Good morning.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush... but what about a gun in a bird?
Really. At the security checkpoint in a Florida airport, TSA officers recently found a gun inside a raw chicken. (This ain't your grandma's stuffing.)
And that's not even the only meat-related airport drama. Officers at a Thailand airport confiscated 5.5 pounds of smoked bats, 5.5 pounds of smoked pork knuckles, and 10 pounds of smoked pork belly, after airport beagles discovered the products in someone's luggage.
Here's hoping that... 1) people stop putting firearms in chickens, and 2) those airport beagles got lots of treats for their discovery.
Stories:
- Water Rights Rebellion
- Soybeans of Other Colors — and New Rules
- Enriched Ag Is $9M Richer
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Searsie from Getty Images
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Northern California ranchers are on a fine line after intentionally violating state water use cutback orders.
This summer, California increased curtailments amidst dry conditions and dwindling flows on the Shasta River. These curtailments prevented ranchers from diverting water from the river to support their farms and ranches.
Water warning: The directors of the Shasta River Water Association sent a letter to authorities outlining their intent to break the California emergency order.
Ranchers were faced with selling cattle or spending thousands to secure hay and water to keep them alive.
Pumping penalty: Now, the ranchers are facing fines for those actions. A $500 penalty has been imposed for each of the eight days the ranchers pumped water from the river.
With 80 ranchers involved, that $4K bill breaks down to $50 per rancher.
Not fish friends: The state says eight days of pumping from the Shasta River posed a threat to salmon, rare species, and water quality.
After the ranchers diverted water from the Shasta River, the flows in the river dropped by at least half. Impacts on the fish in the river are still being investigated.
Soundbite: "I’m not sure how you keep rational folks from risking a $500 fine if it means keeping their cattle alive," said Karrigan Bork, UC Davis professor.
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→ Purple (rice) eaters? Thanks to 15 years of research, the USDA developed both red and purple rice varieties, which could contain antioxidant properties.
→ Back on the rails. After much back and forth, a potential strike by rail workers is on hold until at least December 4, but 200+ ag groups are calling on Congress for a more permanent solution.
→ Corn growers on edge. Farmers in Iowa are seeing major yield differences between the outer and inner rows of their cornfields, in something agronomists call the "edge effect."
→ Have you herd? Some farmers have been waiting months for their shipments of livestock ear tags, after material and labor shortages caused a major supply chain halt.
→ Fresh updates. The U.S. is importing much more fruit this year, and saw a 16% bump from 2021 of fresh/frozen fruit imports, totaling $19.4B.
→ AgTech cashing in. Agriconomie, an ecommerce company in Europe that offers an ag supply e-procurement site and other services to farmers, closed a €60M Series B round—the largest AgTech platform fundraising in Europe this year.
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Soybeans of Other Colors — and New Rules |
freedom_naruk from Getty Images
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Soybeans… taste the rainbow.
Well, kind of. More and more "soybeans of other colors" (besides yellow, that is) have been showing up in the U.S. Mainly, this means soybeans in some areas (primarily the Southeast and Midwest) have shown up with brown or gray spots
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As it stands: Soybeans in the U.S. are graded on four factors—damaged kernels, foreign material, splits, and SBOC. For growers who want to get the "U.S. No. 1 yellow soybean" checkmark, their harvest can only include a max of 1% SBOC.
But the number of those failing to meet that grade has increased the past two years (22.06% in 2022 had SBOC above the No. 1 grade – despite that percentage never exceeding 1.22% in the previous 10 years).
Rule change: The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service announced that the Federal Grain and Inspection Service would release a proposed rule that could eliminate color as a criteria for soybean quality. At that point, the public can send in their comments.
The American Soybean Association is happy about the proposed change. And it’s not the first time the rules have shifted. Test weight was previously measured, for example, but has since been dropped as a grading factor.
Enlisting support: Agronomists have noticed that Enlist E3 soybean seed technology has led to more SBOC than other seed technologies. Enlist E3 soybeans typically have a light brown banding pattern.
However, a study by FGIS found "no significant difference" in protein or oil content in soybean harvests that had a higher percentage of SBOC.
Where this goes: Well, the USDA hasn’t announced either a publication date for the proposed rule change, or a deadline for public comments. So, we shall seed.
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A new company is working on a way to produce ingredients via cell culture methods. They hope to replace the need for _______ trees—whose farming can lead to deforestation, higher carbon emissions, and child labor issues.
(Hint: This could be the future of your favorite sweet treat.)
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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Enriched Ag Is $9M Richer |
Enriched Ag is feeling rich after closing their $9M seed round led by Radical Ventures and Future Ventures. The grazing and carbon insights platform provides ranchers with "operational tools to improve resilience and quantify soil carbon value."
Fun fact: There are 600M acres of ranchland in the U.S. That’s nearly 30% of the nation’s total landmass…
Which makes ranch management even more critical for both ranching and the future of the climate.
ICYMI: The West is currently experiencing one of the worst droughts in history. Enriched Ag is providing data and tools for ranchers to improve their land use and adapt to a changing climate.
Soundbite: "The right grazing programs can go a long way to mitigating the methane produced from cattle, and we can sequester more carbon. We can create more resilient soils through better soil health," said Billy Cook, Enriched Ag VP of Producer Relations.
Knowledge Data Is Power: Enriched Ag is gathering data across seven states on 14 different ranches for a total of 135K acres. The information collected will help ranchers boost soil health, reduce emissions, and make money from carbon credits.
"Data-driven insights can improve ranchers’ decision making today while partnering with Enriched Ag to monitor, manage, and monetize ecosystems, creating new revenue into the future," said Ash Munshi, Enriched Ag CEO.
Dream Team: The company’s staff includes entrepreneurs and experts from Carnegie Mellon University, Google, Intel, Yahoo!, and The Noble Foundation.
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Cocoa. Celleste Bio’s goal is to make the world’s cocoa supply independent of climate conditions, close to production sites, and without the genetic modification of naturally occurring cocoa cells.
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Written & Edited by Kelsey Faivre, Ashley Scoby, Amelia VanLandegen, and Travis Martin
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