A roundup of news, reports, and research on agribusiness and related issues.
- As Kansas farms get bigger, small towns struggle | Ljworld.com
The current large farms, utilizing far fewer farms than in the past has created population loss that threatens scores of small towns that sprouted on the prairie in a different time, when larger numbers of small farmers depended on them.
- EPA proposal would shrink buffer zones around farm pesticides | Agriculture.com
“The end result is reduced protection in the application exclusion zone,” said Iris Figueroa, a lawyer for the advocacy group Farmworker Justice. Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group said smaller buffer zones will mean more risk of exposure. “Not a single farmworker justice, environmental, or public health group supports [administrator Andrew] Wheeler’s latest capitulation to the pesticide lobby,” he said.
- Farm bankruptcy filings Are 24% over year-ago levels | Drovers.com
From September 2018 through September 2019, Chapter 12 bankruptcies totaled 580 filings and were up 24% from the previous 12 months, according to John Newton, chief economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
- Exclusive: Beijing could ax extra tariffs on U.S. farm products to boost imports – China trade association chief | Reuters.com
Beijing could remove extra tariffs imposed on U.S. farm products to ease the way for importers to buy up to $50 billion worth, rather than direct them to buy specific amounts, the head of a government-backed trade association said.
- Kellogg agrees to stop marketing sugary cereals as “healthy” | Newfoodeconomy.com
On Monday, the Battle Creek, Michigan-based corporation, officially known as The Kellogg Company, entered into a settlement agreement with a class of five plaintiffs in California and New York, who alleged Kellogg used deceptive health and wellness claims to market high-sugar cereals and breakfast bars.
The post #AgAlerts: Small towns struggle; pesticide buffer zones; farm bankruptcies up appeared first on Investigate Midwest.