Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Agriculture, Farming, and Food Reading Picks for this Week

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Wilhelm Natural History Botanical Prints

This Tuesday news thread is a weekly feature here at Big Picture Agriculture. Readers, stay tuned for a "surprise" related to me providing a new resource for agricultural news — to be announced within the week.
  1. This Is A Good Time To Quit | by John Phipps for Agweb
  2. Wither ethanol? | By Art Cullen of Storm Lake Times
    3. This is the 2nd part of the piece, so scroll down.
  3. The Search for Sugar Substitutes - As traditional sweeteners come under attack, food companies are in hot pursuit of alternatives | WSJ
  4. All the milk from the 8,200 cows on this farm go into Dannon yogurt | Omaha World-Herald
  5. With OK From EPA, Use Of Controversial Weedkiller Is Expected To Double | NPR
  6. Soybean production is forecast at a record 4.43 billion bushels, down slightly from September, but up 3 percent from last year. | USAgnet
  7. A Japanese food startup is giving high school kids meat-growing machines | Quartz
  8. Where the buffalo roam: property investment in the American West | South China Morning Post
    9. Take note that the purpose of this article is to point Chinese investors towards U.S. farm or ranch land as a good investment.
  9. Leopold Center's battle for new life begins with Iowa farmers, commodity groups | DesMoines Register
    10. Quote: The Leopold Center was one of the few groups looking at agriculture sustainability in 1987 when it started, said Suzanne Shirbroun, a northeast Iowa farmer who is on the Leopold Center task force. "Now we have a whole list of groups with similar interests," said Shirbroun, a Iowa Soybean Association board member. "They're all doing good work. But they're all chasing the same piece of pie."
  10. More investors turn to farmland | Pensions and Investments
  11. Farmland Market in Iowa: "It's a Sellers' Market" | Agweb
  12. CRP acreages approved for now at cap | USAgnet
  13. Sustainable agriculture continues to be a winner for Agriculture Capital, a fund co-founded by Portland-based money manager Equilibrium Capital. | BizJournals
  14. Rabobank and the United Nations Environment Program announce $1 billion global program to help build food production while preserving resources. | Farm Futures
  15. An ex-Tesla executive is teaming up with a little-known vertical farming startup | Business Insider
  16. 172,000 sign petition against aviation biofuels | Biofuels International
  17. Retailers Are Bottling Their Own Milk, Raising Pressure on Dairy Companies | WSJ
  18. Diversity of large animals plays an important role in carbon cycle | Science Daily
  19. Study reveals new threat to the ozone layer | Phys.org
    20. Quote: One of the new threats is dichloromethane, a substance with uses varying from paint stripping to agricultural fumigation and the production of pharmaceuticals. The amount of this substance in the atmosphere decreased in the 1990s and early 2000s, but over the past decade dichloromethane became approximately 60% more abundant.
  20. New Report Illustrates Why USDA Must Not Allow Chinese Poultry or Brazilian Fresh Meat Imports | Common Dreams
  21. In their ongoing efforts to make drugs cheaper, Japanese researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have genetically engineered chickens to lay eggs containing drugs that can fight diseases like hepatitis and cancer. | USAgnet
  22. Rhode Island Gardener's Giant Pumpkins | NY1
  23. More Evidence Fats Help Unlock Veggies' Nutrition Benefits | USAgnet
  24. Global childhood obesity rises 10-fold in 40 years - Rates have soared in low- and middle-income countries, but have plateaued in higher-income nations | FT
  25. It’s easy to become obese in America. These 7 charts explain why. | VOX
To view last week's LINKS, click here.

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