Perdue lays out challenges in farming for House Ag hearing
Less than a year after his appointment as secretary of the USDA, Sonny Perdue was back before the House Agriculture Committee to discuss rural prosperity and the farm bill.
Are farmers prepped for China’s new soybean import conditions?
New quality requirements imposed this year by China could weaken U.S. soybean competitiveness – but Illinois farmers are more than ready to meet the new conditions.
New equine hospital to break ground at Purdue later 2018
Even as Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine (PVM) administrators and instructors look for construction to begin on a $35 million equine hospital and paddocks facility this fall, they’re still in a holding pattern on seeing the second, larger phase of a new Veterinary Teaching Hospital complex take shape.
Congress OKs a two-year, $500 billion spending bill
It will be a few more weeks before it is known how $500 billion in new federal spending will be doled out, following Congressional votes last week that resulted in approval of hundreds of billions of dollars for defense and domestic programs, including $1.1 billion for dairy farmers and much needed aid for hurricane-hit regions.
Iowa hog producer to replace America's Pig Farmer of the Year
The National Pork Board (NPB) has named Leon Sheets, a fourth-generation Iowa hog producer, America’s Pig Farmer of the Year for the remainder of 2017-18 program year.
New produce safety rules take effect; enforcement next year
U.S. and foreign-supplier vegetable and fruit farmers who individually generate $500,000 or more in annual sales have 12 months to prepare for widespread inspections of their farms next year, after new federal food safety laws took effect Jan. 26, part of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
U.S. District Court dismisses lawsuit over pork trademarks
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Feb. 2 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the sale of the “Pork. The Other White Meat.” trademarks the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) sold to the National Pork Board (NPB) in 2006 for $35 million.
Northern Indiana shortline railroad making comeback, should aid ag
A rail shortline in northern Indiana once close to being abandoned is moving further along the comeback trail, and it’s good news for farmers in LaPorte, Porter and Starke counties serviced by it.
China investigation stoking U.S. sorgum trade worries
China’s announcement of anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations related to U.S. sorghum imports reverberated through agriculture last week, from farm bill policy comments on Capitol Hill to sorghum cash bids in Kansas.
