Agriculture: Page 30

Farmers: Food safety Rules Could Put Them Out of Business

Connecticut's dwindling number of commercial vegetable and fruit farmers say it could cost them tens of thousands of dollars to comply with the complex regulations the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to issue this year.

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'Agrobots' Offer A Solution To U.S. Farm Labor Shortage

A 14-arm automated harvester that wheels through rows of strawberry plants, harnessing high-powered computing, color sensors and small metal baskets attached to the robotic arms to pluck ripe strawberries from below leaves while ignoring unripe fruit.

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Walmart Fine Tunes Its Fresh Produce Supply Chain; An Inside Look

Earlier this month, Walmart quietly opened a sorting and culling operation in Los Angeles to hasten the procurement process, similar to an operation in McAllen, Texas, that allows Walmart more flexibility in buying product.

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Feds May Test Food Products For Glyphosate Herbicide

World Health Organization (WHO)

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, has come under intense scrutiny since a research unit of the World Health Organization reported last month it was classifying glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."

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Software Solutions

Farmers Adopt Drones For Tending To Livestock

Scientists at the University of Oxford and other U.K. universities launched the “Robot Sheepdog Project” in 1995, and developed a box-size device that could chase a dozen ducks to one place in an enclosed area.

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Farmers Turn To Robots As New Farm Hands

Harvest Automation created robots that help automate and mechanize labor in nurseries and greenhouses, navigate autonomously, and help farmers move goods and gather information within existing and some unstructured environments.

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Obama Calls For Single Food Safety Agency In 2016 Budget

Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA)

Proponents of a single agency cite the inefficiencies and confusion caused by having the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) both having jurisdiction of enforcing food safety.

The measure closing the loophole from the Tariff Act of 1930 was included in a wider trade enforcement bill, which Obama signed into law at the White House in Washington.

United Nations Provides Food Seed To Flood-Ravaged Malawi Farms

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

More than 170,000 people have had to leave their homes, and an estimated 116,000 households have lost their crops and livestock.

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Food Industry Unites To Fix Transportation Challenge In Dakotas And Minnesota

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., served as the moderator for a panel that featured Edward Avalos, under-secretary for marketing and regulatory, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Daniel Elliott, of the Surface Transportation Board at the U.S. DOT.

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Carbon Footprint

Sustainability Fruits And Vegetables Initiative To Achieve 100 Percent Sustainability By 2020

Last summer the group, which includes Ahold, ICA, Jumbo, Lidl, Coop and C1000, announced that it was on track with its goal of 30 per cent sustainability in 2014.

Whole Foods Market To Introduce Produce Ratings Program To Improve Traceability

The initiative is based on a three-tier ratings system of “good,” “better,” and “best” labels that will be displayed throughout the retailer’s produce department.

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McCall Farms Recalls Margaret Holmes 14.5 oz Turnip Greens and 14.5 oz Mixed Greens Due To Questionable Seals

The affected product was distributed to retailers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

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