and Food Reading Picks for this Week

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, Apples, c.1575

This Tuesday news thread is a weekly feature here at Big Picture Agriculture.
  1. How Iowa can save the family farm | DesMoines Register Editorial
    2. Comment: More CRP, less tax support for the largest operations, funding rural development, and helping beginning farmers.
  2. Democrats Can Win Rural Voters by Taking on Big Agriculture - Identifying the corporate power that holds back farm communities could revive Democratic fortunes. | The Nation
  3. August Rural Mainstreet Index Falls Below Growth Neutral: More than Half of Bankers Report Drought Impacts | Creighton.edu
  4. Cull unprofitable land - Precision technology backs common sense conservation | Corn and Soybean Digest
  5. Exports of U.S. feed grains setting records | World-Grain
  6. Corn and Soybean Yield Forecasts Larger than Expected | Successful Farming
  7. Conference brings soybean buyers to Omaha from 50 countries to make deals | Omaha World-Herald
  8. New Jersey not beholden to Big Ethanol | NJ Biz
    9. Quote: "Sen. Booker wasn’t elected to represent Midwestern producers, and New Jersey has no reason to bend to these special interests. He must be willing to protect New Jersey’s economic environment, and resist the hypocrisy of ethanol special interests — which claim to promote consumer choice and free-market policies with a bill that compromises both. Sen. Booker must consider his constituents and vote no on S.517."
  9. On July 28, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit handed issued its decision in the lawsuit over EPA's interpretation of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and its waiver authority (Americans for Clean Energy v. EPA. After years of litigation, the decision may add much-needed clarity to the RFS. | Farm Doc Daily
  10. First Corn-to-Ethanol Plant Opens in Brazil | Biofuels Jrnl
  11. Ethanol’s Contribution to a Record-Breaking Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico | HuffPost
  12. Increase in Ethanol Production Likely to Outpace Near-term Demand | CoBank
  13. The Renewable Fuel Standard has had an overall positive impact on U.S. agriculture and on the U.S. economy as a whole, a new economic study by Iowa State University shows. However, the policy has done little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and further RFS benefits would come only with the continued expansion of corn ethanol and a reduction in biodiesel production, the study suggests. | DTN. Here is a link to the Iowa study. PDF.
  14. Reports about sustainable and local farming: one after another | Food Politics
  15. Ranchers in parched U.S. Northern Plains welcome hay lottery | Reuters
    16. Comment: Have you looked at the drought map lately?
  16. Crops such as wheat could be up to 21% more efficient at turning the sun's energy into food, according to new research by Lancaster University. | Phys.org
  17. Monsanto Licenses Crispr Technology from Biotech Co. | Brownfield
  18. The $50 billion Aquafeed market | USAgnet
  19. Update on Dicamba-related Injury Investigations and Estimates of Injured Soybean Acreage | Missouri.edu
  20. Lessons Learned from Dicamba | Agweb
  21. A new generation of farmers faces mounting challenges | MPR News
  22. Growing concern: Organic farms need a new generation to keep them alive | SanFrancisco Chronicle
  23. Biodynamic: A different kind of farming | Capital Press
  24. These 2 Farm Sanctuaries Are Making a Huge Difference for Pigs | One Green Planet
  25. California’s $7.5 million Healthy Soils initiative will pay farmers up to $50,000 if they adopt "carbon farming" practices, including applying compost on rangeland to increase carbon retention capacity. | KPBS
  26. Why food co-op workers in Minneapolis have flocked to unions | MinnPost
  27. Researchers Hone in on Disease-Fighting Microbes in the Soil | DTN
  28. Plants have been "hijacked" to make polio vaccine in a breakthrough with the potential to transform vaccine manufacture, say scientists. | BBC
  29. Who owns the seeds bought by farmers and gardeners? | Marketplace
  30. EBay’s Founder Has a New Idea: Build a Dairy in Hawaii | NYTs
  31. Japan’s farm ministry to promote rental of urban farmland | Japan Times
  32. The New Enemy in India's Fight Against Inflation? Tomatoes. | Bloomberg
  33. In India, an Uber for farm machinery aims to make a difference in rural areas | Tech Crunch
  34. South Korea is building a $10 billion agriculture city in Egypt | Inhabitat
  35. Advice on growing Fruit Trees | Wisconsin State Farmer
  36. The Secret to Growing Award-Winning Pumpkins | USAgnet
  37. Second Edition of NRDC’s Landmark Food Waste Report | NRDC
  38. How the Chicken Industry Got Hooked on Antibiotics | The Atlantic
  39. Factory farming in Asia creating global health risks, report warns; Growth of intensive units has potential to increase antibiotic resistance and could result in spread of bird flu beyond region | The Guardian
  40. Trans Fat Is (Almost) Out of Your Food. Two years ago, the FDA set a June 2018 deadline. The industry is ready. | Bloomberg
  41. How Driscoll’s Reinvented the Strawberry | The New Yorker
  42. If bugs are the next big food trend, we need to find a way to grow a lot of them. Cricket company Aspire has turned to robots. | Fast Co.
  43. War on Sugar Has Food Giants Vying to Make Stevia Tastier | Bloomberg
  44. Sugar Is Finally More Popular Than Corn Syrup Again | Bloomberg
  45. Cane versus beet sugar–A difference? | Food Politics
  46. China’s growing middle class lose appetite for instant noodles, preferring healthier meals ordered online | SCMP
  47. Filipino food will be the next big thing in America | Business Insider
  48. Eating habits affect skin's protection against sun | Science Daily
To view last week's LINKS, click here.

If you enjoyed these news links, please consider sharing this via Email or social media.