Fertilizer projects get $35 million in USDA grants
Seven projects, from Oregon to New York, will receive a combined $35 million to expand independent domestic fertilizer production, with one-third of the money going to an aluminum sulfate producer in Virginia, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday.
Drugs often used on livestock despite ‘raised without antibiotics’ label
Federal researchers found drug residues in one of every five cattle marketed as “raised without antibiotics” in samples collected last fall, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. The findings “underscore the need for more rigorous substantiation of such claims,” it said, in “strongly” encouraging — but not requiring — meat processors to routinely test for residues if they put a “no antibiotics ever” label on their meat.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Will consider field studies: The USDA’s Center for Veterinary Biologics said it would accept submissions from drugmakers to conduct field studies of vaccines to protect cattle from the H5N1 avian flu virus if the trials use nonviable, non-replicating vaccines. (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)
Steady growth: So-called total factor productivity, which measures all farm outputs, grew 1.49 percent per year over the past seven decades, so that farm output is now 2.9 times what it was in the years after World War II. (Economic Research Service)
Expanding food distribution: In an effort to meet people in need where they are, food banks are increasingly using farms, libraries, shopping malls, county offices, and even racetracks as food distribution sites. (Food Bank News)
Disappearing wetlands: In the decade ending in 2019, about 670,000 acres of swamps, bogs, and marshes were lost across the United States, often drained for development or clear-cut for timber, said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
