Sat.Oct 07, 2023 - Fri.Oct 13, 2023

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Somerset farmers hit back at Jacob Rees-Mogg ‘hormone’ comments

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly A group of 11 Somerset farmers, who operate in the same constituency as Jacob Rees-Mogg, has written to the former minister lambasting his understanding of agriculture and accusing him of undermining British farming values.

Farming 343
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Consultation underway on final hurdle to approving gene edited crops in Canada

Real Agriculture

It’s been a long process, but Canada is nearing a final decision on the use of gene editing in crop development. Krista Thomas, vice president of seed innovation and trade policy with the Canada Grains Council, explains the final assessment — that of feed for livestock — is nearing completion, as the consultation wraps up. Read More It’s been a long process, but Canada is nearing a final decision on the use of gene editing in crop development.

Crop 316
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Weekend thinking: How much of your income do you spend for food?

Food Politics

The answer: it depends on how much money you have. USDA’s Economic Research Service has just issued a chart on how much countries throughot the world spend on food on average as a percent of their total expenditures. As a general rule: As incomes rise with economic development and urbanization, the share of income spent on food tends to fall while discretionary spending on household goods, education, medical services, and recreation tends to increase.

Food 297
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Plant-Based versus Conventional Meat: Substitution, Complementarity, and Market Impacts

Jayson Lusk

That’s the title of a new paper co-authored with Vincenzina Caputo and Dan Blaustein-Rejto. Here’s the abstract: “ Evidence regarding whether consumers view plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) as substitutes or complements to animal-based meat is limited; however, the ultimate effect of increased demand for plant-based meats on poultry and livestock production depends on this relationship.

Poultry 162
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Court awards farm to son in inheritance promise dispute

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly Michael Spencer won his claim against the estate of his late father, John Spencer, on the basis that he had been promised he would inherit the family’s Lincolnshire farm. The claim in Spencer v Spencer followed the father’s death in October 2018.

Farming 325
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Beef Market Update: Cattle markets steady, but with a sustained wide basis on decent supplies

Real Agriculture

There’s always something to cover in the beef and cattle markets, but this week marks a decidedly non-volatile week in trading. Anne Wasko, with the Gateway Livestock Exchange, brings an update from the south to the north and from beef prices to live weights in this episode of the Beef Market Update. The theme of. Read More There’s always something to cover in the beef and cattle markets, but this week marks a decidedly non-volatile week in trading.

Marketing 312
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The new obesity drugs: a threat to the food industry?

Food Politics

I can hardly believe this, and had to laugh when I read all the articles last week about how worried the food industry is about the new obesity drugs. Imagine: if the drugs really do reduce appetite and interest in food—horror of horrors—people might eat less. Eating less, as I have pointed out repeatedly, is very bad for the food business. In Food Politics, I explained how the fundamental purpose of food companies is to get you to eat more food, not less.

Food 257

More Trending

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Early sugar beet yields promising for Cambridgeshire grower

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly Sugar beet growers have made an unusually early start to this year’s beet harvest as British Sugar offers a premium for early-lifted crops in an attempt to make up for last season’s 250,000t sugar shortage.

Yield 306
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RealAg Markets: Blips to the high side should be viewed as selling opportunities in downward trending markets

Real Agriculture

Short-term bounces in grain prices should be viewed as selling opportunities in an overall bearish market, according to the president of grain marketing advisory firm IntelliFarm. The lack of bullish news on both the supply and demand sides of the balance sheets for most major crops has resulted in prices sliding over the last few. Read More Short-term bounces in grain prices should be viewed as selling opportunities in an overall bearish market, according to the president of grain marketing adv

Marketing 310
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Industry funded study of the week: Cheese prevents dementia!

Food Politics

It was hard to miss this headline in Dairy Reporter : “ Cheese intake could lower risk of dementia, study suggests.” No kidding? I wonder who paid for this? To its credit, the article did full disclosure: The study was conducted as part of broader research commissioned by Japanese dairy major Meiji Co., Ltd. and part-funded by the company. I went right to it.

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Brainfood: Food insecurity drivers, Agroecology & fertilizers, Overselling GMOs, Genomic prediction, Striga breeding, Farmers’ preferences, Farmers’ WtP, Diversity metrics

Agricultural Biodiversity

Drivers and stressors of resilience to food insecurity: evidence from 35 countries. Diversify! The input reduction principle of agroecology is wrong when it comes to mineral fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa. …but that doesn’t mean agroecology is wrong. So, diversify your mind? Genetic modification can improve crop yields — but stop overselling it.

