Making California Wine in the Time of Covid-19
As the pandemic proves durable in California, the local wineries will have be as well.
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Romanian Pickers Arrive in Private Jet to Save Italy Vineyard
Italy’s vines have not stopped growing during the country’s long coronavirus lockdown, but without their usual foreign grape-pickers, winemakers are now fearing for their harvests.
Read moreCannabis Farming
A federal court in Washington dismissed a cannabis farming business’ claims against Chelan County relating to its moratorium on siting new cannabis businesses. Grandpa Bud, the cannabis farm, has not shown that the county did not have a legitimate interest in regulating cannabis production.
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Ranchers Brace for Tough Times as Pandemic Hits Beef Industry
Some worry the coronavirus pandemic’s financial toll on Texas ranchers could wind up rivaling the impacts of a devastating drought from almost a decade ago.
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EU Wants To Reduce Pesticides Use, Promotes Organic Farming
The European Commission unveiled plans Wednesday to protect biodiversity across the 27-nation bloc while building a more sustainable food system, insisting on the need to both reduce the use of pesticides and promote organic farming.
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Nunes Family Told to Amend Defamation Suit or Face Dismissal
An Iowa federal judge on Tuesday put on hold a defamation suit filed by the family of California Congressman Devin Nunes against Esquire magazine and journalist Ryan Lizza, giving the Republican lawmaker’s family two weeks to file an amended complaint or the case will be dismissed.
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Federal Judge’s Order Protects California Trout
To protect the spring migration of threatened California trout species, a federal judge Monday halted the Trump administration’s bid to supply farmers with extra water from the West Coast’s largest estuary.
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California Launches Plan to Get Produce to Food Banks From Struggling Farms
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Hoping to get food flowing from fields to those in need, California Governor Gavin Newsom said
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Wisconsin Farms Await Relief as Pandemic Slams Dairy Industry
Hard times are nothing new for Wisconsin dairy farmers, but the coronavirus crisis has created an even bleaker outlook for the state’s flagship industry.
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Pork Producers Lose Challenge to California’s Farm Animal Confinement Initiative
Pork producers’ challenge to a voter-approved law requiring pigs raised for consumption and sold in California to have space to move around before they are slaughtered was struck down by a federal judge Monday.
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Federal Judge Asked to Toss Devin Nunes Defamation Case
Lawyers for Hearst Magazines and journalist Ryan Lizza on Friday urged an Iowa federal judge to dismiss defamation claims filed against them by California Congressman Devin Nunes and his family over an article about their family farm.
Read moreSouth Dakota Pork
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has temporarily lifted a cap on the number of pigs farmers in the state are allowed to keep after a Covid-19 outbreak closed a Smithfield pork processing plant indefinitely.
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$19 Billion Bailout Headed to America’s Farmers
Farmers and ranchers dealing with the fallout of the novel coronavirus will receive a $19 billion bailout from the federal government, President Donald Trump said during Friday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing.
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California Orders Paid Sick Leave for Food-Chain Workers Stricken by Virus
The state hopes two weeks of paid leave will keep sick workers home and avoid outbreaks like the one in a South Dakota meatpacking plant that sickened at least 640.
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Indiana Defends Ban on Smokable Hemp at Seventh Circuit
Indiana urged the Seventh Circuit in a telephone hearing Tuesday to throw out a preliminary injunction stopping the state from prohibiting the sale of smokable hemp.
Read moreCattle Quarantine
The Fifth Circuit upheld the dismissal of cattle owners’ claim for damages against the federal government relating to the loss of livestock during a temporary fever tick quarantine. The owners claimed the government negligently rounded up the cattle using chutes and roping, and improperly applied an insecticide. The claims are barred by the quarantine exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, the court ruled.
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Dairy Farmers Flushing Milk Despite Empty Store Shelves
WEST BEND, Wis. (AP) — Many dairy processing plants across Wisconsin have more product than they can handle and that’s
Read moreCalifornia Water Wars
A family sued San Luis Obispo in superior court, claiming it has to supply them with enough free water for 30 head of livestock under a deal reached in 1911.
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Fear of Pandemic Creeps Across Rural America
The social distancing rules repeated like a mantra in America’s urban centers, where the coronavirus is spreading exponentially, might seem silly in wide-open places where neighbors live miles apart and working from home means another day branding calves or driving a tractor alone through a field.
Read moreChicken Antitrust
In a federal antitrust complaint, El Pollo Loco accuses Tyson Foods, Koch Meat Co., Sanderson Farms, Perdue Foods, et al. of conspiring to fix the price of chicken.
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