Author: staff

After three years without confirmed detections, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture have declared the northern giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) eradicated from Washington and the United States. “We’re pleased to announce the eradication of the northern giant hornet in Washington state,” said Derek Sandison, WSDA director. “I’m incredibly proud of our team, which has dedicated years of hard work to safeguarding our state and the nation from this invasive threat to our native pollinators and agriculture. I’d also like to acknowledge the federal, state, and local support that made this feat possible. This…

The free-roaming equine herd around Arizona’s Salt River has weighed on conversations about how much impact the land can sustain. Picture yourself drifting along the Salt River northeast of Mesa, Arizona — the towering flat-sided mountains seemingly from another world and the soothing sound of the water offering a much-needed respite from the chaos of everyday life. Rounding the final bend, you see the awe-inspiring sight of the free-roaming horses, with all their untamed beauty. Few things seem more magnificent than witnessing these horses in this kind of habitat. Yet despite feeling natural in this setting, there are questions about…

By Ryan Hanrahan CBS News’ Kaia Hubbard, Caitlin Yilek, and Caitlin Huey-Burns reported late Wednesday evening that “House Speaker Mike Johnson scrapped a last-minute measure to avoid a government shutdown after facing opposition from fellow Republicans — including President-elect Donald Trump — who objected to billions of dollars in spending that had been added to the bill.” “Lawmakers are facing a Friday deadline to approve new spending. The measure released Tuesday would have extended funding through March 14, but it also included disaster aid, health care policy extenders, and a pay raise for members of Congress, among other provisions. The…

The Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) organization is offering several scholarships aimed at supporting the academic and professional development of its members, particularly those from underrepresented groups. MANRRS39 Gold Scholarship MANRRS39 Gold Scholarship, sponsored by American Farmland Trust, AGCO, Dairy Farmers of America, TEGMA, and Zinpro. This scholarship is available to 40 MANRRS students, providing them with a $500 award and financial support to attend the 39th Annual National Conference and Career Expo, which will take place from April 2 to 6, 2024, in Memphis, Tennessee. The scholarship covers a shared hotel room for three nights,…

As a graduate student at the University of Illinois in the early 1980s, I was introduced to the concept of anaerobic digestion of waste. This process greatly reduces the pollution liability of organic materials such as manure, sewage sludge and industrial wastes while producing biogas, a useful fuel. Because of that, I found myself working on the nexus of agriculture, environment and energy at a young age. I learned about the immense complexity of the climate riddle and how much farmers contribute to the solutions. I bristle when I read articles blaming American farmers for methane emissions from “cow farts,”…

Government agencies are struggling to monitor and respond to highly pathogenic avian influenza, which is echoing the early months of the COVID pandemic. It’s been about five months since the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that a worker on a dairy farm had tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus after being exposed to apparently infected cattle. Since then, the U.S. public health response has been slow and disjointed, bringing back memories of how the federal government responded during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having a pandemic playbook in early 2020,…

March corn is unchanged this morning. March soybeans are up 7¢. March wheat contracts are lower this morning. CBOT wheat is down 8½¢. KC wheat is down 5¾¢. Minneapolis wheat is down 5½¢. This morning, USDA announced unknown destinations are buying 227,200 metric tons of soybeans — 152,200 metric tons for the 2024/2025 marketing year and 75,000 metric tons for the 2025/2026 marketing year. USDA also released the weekly U.S. Export Sales report this morning. The Brock Report offered this analysis: “Net U.S. corn export sales for the week ended Dec. 12 came in at 46.3 million bushels, in line…

In the Central Valley of California, Amazon warehouses have been popping up, seemingly overnight. California even tops the charts with the most warehouses of any state. However, this is highly strategic in such a populous state, as the online retail giant’s expansion has been occurring for years. For example, in 2022, Amazon purchased 60 acres of farmland in Gilroy, California, to build a delivery center and warehouse. While Gilroy falls within the “Silicon Valley” boundaries, and Google has a presence there, the purchase was met with pushback due to environmental impacts. For those unfamiliar with this area, it is known…

Urban sprawl is a growing issue in America. According to American Farmland Trust, we lose about three acres of farmland every minute. That’s a staggering statistic, especially when only 1.5 percent of the population in North America are farmers. The question we have to ask is, what happens when we lose more farmland? What happens when local food systems vanish? Today, people are already concerned about foreign products, citing distrust in quality and safety. But as it stands, we must preserve our farmland to safeguard not only local economies but also our food security. In small towns across America, issues…

My morning routine includes sitting on the porch — hair hopelessly tangled, caffeine in-hand — scrolling through recent findings in science. Call it a desperate attempt to jumpstart my brain early in the day. It usually takes a little while for my neurons to fire up. But, a couple of weeks ago, when I read that red meat consumption is associated with type 2 diabetes, based on an analysis of 1.97 million people? I sat up, bolt-straight. You see, it’s not just that I’m an avid meat-eater — I’m also a scientist … and that’s one hell of a clinical…