Hemp Pilot Program Extension and Chlorpyrifos Assessment by EPA
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**The Produce Marketing Association has chosen Jones Valley Teaching Farm of Birmingham, Alabama as its first Impact Award recipient.
The new award, announced at last fall’s PMA Fresh Summit, honors “excellence and inspirational actions of people and organizations helping to grow a healthier world.”
According to thepacker.com, Jones Valley Teaching Farm reaches more than 3,500 students a year at seven fruit and vegetable farms, six of which are at Birmingham public schools from pre-school to high school.
https://www.thepacker.com/article/alabama-teaching-farm-receives-pmas-first-impact-award?mkt/
**The White House has dropped plans provide funds from the USDA to oil refiners denied exemptions from the nation’s biofuel regulations.
According to agweb.com, the Trump administration was considering doling out at least $300 million in cash to the facilities, triggering an outcry from Midwest lawmakers who argued the money should be used for farmers, not the oil industry.
The oil refining industry had also expressed opposition to the plan.
https://www.agweb.com/article/white-house-drops-plan-bail-out-oil-refiners-denied-rfs-waivers?mkt/
**A new EPA risk assessment concludes there are no risks of concern to children's health from chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate insecticide environmental and farmworker groups have been trying to get off the market for years.
The EPA tells Agri-Pulse, there are no residential post-application risk estimates of concern for adults or children.
Environmental law firm Earthjustice criticized the assessment saying EPA was ignoring decades of science showing chlorpyrifos permanently harms children's brains.
https://www.agrimarketing.com/s/132616
