Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/author/pdempsey/)
Our January 2018 story on the lack of buffer zones from pesticides around schools and daycares in the Midwest began with a simple question: What laws protect our communities from pesticide drift?
"Our economy is booming, and unemployment is the lowest it's been in decades. While the agriculture community still faces challenges, the Trump economy is creating new opportunities for all Americans to thrive," said Secretary Perdue.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced additional steps to keep African swine fever (ASF) from entering the United States, even as the disease spreads internationally. These steps strengthen the protections announced last fall after the deadly swine disease reached China. The goal remains to protect our nation's swine industry from this disease. ASF does not affect people, nor is it a food safety issue.
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Exemptions for livestock haulers are designed to protect animals but come at a time when large-truck-related fatalities have been increasing.
Recent actions by the GOP-controlled Congress and the Trump administration have exempted big livestock farms from reporting air emissions. The moves follow a decade-long push by the livestock industry for exemption and leave neighbors of large-scale operations in the dark about what they’re inhaling. If that weren’t enough, environmental advocates warn that the failure to monitor those emissions makes it even harder to assess the climate effects of large-scale agriculture.
Over the last four decades, many hundreds of employees have been killed or seriously injured without follow-up investigations by OSHA because small farms are exempt from agency scrutiny.
What’s more, because the exemption applies to all OSHA activities, agency inspectors also are barred from checking for hazards before injuries or deaths occur, and from responding to employee complaints about unsafe conditions.
The campaign doubles donations to 155 nonprofit newsrooms in nearly every state across the country, starting Nov. 1 and running through Dec. 31, 2018.
The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting will also receive an additional match.
I expect an increase in retail prices for pork, veal and eggs until enough farmers in California change animal housing systems. The big question is whether the courts will require that out-of-state ag-giants comply with Prop 12 in order to trade with California ... and if so, what will the Smithfield Foods of the world do?
Cargill Meat Solutions, headquartered in Wichita, Kan., has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve charges of discrimination investigated by the Denver Field Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency announced today.