More farmers experiment with cover crops, a climate tool, survey shows
Slightly more than half of the country’s biggest farmers say they planted cover crops this year, indicating a broadening acceptance of the crops’ benefits for soil health, even with the accompanying complication they bring to land management, said Purdue’s Ag Economy Barometer on Tuesday.
USDA may enlist farmers to reduce salmonella in poultry
The USDA’s food safety agency is considering new approaches to reduce salmonella bacteria in poultry that could include “pre-harvest interventions” on the farm, said Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary Saundra Eskin on Tuesday. “We know that most salmonella contamination enters the facility with the birds and the more we can do to reduce contamination at the point of slaughter, the less contamination and cross-contamination we have in an establishment.”
Today’s Quick Hits
‘Robust’ price discovery: Cattle market economists generally agree price discovery is still robust although less than a third of cattle are sold on the cash market, said a Texas A&M report on concentration, pricing and processing capacity among meatpackers. (Agricultural and Food Policy Center)
Rural vaccinations decline: The rate of new vaccinations in rural areas against Covid-19 fell by one-fifth last week after rising for five out of the previous six weeks; 42 percent of rural Americans are fully vaccinated, compared with 54 percent of urban residents. (Daily Yonder)
Strawberry-picking robot: Kubota and Yamaha have invested in the U.S.-based start-up company Advanced Farm Technologies that is developing a robot for harvesting strawberries. (The Packer)
Urban ag awards: The USDA awarded more than $6.6 million in grants and cooperative agreements to support urban agriculture projects from Alabama and Connecticut to Hawaii. (Farm Service Agency)
Doing good at GrowGood: The 1.5-acre GrowGood urban farm, 20 minutes southeast of downtown Los Angeles, is tilled by residents of the Salvation Army shelter across the street “and it feeds them with food grown right outside their door.” (Modern Farmer)
