In 2024 animal welfare standards take effect in California and the USA
Six years after voters approved it in a landslide, California’s Proposition 12 animal welfare law, which requires farmers to provide more room for egg-laying hens, veal calves, and breeding sows, is fully in effect with the start of 2024. A USDA regulation setting welfare standards for livestock on organic farms will take effect on Jan. 12, creating a rare convergence of starting dates for significant livestock regulations.
USDA to hire climate change fellows
Facing a record number of applications for clean energy funding, the USDA said it would hire 40 Climate Change Fellows to speed up the disbursal of $2 billion through its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The $2 billion was part of the 2022 climate, healthcare, and tax law.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Bad air, heat stress: Exposure to the combination of hot weather and air pollution may be particularly risky for outdoor laborers, say scientists investigating farmworker deaths in California. (InsideClimate News)
Year-end HPAI surge: Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, affecting 2.34 million birds in eight domestic flocks from Pennsylvania to California, were confirmed following Christmas; the December tally of 11.3 million birds was the highest in four months. (USDA)
Summer EBT sign-up: With time running out, 27 states, three territories, and two tribal governments have notified the USDA that they will operate a Summer EBT program this year; the program helps low-income families buy groceries for school-age children during the summer. (USDA)
Paying for irrigation water: While most farmers get water for free, growers in California’s Pajaro Valley pay up to $400 per acre-foot of water in a system designed to recycle, restore, and conserve groundwater — an attention-getting approach that may be difficult to copy. (New York Times)
Court overturns Fortenberry conviction: The Justice Department brought former Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry to trial in the wrong state, so his conviction for lying about illegal campaign contributions is invalid, ruled U.S. appellate judges in California. (CNN)
ON THE CALENDAR
Tuesday
Purdue University releases the Ag Economy Barometer, a monthly gauge of the agricultural economy’s health.
Final day for public comment on a proposed change in U.S. Forest Service rules that would allow the USDA to consider carbon storage beneath the 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands.
Wednesday
House meets briefly at noon ET to formally open its 2024 session.
National Cotton Council hosts the 2024 Beltwide Cotton Conferences, through Jan. 5, Fort Worth, Texas.
USDA releases State Stories, noon ET. Issued on or near the first Tuesday of each month during the winter, State Stories provides “an assessment of winter weather on crops, livestock, fruit trees; consideration for moisture, snow cover, temperatures, and crop condition; and the effect of weather, insects, diseases, etc., on crops and livestock.”
Friday
Purdue University holds Purdue Top Farmer Conference online and in person, 9 a.m. ET, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Saturday
Pennsylvania State Agriculture Department holds the 108th Pennsylvania Farm Show, “the largest indoor agricultural exposition under one roof in the nation,” through Jan. 13, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