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Riverford ‘fair deal’ farming petition tops 60,000 signatures

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly A petition urging supermarkets and their suppliers to give fairer treatment to farmers has received more than 60,000 signatures, but the “big six” retailers remain silent on the issue. If the #GetFairAboutFarming petition receives 100,000 signatures, it will be debated in parliament.

Farming 301
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CCIA set to deliver tracking for CRSB’s Certified Sustainable Beef Framework

Real Agriculture

After a two-year review, the the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) has chosen the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) to provide live cattle chain of custody tracking for the CRSB’s Certified Sustainable Beef Framework. CRSB says it is confident working with the CCIA will enable consistent implementation of its Chain of Custody Requirements and.

Cattle 298
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Jaw-dropping food product of the season: pumpkin latte

Food Politics

Not being a particular fan of Dunkin’ Donuts, I somehow missed this astonishing drink. But the esteemed journalist Eric Schlosser, sent me a link to this video tweet (oops, X). This is INSANE. pic.twitter.com/2TwuSaOofF — David Belle (@davidbelle_) September 13, 2023 I did not believe it, but excellent journalist that he is, Eric sent me the DUNKIN’ NUTRITION evidence.

Food 214
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International Day of Rural Women Spotlight: Indiana Soccer Moms Score Big as Global Entrepreneurs with USDA Assist

USDA Blog

For a women-owned business in rural Indiana, working with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) became a life-changing experience. Soccer moms Carol Podolak and Joy Thompkins sold homemade peanut butter as their kids’ team fundraiser to travel from Portage, Indiana to Dallas, Texas for a tournament in 2016. Customers wanted the pretzel, blueberry, and toffee peanut butter more than once a year, so Podolak and Thompkins started taking custom orders.

Ruralism 145
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Farmer Focus: A friend has decided to ‘give up’ milking

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly I have a good friend who has decided to sell his cows and stop milking – more commonly known within the industry as “giving up”.

Farming 290
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Mind Your Farm Business — Ep. 90: Facing fear in business and in life

Real Agriculture

What would you try if you knew you couldn’t fail? Fear can be very motivating (ever been chased by a bull in a pasture?) but fear — of failure, of success, of the unknown — can also be paralyzing. Each person’s experience with fear is different, but it’s the very real stories of overcoming fear. Read More What would you try if you knew you couldn’t fail?

Pasture 290
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What’s up with the Kellogg split?

Food Politics

If Kellogg’s splitting into two companies and changing its business model makes no sense to you, join the crowd. Apparently, Kellogg is not selling enough cereal to keep its stockholders happy: ready-to-eat cereal unit sales declined in both 2021 and 2022 by roughly 8.5% and 3.5%, To try to fix this, Kellogg has split its North American company into two new companies.

Food 213
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Professor Caroline Dean awarded McClintock Prize  

Agri-tech

The ground-breaking career of Professor Dame Caroline Dean FRS has been recognised with the prestigious Barbara McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies. The international award is made to outstanding plant scientists working on genetics and genomics. “I am thrilled and honoured to receive this award in recognition of the work of my group at the John Innes Centre over many years,”.

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Farmer Focus: Battling slugs as crops take a pounding

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly It feels like the main focus for the past couple of weeks has been battling slugs. Any spare time was used for planting crops. We have already lost a few early skirmishes, with a couple of oilseed rape fields succumbing to a combination of slugs and flea beetle.

Crop 278
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Wheat Pete’s Word, Oct 11: Brown layer corn, road safety, broadcast wheat, and the difference a day makes

Real Agriculture

If you’re waiting for a sign to pick up the phone and check in with a friend, this is it. Yesterday was Mental Health Day and host Peter Johnson wants you to take the Wheat Pete 15 challenge and call up someone just to chat. That’s just one tidbit from this episode of Wheat Pete’s. Read More If you’re waiting for a sign to pick up the phone and check in with a friend, this is it.

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Op-ed: Farmers Want Climate Resilience, but GOP Lawmakers Want to Redirect Billions in Conservation Funds

Civil Eats

As Congress let the last farm bill expire at the end of September, I was navigating an ongoing drought on my Iowa farm for the third year in a row. Iowa is known for its lush, green summers and abundant rivers and streams. Today, most of those streams are dried up and the rivers are at all-time lows. The soft rains we used to see from April to October are gone and now we’re facing longer bouts of drought, high heat events, torrential downpours, and polar vortexes.

