Instead, the plant stayed open for months. It wasnt until an undercover video surfaced with images of calves being kicked, dragged and skinned alive that the federal government ordered Bushway Packing Inc. to close last November for the inhumane treatment of animals.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at that time called the abuse “inexcusable,” and vowed to redouble efforts to enforce laws aimed at protecting farm animals.
A report by the Government Accountability Office released last week, however, found that while stringent animal protections may be on the books, the federal government is doing a lax job of enforcing them.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an - - - - >

Experts and industry groups say such an injunction could jeopardize U.S. sugar supplies, about half of which comes from the biotech beets planted on more than 1 million acres in 10 states stretching from Michigan to Oregon.
“It will be a big problem,” if the injunction is granted, said Carol Mallory-Smith, professor of weed science at Oregon State University. “The industry really had converted to this.”
The beets, engineered to be resistant to Monsantos popular herbicide Roundup, comprise 95 percent of the crop after two seasons of planting. All the seed comes from Oregons Willamette Valley.
Organic farmers, food safety advocates and conservation - - - - >

“Mackenzie Cundill would prefer to see cash returned to shareholders in the form of share repurchases or dividends,” rather than being spent on mergers and acquisitions, said David Tiley, who helps manage $13.5 billion at Mackenzie Cundill Investment Management Ltd. in Vancouver. The fund holds more than 7.7 percent of Parmalat and may buy more, he said.
Parmalat, which pioneered long-life milk in the 1960s and makes Omega3 milk, has recovered about 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in legal settlements from banks and auditors, whom it accused - - - - >

Millipore hired Goldman Sachs as financial adviser after receiving the bid and a deal may be reached as early as next week, said the person who declined to be identified because the talks arent public.
The purchase would be Thermo Fisher Chief Executive Officer Marc Caspers first large acquisition since taking over in October for Marijn Dekkers, who left to take the CEO post at Bayer AG. Adding Millipore, the Billerica, Massachusetts-based supplier of diagnostics and laboratory equipment to biotech companies, would bolster Thermos presence in the - - - - >

Ten dairy farmers formed Maines Own Organic Milk Co., MOOMilk for short, last year after their contracts werent renewed by large milk distributor H.P. Hood LLC. A year later, the first half-gallon cartons of MOOMilk have reached dairy cases in scores of supermarkets and natural-food stores in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
MOOMilk gives consumers a new locally produced organic milk while offering farmers a glimmer of hope when the dairy industry is struggling, said dairy farmer Richard Lary, of Windy Acres Farm, in Clinton. In Maine, 200 dairy farms have gone out of business in the past decade, with 300 - - - - >

Fridays verdict was the second against Bayer CropScience for losses sustained by farmers when an experimental variety of rice that the company was testing infiltrated crops.
A jury awarded about $2 million to two Missouri farmers in December, and three additional test cases are scheduled for this year involving farmers from Louisiana and Texas as well as a rice exporter. No punitive damages have been awarded in any of the verdicts.
About 6,000 rice producers have filed claims against Bayer since the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in August 2006 that trace amounts of the genetically modified Liberty - - - - >

Its a wise strategy, according to most industry experts. Milk prices are expected to rebound in 2010 thanks to improved U.S. sales and a recovering export market, so producing as much milk as they can may be the best way for dairy farmers to make up last years losses.
Farmers from California to New York say they plan to do just that. In Wisconsin, for example, one dairy is expanding from 4,000 cows to 8,000, a move that might have seemed ill-conceived during last years recession.
“Our goal today is to have our facility full,” said Jim Ostrom, a partner with Rosendale - - - - >

But Breedlove Foods Inc. and the Mama Cares Foundation believe one thing stands in their way: U.S. patent No. 6,346,284, held by a French company and a French government research institute that are pioneers in so-called ready-to-use foods - food intended for the severely malnourished. The American nonprofits filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., last month challenging the patent.
“Their patent is so broad and generic,” said Mike Mellace, executive director of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based Mama Cares Foundation, a nonprofit offshoot of his Mellace Family Brands snack business. “There are numerous products on the market today that would - - - - >

Tons of Chinese exports, from computers to catfish and cashmere, are shipped west every year, but Wisconsin ginseng goes the other way, flowing against that mighty tide of trade. U.S. ginseng growers rely almost exclusively on sales to China, and after years of declining profits due to new competition from Canadian and Chinese farmers, those in Wisconsin are defending their brand and hoping to tap a growing Chinese middle-class market.
Ginseng is prized in China, Korea and other Asian countries by consumers who say the bitter root, typically sipped as tea or added to soups, eases stress, fatigue and insomnia.
At a - - - - >

The New York Times reported Thursday, citing government and industry records, that E. coli and salmonella were found dozens of times in testing for the federal school lunch program on ammonia-treated beef from Beef Products Inc. The meat was not served.
A spokesman for Beef Products, based in Dakota Dunes, S.D., said samples mentioned in the report showed traces of E. coli in 0.6 percent of the companys production, while USDA tests found E. coli in 1.03 percent of other beef samples.
“We intend to continue as a leader in food safety efforts,” spokesman Richard Jochum said in an e-mail. He said - - - - >