7 ag stories you might have missed this week - July 24, 2020
Ag production shifts to larger farms, ASF vaccine development work at K-State and drive-in on the farm in Missouri.
Missed some ag news this week? We’ve got seven stories to catch you up.
1. Agricultural production has significantly shifted to larger farms in 60 of 62 crop and livestock commodities analyzed over a 35-year period by James McDonald, a research professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland and past branch chief at USDA's Economic Research Service. McDonald looked at data from 1982 through 2017. One of his findings: Farms with at least 2,000 acres of cropland operated 15% of all cropland in 1987, but now these larger farms operate 37% of all cropland. – Phys.org
2. Dewayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper who sued Monsanto in 2016, and won a verdict against Bayer, who has since acquired the company, accepted a reduced award this week. Judge Suzanne Bolanos of San Francisco’s Superior Court of California, who oversaw the trial, earlier this month affirmed the liability portion of the verdict, but ordered punitive damages to be slashed to concur with California and federal law. – Reuters
3. As of July 14, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture has received 76 complaints alleging crop damage caused by the herbicide dicamba. Last year, there were 22 reports. In 2018, there were 53 reports. – The Farmer
4. China has allocated $47 million to help farmers and agricultural producers in southern provinces cope with disasters, as large parts of the country suffer the worst flooding in decades. The fund is aimed at helping producers resume production and repair damaged agricultural facilities. – Reuters
5. New vaccine development work at Kansas State University may soon help confront African swine fever, a disease that is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. K-State is doing the vaccine development work through a sponsored research agreement facilitated by K-State Innovation Partners and Median Diagnostics Inc., or MDx, a veterinary medicine company based in South Korea. K-State Innovation Partners facilitates technology commercialization for the university. – Kansas Farmer
6. The National Pork Producers Council wants USDA to pay livestock and poultry farmers who euthanized healthy animals because of a lack of processing capacity due to the pandemic. – Roll Call
7. Rising global temperatures are thawing the permafrost of northern Russia and soybean farming is taking hold across the region. It's part of a trend of warmer weather pushing crop production further toward the poles. – Japan Times
And your bonus.
David and Karen Whitener, owners of Little River Farm in Fredricktown, Missouri, are turning their farm into a drive-in movie theater for the next couple months. David has some health issues, so instead of going out, the couple are inviting people to their farm for a socially distanced evening event. An entrance fee is charged for the movie. – KAIT8
About the Author
You May Also Like