New California license plate with farming theme to hit roads
Iowa is known for its corn. Wisconsin for cheese. Texas, cattle. But California is the nation’s leading farm state, something city dwellers don’t always remember when they think about where their food comes from. Now, a new reminder is about to hit the streets. Starting next month, a commemorative "California Agriculture" license plate will begin appearing on vehicles across the Golden State.
Sen. Michael Rubio resigns from California Legislature to work for Chevron
State Sen. Michael Rubio abruptly resigned Friday to accept a position managing California governmental affairs for Chevron Corp., saying a desire to spend more time with his family motivated his […]
30,000 grain sorghum acres target California ethanol plants
The race to produce renewable fuel crops in California is looking like back to the future. Grain sorghum, a crop that once was planted on almost 500,000 acres in the […]
Two more former Butterball workers convicted of animal cruelty
Two former Butterball workers were found guilty late last week of animal cruelty in connection with a 2011 video secretly take by an employee working for Mercy for Animals. Defendants […]
Budget cuts would close meat plants and parks, cause layoffs-USDA
The U.S. Agriculture Department would furlough up to one-third of its workers if automatic spending cuts take effect at the end of the month, the agency warned, with effects ranging […]
California ag industry discusses immigration reforms
Farmers and ranchers worry that their needs for migrant labor will get lost amid the discussions and debates about immigration reform in Washington, D.C.It happened before, said a group of speakers who came Wednesday to Fresno State University to discuss what California’s agriculture industry needs in the next immigration reform bill. In 1986, lawmakers approved a sweeping immigration reform act that included an amnesty program that made nearly 3 million people who had entered the U.S. illegally eligible to stay legally. Read More
Industries try to stop higher-ethanol fuel
A coalition of oil and food industry groups filed a petition with the Supreme Court Thursday asking it to overturn a lower court decision that said they didn’t have standing to sue over a federal decision to allow more ethanol in fuel. The American Petroleum Institute’s Bob Greco said the groups also plan to ask Congress to overturn the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) that he says is "simply unsustainable" because of the allowance of higher levels of ethanol.
Poultry litter not responsible for weed surge
You don’t catch a cold from cold weather. Rubbing a corn kernel on a wart and then burying it under the doorstep will not make the wart dry up. And you don’t get weeds in your fields from applying poultry litter. At least that’s what the little research currently available shows. "We don’t have a lot of research on whether applying poultry litter to cropland increases weed pressure," says Joseph Payne, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock specialist.
State bill would threaten farmers
Names can be deceiving. In Communist countries, "the people’s party" is really the dictators’ party. A "pre-owned" car can be a lemon. And in the Bay State, the so-called Prevention […]
Mexican Authorities: More than 1 million chickens exposed to bird flu
The outbreak of bird flu detected in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato is confined to 12 farms that have more than 1 million chickens, the Senasica national agricultural health service reported on Monday.
The agency said in a press release that 10 of the poultry farms are chicken-fattening operations and two produce eggs for human consumption.