U.S. is buying fluid milk

For the first time, the United States Department of Agriculture is buying fluid milk - $50 million worth – to donate to food banks and to school lunch programs.

It will be purchasing between 11 and 13 million gallons.

Dairy farmers have been complaining that they can’t make ends meet.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Califonia Republican Congressman David Valado lost his family farm this year and that 36 percent of dairy farms in the state closed between 2001 and 2017.

Neonic ban details spelled out

Health Canada’s Pest Management Review Board has announced details about its proposal to ban two neonicitinoids for outdoor farm use by 2021.

First, it is granting a 90-day period of consultations to receive views from the public about its proposals.

Second, it is allowing greenhouse uses to continue.

Bayer sells clothianidin as insecticides and seed treatments under brand names Poncho, Prosper, Titan and Sepresto.

Nufarm calls it NipsIt. 

Syngenta sells thiamethoxam as Cruiser and Helix.

Health Canada said it found imidacloprid being measured at levels harmful to certain aquatic insect populations such as mayflies and midges — a “critical food source” for fish, birds and other animals.

That prompted it to decide on a ban by 2021.

However, the agency deemed the risks to aquatic invertebrates from greenhouse uses of thiamethoxam to be “acceptable” and plans to allow the chemical’s continued registration for greenhouse uses, “provided wastewater mitigation instructions on product labels are followed.”

                           

Neonics to be banned by 2021

Health Canada is banning two neonicitinoid pesticides effective 2021.

This follows an earlier announcement that the third neonicitinoid will be banned for outdoor use.

The pesticides are used mainly as seed treatments.

Bee keepers have blamed them for killing bees, apparently mainly because the bees lose their sense of direction and can’t find their way home.

Corn and soybean growers have liked neonicitinoids because they are highly effective keeping insect pests under control.

Ontario has restricted their use, basically requiring farmers to prove that they have pest issues that require neonicitinoids for control.

Cargill’s Sustainable Beef booming

Cargill reports that more than one million pounds of beef was produced during the third quarter of its Canadian Beef Sustainability Pilot program.

That’s nearly double the volume in the first quarter.

“While much of this initial growth can be attributed to diligent efforts by the pilot’s partners as a result of updating systems, records and processes to ensure all beef that meets the standard is recorded and tracked, the program has also seen a steady increase in participation from cattle producers and foodservice partners,” said Mike Martin, Cargill director of communications.

During the pilot’s third quarter, participating Canadian cattle producers earned credits of $18.52 per head. 

Martin said payments made by participating retailers and foodservice operators are funding credits given to cattle producers during the pilot in appreciation for their involvement in, and commitment to, Canadian beef sustainability.

“The dollars-per-head credit varies each quarter of the pilot based on total number of qualifying animals, cattle weights and participating retailer and foodservice operator beef demand,” Martin said. 

“The goal of the pilot is to permanently deliver a consistent supply of beef from certified sustainable sources to our retail and foodservice customers and their Canadian consumers, according to standards recently developed by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef.”

Cargill launched its Canadian Beef Sustainability Pilot in the fall of 2017. 

Quarterly pilot project credit payments to producers thus far are: 3rd Quarter, $18.52 per head; 2nd Quarter, $20.11 per head; 1st Quarter, $10.00 per head.

Kroger wants crate-free pork

The largest supermarket company in the United States, The Kroger Co., will be buying only pork raised on farms that do not use sow gestation crates.

It wants the sows that raise litters that will become pork in Kroger stores to all be group housed by 2025.

The move comes six years after Kroger urged its pork suppliers to speed up their transition away from using gestation stalls, but at that point did not set a timeline. 

Kroger said many of its suppliers have already made the transition or at least have time-bound commitments to do so.

It was the Humane Society of the United States that pressured supermarket chains, restaurant chains and foodservice supply companies to demand that their pork come from farms that do not use gestation stalls.

The same campaign has had a similar impact on Canadian supermarkets, restaurant chains and foodservice companies.

Courts hit pesticides hard

Two different U.S. courts have hit pesticides hard this month.
In one case, an appeals court has banned chlorpyrifos, better known to farmers as Lorsban.

And in the other case, a jury hit Monsanto with a $289-million judgement in the case of a landscape worker who claims Roundup caused his cancer.

Monsanto immediately said it will appeal, citing long years of Roundup use and more than 800 studies that found it's safe to use as directed.

The chlorpyrifos bans began in 2001 when the United States Environmental Protection Agency banned its use in households.
It's considered a risk to harm babies' brains, starting even before birth.

The Obama administration announced plans for a total ban, but the Trump administration cancelled that ban. That prompted California and a few other states to file the appeal that led to the current court decision to ban it.

Cooking oil fills bacteria-hiding cracks

Canadian researchers say cooking oil applied to stainless-steel cookware will repel harmful bacteria.

In a study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, the engineering researchers say the surfaces of the machines get minute scratches and grooves that are ideal hiding places for bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli.

Prof. Ben Hatton, Dr. Dalal Asker and Dr. Tarek Awad of the University of Toronto say their research indicates a thin layer of cooking oil fills in the microscopic scrapes, forming an effective barrier to bacterial attachment.

They say this minimizes the risk of cross-contamination, which can lead to foodborne disease.

Hatton says they found their system reduced bacterial levels inside the machines they tested between 1,000 and 100,000 times.

The researchers collaborated on the project with Agri-Neo, an Ontario seed processing company looking for a solution to bacterial contamination.