Agribusiness Update for Friday 8/16/13

 This is the Agribusiness Update...I’m Greg Martin...

Canola production has been banned in Oregon’s Willamette Valley at least until 2019. Gov. John Kitzhaber signed a bill that bans commercial canola production in the valley for five years while OSU researchers study whether it poses a risk for specialty seed production. Kitzhaber says he expects the specialty seed industry to cooperate with OSU researchers in the study.

Another wolf kill has been confirmed in NE Washington State near the Canadian border. The Wedge wolf pack killed a calf on July 22 on a ranch that is adjacent to a ranch where another calf was killed in early July. Most of the members of that wolf pack were killed last year after they repeatedly killed calves on the same ranch. Non-lethal methods of deterring the wolves have not been very successful.

Acting Under Secretary for Rural Development Doug O’Brien outlined funding for over 600 projects in 42 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that will help agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce their energy consumption and costs, use renewable energy technologies in their operations and/or conduct feasibility studies for renewable energy projects. Grant and loan funding is made available through USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, which is authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill.

That’s today’s Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.