Rural America

Residents Seek Answers About Health Risks Near Frac Sand Mines

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When Jim and Kathy Kachel moved into their home south of Bagley, Wisconsin, overlooking the Mississippi River in fall 2007, they couldn’t see the Pattison Sand Mine directly across the river in Clayton, Iowa. Since then, terraced layers of limestone carved into the northeast Iowa bluff have made way for more truck traffic as the mine, which occupies 750 acres — much of it underground — expands. Meanwhile, the Kachels have had to clean dust from their home.

#agalerts

ICYMI: Bayer stock plunges after glyphosate ruling, kale high in pesticides, gene-edited food on your plate

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A roundup of news, reports and research on agribusiness and related issues. 

Scientists Found Worrisome New Evidence About RoundUp and Cancer | Mother Jones

The debate continues on whether glyphosate, one of the most commonly used herbicides and key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, causes cancer. A trial in San Francisco held closing arguments on March 12 in a case against Bayer, the company who purchased Monsanto. The jury ruled Tuesday that glyphosate weedkiller, sold as RoundUp, caused cancer. The next phase of the trial will gauge Monsanto's, now owned by Bayer, liability. Meanwhile, Bayer's stock dropped after this week's court ruling.

Opinion

Opinion: Court gets it right in striking down Iowa ag-gag law

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At some farming operation in Iowa animal activists may legally be running an undercover sting operation to reveal inhuman treatment of animals. That's because last month the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, and senior Judge James Gritzner, threw out a 2012 Iowa law that made it a crime for people to gain access to agricultural facilities by “false pretense.”

Opinion

Opinion: Supreme Court needs to rule in favor of SNAP data transparency

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The Food Marketing Institute is trying to conceal how taxpayer dollars are being spent by recipients of the Supplemental Food Assistance Program. To date it’s been an almost eight-year court battle between South Dakota's Argus Leader newspaper and USDA and FMI.

Opinion

Opinion: Ag blazing 5 for 2019 (and beyond)

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Breaking out major prognostic tools (including an 8-ball, Ouija board, paper fortune teller and dart board...yeah we're high tech around here) here are some of the big agricultural issues on the horizon for 2019.