Farming 144
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USDA Makes Available More Than $60 Million in School Meals, Launches New Partnership

USDA Blog

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2023 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today visited Annandale Terrace Elementary School in Annandale, Virginia, where he unveiled two new grant opportunities plus a training and technical assistance partnership to help schools continue to invest in nutritious school meals.

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Red Tractor’s new environmental ‘bolt-on’ plan criticised

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly Plans by Red Tractor to introduce a new environmental “bolt-on” to its existing farm assurance schemes have been heavily criticised by farmers and their representatives, who fear the organisation is overstepping its remit and object to the way it has been developed.

Tractor 266
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RealAg Politics: Farmer reaction to grain company consolidation, gene editing, and the politics of groceries

Real Agriculture

What’s top of mind on the policy front this week? Well, there are some fireworks over grocery store prices and what’s really driving food costs, a plant breeding technique is edging ever-closer to the finish line, and farmers are weighing in on a proposed grain company acquisition. On this episode of RealAg Politics, host Shaun. Read More What’s top of mind on the policy front this week?

Grain 276
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AI Is Writing Books About Foraging. What Could Go Wrong?

Civil Eats

Like mushrooms after an autumn rain, a new flush of books have popped up on Amazon that claim to provide everything you need to forage your next meal from local parks and woodlands—an increasingly popular hobby in the wake of the pandemic. The books appear to part of a large new wave of books that are being assembled and “published” using artificial intelligence (AI).

Forage 144
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South Carolina Air National Guard Veteran Topeka Ham Finds New Calling with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service

USDA Blog

Georgia native Topeka Ham found a new calling serving the American public through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) after 26 years in the South Carolina Air National Guard.

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Harvest 2023: Potato yields hit by dry early summer

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly Andrew Wilson at Brickyard Farm near Slingsby, North Yorkshire, has just made a start on his 60ha of potatoes for McCain. “In digs, yields look pleasing, although quality is a little variable in places, but nothing I’m majorly concerned about,” says Andrew.

Yield 264
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CNH closes deal to acquire Hemisphere (Outback) guidance

Real Agriculture

CNH Industrial — the parent company of Case IH and New Holland — says it has completed its purchase of global satellite navigation company Hemisphere GNSS, as of October 12. The deal, worth US$175 million, was originally announced in March 2023, and includes Hemisphere’s subsidiary Outback Guidance, which sells agricultural autosteer products in North America.

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Global Diesel Shortage Looms

AgWeb Farm Journal

Refineries worldwide are facing challenges in meeting the rising demand for diesel, exacerbated by disruptions in global oil flows caused by OPEC+ output reductions and the conflict in Ukraine.

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Space biology and the out-of-this-world exploration of plant stress

AgriLife Today

Texas A&M AgriLife plant scientist joins a NASA-funded project to help understand how plants grow away from Earth A Texas A&M AgriLife plant scientist is joining the space race, of a sort, by helping to understand how plants can survive in space to support human space exploration. As a Texas A&M AgriLife Research crop physiologist/agroecologist and professor in.

Crop 134
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James Herrick: Farmers should sense-check their social media

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly Like many farmers, I’m a frequent user of social media. But like many, I also struggle to work out exactly how I feel about it. For a while my platform of choice was Instagram.

Farming 264
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Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System – tried, tested and still innovating

Real Agriculture

First introduced to the Canadian market in 1998, Roundup Ready® has been a consistent management tool growers have used to maximize their soybean yield potential. Tried and tested, it has been the subject of innovation and refinement for over 25 years. “The Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System is specifically designed to deliver yield potential and.

Crop 173
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With no House speaker, no farm bill in sight

Western FarmPress

Dairy leaders talk about farm bill priorities at World Dairy Expo.

Farming 128
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Plant pathology award for Professor Diane Saunders

Agri-tech

The innovative and inspiring research of Professor Diane Saunders has been recognised with a major award by a leading society in the field of plant pathology. Diane is a group leader at the John Innes Centre and becomes the latest recipient of the British Society for Plant Pathology (BSPP) RKS Wood Prize The award celebrates excellence in the study of plant disease biology and its application in.

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Advice on getting extra help for autumn block-calving

Farmers Weekly

Farmers Weekly An intense workload at calving, combined with a winter routine, often creates a temporary labour gap in an autumn block-calving herd. One extra person – sometimes only a half – is required, but for just 12 weeks.

Livestock 264
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TruFlex canola helping your crop stand up against weather variability

Real Agriculture

Why flexibility matters more than ever in 2024 TruFlex® canola was designed to deliver excellent control of critical weed species alongside unparalleled flexibility when it comes to application window and rates.

Crop 173