Labor Department suspends eased farm worker rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The U.S. Labor Department is suspending a regulation adopted shortly before former President George W. Bush left office that facilitated bringing foreign workers into the United States.

Many immigration and labor advocacy groups opposed the rules for lowering wages and eliminating protections for temporary farm workers. The rule affects the H-2A guest worker program, which lets employers hire foreign workers if they cannot find suitable American workers.

Farm owners supported Bush administration changes, saying they eliminated red tape that had made it harder to bring in foreign workers to help harvest crops. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis had proposed suspending the rule in March.

The suspension restores old program regulations while new rules are drafted.

Dozens of petting zoo animals die in Chicago fire

UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. (AP) — Dozens of animals, including horses, bulls, goats and chickens, have died in a fire at a petting zoo in suburban Chicago.

Robert Graham is the director of Riegel Farm in University Park. Graham said between 30-40 animals died of smoke inhalation early Friday when the blaze struck the petting zoo.

Officials say firefighters saved about two dozen animals. One firefighter was slightly injured after being kicked by a llama. Flames were shooting through the farm’s roof when firefighters arrived. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze.

The original farm was built around 1900.

No new steps needed to
protect pigs from flu

PARIS (AP) — The world animal health body says no extra measures are necessary to protect pig populations from the H1N1 “swine flu” virus because it tends to be mild in hogs.

Director General Bernard Vallat of the OIE World Organization for Animal Health said he expects to see more cases of human-to-pig contamination of the virus, like the recent case of a farm worker in Canada who passed swine flu to a herd of hogs.

Still, Vallat said because the virus does not tend to prove deadly in pigs, it does not make sense to recommend costly preventive measures. He spoke May 27 at the general assembly of the OIE.

IDOA will safely dispose
of agricultural pesticides

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) will hold a Clean Sweep collection in September, enabling residents of four southwestern Illinois counties to dispose of unwanted agricultural pesticides for free.

The IOA announced the collection, which annually rotates among Illinois counties, has been scheduled this year for Madison, Monroe, Randolph and St. Clair counties. Farmers, nursery owners, private pesticide applicators and landowners who inherited unwanted agricultural pesticides with their property are eligible to participate.

“Since its inception, Clean Sweep has collected and safely disposed of nearly 450,000 pounds of unwanted agrichemicals,” Warren Goetsch, bureau chief of IDOA Environmental Programs, said. “It’s an economical way to get rid of pesticides that are no longer needed and may pose a safety hazard if left lying around.”

Participants must register the products they plan to dispose of by July 17. Registration is required to give the waste disposal contractor time to prepare for the different kinds of materials that will need to be handled. Forms may be obtained by calling the Pesticide Hotline at 800-641-3934 or visiting one of the program sponsors.

Completed forms should be mailed or faxed. The mailing address is: Clean Sweep Program, Illinois Department of Agriculture, State Fairgrounds, P.O. Box 19281, Springfield, IL, 62794-9281. The fax number is 217-524-4882.

Participants will be sent a reservation card indicating the date, time and location of their collection.

Tennessee opens new
organic crops unit

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — May 15 marked a momentous day for the University of Tennessee AgResearch program: AgResearch’s East Tennessee Research and Education Center officially changed the name of its Small Grains Unit to the Organic Crops Unit, and the new unit hosted its first organic crops field tour.

More than 150 farmers and backyard gardeners turned out to tour the new 90-acre facility and to hear UT experts and regional organic agriculture representatives. Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) Assistant Commissioner Joe Gaines was on hand to help UT Institute of Agriculture administrators unveil a new sign for the organic unit’s official dedication.

UT AgResearch, in cooperation with UT extension and the TDA, launched the organic agriculture initiative to involve more Tennessee farmers in organic production for the purpose of increasing farm income, which may help some to keep the family farm in the family. Some 14 acres of the facility are currently in transition toward USDA organic certification. It takes three years to achieve certification.

For additional information about organic farming in Tennessee, visit http://organics.tennessee.edu

Event to recall Smoky Mountain memories

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Gatlinburg is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with an event featuring people affected by the land purchase between Tennessee and North Carolina.

The June 6 program called “The Park Was My Home” will include 20 people, mostly in their eighties and nineties, who will tell stories about life in the 800-square-mile timber and farm region before the park was created in 1934. Gatlinburg Tourism Manager George Hawkins said the department will document the stories.

Other anniversary festivities scheduled for the summer include a reenactment of the 1940 presidential motorcade that brought Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Newfound Gap and Civilian Conservation Corps-themed characters in the lineup for Smoky Mountain Tunes & Tales.

Online farm program tools
now available for ACRE

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — New online research and planning tools are available for farmers and ranchers to assist them in examining how the new 2008 farm bill programs apply to their crops and operations.

ACRE, or the Average Crop Revenue Election Program, is a new revenue-based guarantee program administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). ACRE is an alternative to the traditional price-stabilizing Direct and Counter-cyclical Program.

Upon visiting the FSA website at www.fsa.usda.gov growers enter their crops, acreages and price/yield projections into an ACRE calculator to evaluate potential results. The calculator tool and other information and eligibility resources can be found by navigating to the “Direct and Counter-cyclical Program/ACRE” pages shown in the menu bar on the left of the FSA homepage.

The website also provides a 2008 Benchmark Yield History, ACRE Revenue Yield Maps and ACRE Price Values. The calculator can be used for one year and repeated to project multiple-year results.