Farmers
worry about dairy prices as deadline nears [Associated Press]
As
the nation inches toward the economic "fiscal cliff," anxiety is
growing in farm country about an obscure tangent of the Washington political
standoff that reaches into the dairy industry and, indirectly, into the
household budgets of consumers who buy milk and cheese. Little noticed in the
struggle over major looming tax increases and spending cuts is that the outcome
could also affect the farm bill, on which Congress didn't complete action this
year after it expired in September. Agriculture industry leaders hope the farm
legislation can be added to any final fiscal package before the end of the
year. But if no fiscal agreement is reached, and the farm legislation is left
adrift, farmers could face the prospect of returning to an antiquated system
for pricing milk that would bring big price increases for consumers. "It's
going to come down to whether leadership tells them in enough time to get (the
farm legislation) into a bill," said Chandler Goule, lobbyist for the
National Farmers Union, referring to the agriculture leaders' wait on the
fiscal cliff negotiations.
Supervisors
looking for ways to restore Paso Robles groundwater basin [San Luis Obispo
Tribune]
The
county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider having a feasibility study
conducted to find ways to stabilize the Paso Robles groundwater basin. County
Public Works staff is recommending that supervisors develop requests for
proposals to look at alternatives for stabilizing the basin which is in
decline. Options that would be examined include conservation, finding new water
sources and recycling. Attempts by the county manage the groundwater basin have
generated considerable controversy and has put residents in the basin at odds
with farmers, particularly vineyard owners.
New
poultry rule could harm workers, advocates say [McClatchy Newspapers]
Workplace
safety experts say a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal to increase line
speeds at poultry plants could endanger the low-wage workers who are tasked
with sorting and trimming inedible carcasses, a job that used to belong to
federal inspectors. Line workers work elbow to elbow in many cases and struggle
to keep up with current line speeds, said Catherine Singley, a senior policy
analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a civil rights and advocacy
organization based in Washington. The USDA’s proposal would allow plants to
increase line speeds to 175 birds per minute. “To be really clear, the line workers
are already at their limit, and so to expect that they’re also going to be
taking on responsibilities to pull defective carcasses off the line, and
there’s going to be no negative impact on the health and safety of the workers
themselves, it’s just illogical,” Singley said. “Something has to give.”
Grapefruit
is a culprit in more drug reactions [New York Times]
…Last
month, Dr. David Bailey, a Canadian researcher who first described this
interaction more than two decades ago, released an updated list of medications
affected by grapefruit. There are now 85 such drugs on the market, he noted,
including common cholesterol-lowering drugs, new anticancer agents, and some
synthetic opiates and psychiatric drugs, as well as certain immunosuppressant
medications taken by organ transplant patients, some AIDS medications, and some
birth control pills and estrogen treatments. (The full list is online.)….How
often such reactions occur, however, and how often they are triggered in people
consuming regular amounts of juice is debated by scientists. Dr. Bailey
believes many cases are missed because doctors don't think to ask if patients
are consuming grapefruit or grapefruit juice….Still, Dr. McDonnell added, most
patients suffering adverse reactions are consuming large amounts of grapefruit.
"There's a difference between an occasional section of grapefruit and
someone drinking 16 ounces of grapefruit juice a day," he said.
Opinion: Old liquor law
faces a new test in California Legislature [Sacramento Bee]
When
Prohibition ended 79 years ago, California replaced the bootleg liquor trade
with a legal monopoly – a series of laws that locked in industry marketing
practices and enforced industry-established retail prices….The many exemptions
indicate that the tied-house law is overdue for repeal or at least an overhaul.
But wholesalers, who fear direct sales to consumers by producers and/or being
bypassed by producer-to-retailer arrangements, want to keep it intact.…It
appears that 2013 will be no exception, because a newly formed association of
22 small California distillers wants to emulate wineries and breweries and
receive legal permission to stage "tastings" to sell their whiskeys.
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
Some story links may require site registration. To be removed
from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your
name and e-mail address.
No comments:
Post a Comment