By Sarah Fielder
Banned Pesticides Leaking into California’s Water Supplies Banned pesticides are seeping into California’s water sources from illegal pot fields hidden in the state’s forests. Reuters highlights the chemicals being found in California’s water systems and the issues with the illegal pot farms hidden in state and national forests throughout the state. To read the story, click here http://reut.rs/2wW5tAp.
Updated Right-to-Farm Law Fact Sheet is now Available Maryland producers and neighbors often have questions on the state’s right-to-farm law. The General Assembly updated the law to include commercial seafood operations. To aid these operations and ag operations, Paul Goeringer and Lori Lynch updated their popular fact sheet to reflect the changes. You can check out the fact sheet, here https://go.umd.edu/RTFMD.
Wyoming’s Ag-Gag Law Invalidated by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Wyoming is the latest state to see their ag-gag law invalidated for constitutional reasons. Wyoming’s law made it illegal to capture data about wildlife, streams, and other resources. The 10th Circuit saw this law as violating the First Amendment of the Constitution. Invalidation of Wyoming’s law comes after Utah’s was invalidated on similar grounds earlier this year. Read the story here http://bit.ly/2xYIwJH. On that note, Harvest Public Media has a good story on how groups are planning actions against other ag-gag laws across the U.S. you can read that story here http://bit.ly/2wW7NaB.
Another Class Action Lawsuit Filed against Dicamba Makers Another class action lawsuit was filed against Monsanto and other makers of the new types of dicamba in federal court in Illinois. Like similar class actions, the suit alleges that Monsanto and the other companies released a defective product onto the market. To read more about the lawsuit, click here http://bit.ly/2fhEwx7.
FDA Publishes Proposed Rule Seeking to Extend Compliance Dates for Agricultural Water Standards On September 13, 2017 the FDA issued a proposed rule (82 FR 42963) that, if finalized, would extend the compliance dates for the agricultural water requirements by an additional two to four years (for produce other than sprouts). To read the full article go here http://bit.ly/2waGCtj.
USDA Sued by Organic Trade Association for Delay Over Organic Livestock Implementation The Organic Trade Association (OTA) has filed a lawsuit against the US Deptartment of Agriculture (USDA) for failure to put new organic livestock standards into effect. The suit alleges that organic livestock practices were developed by the organic industry and established in accordance with Congressional processes, and that USDA unlawfully delayed the effective date of the standards and violated the Organic Foods Production act. OTA believes USDA abused its discretion by ignoring public record that supported the organic standards. https://go.umd.edu/pg3