** Appropriations Bill Involves Agriculture: As reported in this Progressive Farmer article, the House passed its appropriations bill for almost all federal agencies late Thursday night, and it included several policy riders for the USDA. Now on to the Senate.
** Pigman: Iowa's most famous pig farmer is back in the spotlight. The National Geographic Channel has picked up Carl Blake's reality show, called Little Pig Man. This Colbert Report interview with Blake from some time ago adds a bit of spunk and humor to the topic.
** GMOs on the Hill: A House subcommittee on Wednesday debated the role of the Food and Drug Administration in the regulation of food containing genetically engineered ingredients. Many legislators said they want to see one national set of standards for GE labeling and are worried about the “patchwork” of state rules that may develop.
Alison Van Eenennaam (animal genomics and biotech specialist from UC-Davis) said the hearing began an honest discussion about national mandatory labeling of essentially a breeding method--genetic engineering--on a packaged food label. Her testimony included several references to CAST's recent Issue Paper about GMOs and mandatory labeling.
** Where the Wild Things Are--and Maybe Shouldn't Be: As this article says, city boundaries mean nothing to coyotes, or to any other animal that has discovered a food bonanza in urban backyards and parks. But conflicts occur.
And as this blog demonstrates, coyotes ride trains and live near Wrigley Field--while human/animal interactions can be tense. A ground squirrel does not necessarily make for a good pet.
top photo from indystar.com and bottom one from npr.org
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