Rule on child workers pulled [Wall Street Journal]
Under pressure from conservatives and farm-state lawmakers, the Labor Department on Thursday evening withdrew a proposed federal rule that would have tightened restrictions on the kind of work children can do on farms. The rule, proposed in September, was meant to reduce deaths and injuries among children under the age of 16 by preventing them from using certain farm equipment and working higher than six feet in the air, among other activities. Children under 18 would have been barred from working in manure pits and grain-storage silos….The Labor Department said the administration made its decision "in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small, family-owned farms.'' The comment period for the proposal had ended, and a final rule was expected to be issued within weeks.…"I am very surprised. We hadn't heard that this was even being considered," said Kristi Boswell, a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents farmers and opposed the rule. She said the group was "ecstatic" about the news.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303990604577368593915594400.html
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USDA: Calif. mad cow was lame, lying down at dairy [Associated Press]
The mad cow that was recently discovered through routine testing in California had been euthanized after it became lame and started lying down at a dairy, federal officials revealed Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also said the cow was 10 years and seven months old in its update on the fourth case of mad cow disease ever discovered in the U.S….The USDA didn't elaborate on the cow's symptoms other than to say it was "humanely euthanized after it developed lameness and became recumbent."
U.S. defends safety of nation's beef [Wall Street Journal]
U.S. officials offered new reassurances that the nation's beef-production system was safe after Indonesia on Thursday suspended imports of American beef following the first reported case of mad-cow disease in the U.S. in six years….Indonesia's Vice Agriculture Minister Rusman Heriawan the country's ban will last "until the U.S. can assure us that its beef industry is free of any mad-cow disease," saying it "could be one month or one year."…Some consumer groups argue the number of tests is too small, and question the safeguards in place against contaminated feed….USDA officials say the previous, higher testing levels showed that the disease is rare, and that the current testing levels are still higher than international standards. They say testing now also is more focused on cattle that show clinical symptoms consistent with a possible central nervous system disorder.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303990604577368442948036420.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Deal-cutting time comes for California water [Fresno Bee]
The House and Senate now are on another collision course over California water, with the serious deal-making about to begin. A $33.3 billion energy and water funding bill approved Thursday by the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee sets out one bargaining position, a relatively modest one. The bill shepherded by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein promotes water transfers, encourages planning to boost Central Valley irrigation water deliveries and speeds review of certain water storage proposals -- in particular, Sites Reservoir in western Colusa County.…A far more aggressive House bill passed earlier this year sets out a competing position. The House bill would curtail an ambitious San Joaquin River restoration plan, lengthen irrigation contracts and override certain state and federal environmental provisions. Negotiators must now work out their differences.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/04/25/2815371/deal-cutting-time-comes-for-california.html
Senate panel votes new start for U.S. farm subsidies [Reuters]
U.S. farmers will get a new crop-subsidy program that protects them from ruinous declines in revenue, the biggest threat to survival with today's high and volatile prices, a Senate committee decided on Thursday. The Agriculture Committee approved the new path for the U.S. farm program by a 16-5 vote. The package would erase almost all traditional farm supports, especially the $5 billion a year "direct payment" subsidy paid regardless of cost, and save $23 billion over 10 years. Instead, an insurance-like program would compensate grain and soybean growers when revenue from a crop was 11-21 percent below the five-year average with a maximum payment of $50,000. The federally subsidized crop insurance system would cover deeper losses. Cotton growers would use a separate, but similar, program.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/usa-agriculture-idUSL2E8FQIYS20120426
Saga of California's Salton Sea: a tragic chapter ahead? [Christian Science Monitor]
California's Salton Sea hasn't been looking too good for some time, and now environmentalists are concerned that conditions at this salty inland "sea" are about to get much worse. Their big worry: that the body of water, created during a huge flood in 1905 in which distant Colorado River water coursed into a desert basin, will shrink much faster in coming years than it has been. As the shallow lake dries out, contaminants from decades of agricultural runoff – such as selenium and arsenic – will be exposed and, whipped by high winds, carried far afield, threatening the health of people and wildlife. Several species of migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway will also be threatened, environmentalists warn. Why are they expecting this accelerated shriveling of the Salton Sea? A big water diversion system is slated to transfer water now used locally for farming to the south, in San Diego County, for use by city-dwellers.
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