Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Ag Reading Picks this Week


  1. Her well runs dry with progress | by Art Cullen - The Storm Lake Times
  2. Note: The always-great Iowa Ag commentator, Art Cullen, addresses the subject of water use of ethanol plants when they draw from aquifers unsustainably - among other things.
  3. Our food system isn’t broken, but the farm bill is | The Durango Herald
  4. FAO Food Price Index posts sharp drop in July. Export prices for cereals, dairy, sugar, meat and vegetable oils all decline | FAO
  5. The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index climbed above growth neutral in July for a sixth straight month, according to the monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy. | Creighton Univ.
  6. Why China’s pork producers can survive without US soybean imports | SCMP
  7. Ethanol exports through June stood at 927.7 million gallons (mg), up 33 percent from the first half of 2017 and on pace to shatter last year’s record of 1.38 billion gallons (bg). | Biofuels Digest
  8. Smithfield Foods Ordered to Pay North Carolina Residents Near Hog Farm. It is the third lawsuit in a row the pork giant has lost over odor and noise | WSJ (paywall)
  9. City move raises fears of chop for historic Smithfield market - Corporation announces deal ‘in principle’ to close 1,000-year-old site of meat halls | FT
  10. UK farmers allowed to take more water from rivers as heatwave continues | The Guardian
  11. EU tariffs are shaking Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley Bean Co., and rippling through to its clients, vendors and customers | WSJ (paywall)
  12. Sugar Beets making a comeback as a Colorado cash crop | Denver Post
  13. World cotton mill use is forecast to reach a new record in 2018/19 | USDA
  14. Iowa inventories its conservation practices | Sioux City Journal
  15. Missouri could offset carbon emissions from agriculture by conserving the soil | St Louis Public Radio
  16. Growing Hemp: From the Greenhouse to the Fields | KGNU Radio
  17. Idaho agribusiness lands gene editing licensing rights | AP
  18. Mendocino Complex fire is largest wildfire in California history - More than 14,000 firefighters are now battling over a dozen major blazes across the state. | NBC News
  19. Note: Our air quality has been affected by this every day for a month here on the front range of Colorado.
  20. The worst drought in living memory is sweeping parts of eastern Australia, leaving farmers struggling to cope and asking questions about their future. | MSN.com
  21. In pictures: Australia's drought seen from the air | BBC
  22. BONUS:
  23. Ralph talks to world–renowned doctor Andrew Weil about the pharmaceutical industry and the problem of over-medication, outlined in his book “Mind Over Meds.” | Ralph Nader Radio Hour
  24. Note: I thought this was quite a great discussion about pharmaceuticals in the U.S. and conventional practices exposing much of what you may not know as a consumer or patient.

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