Capitol Press reports, the judge told litigants to prepare arguments for a court hearing over whether to plow under the root stock.
The U.S.D.A. issued permits to four seed companies to plant beet stecklings in early September, three weeks after the judge revoked the federal deregulation of the seeds, pending a new environmental study. The U.S.D.A. and the industry have argued that stecklings pose no harm because they never flower.
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Farmers and auction personnel can fine-tune their livestock handling skills online.
The Livestock Marketing Association and the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University have collaborated to produce "The Animal Care Training" website, which offers training videos, testing and certification in specific areas of livestock handling.
The training packages on the website include topics such as low-stress animal handling, handling injured or disabled animals, and safe and responsible euthanasia. A section is also geared toward business owners and managers.
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More landowners may be confronted with the process of eminent domain, where the government takes private property for a public purpose.
The California Farm Bureau reports farmers in Tulare County face the process as a result of the San Joaquin cross valley loop transmission project.
In July, the state Public Utilities Commission approved Southern California Edison's application for the project, which would be built southeast of Visalia through farmland. The State Farm Bureau says farmers and ranchers should learn as much as they can about eminent domain and Edison's power line project.
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There may not be enough pumpkins for pumpkin pies this thanksgiving.
Experts say bad weather over the past few years has created a major shortage in the pumpkin variety used for pies.
Last year, fields in Central Illinois became so wet, pumpkins rotted on the vine. This year, farmers say the heat has been good for the crop and yields are pushing 85-percent. But experts say three years of bad harvest and high demand may still leave some grocery store shelves thin with canned pumpkin this year.
The shortage should not affect Halloween because the pumpkins used for pies are not the same variety used for carving jack-o-lanterns.
