Soybean growers are criticizing what they call “unwarranted restrictions” on the use of a newly approved glufosinate product to protect endangered species. 

The American Soybean Association says EPA’s final label for BASF’s Liberty Ultra herbicide includes a new requirement for a 10-foot mandatory ground spray drift buffer. It also triples the number of “runoff points” growers must accumulate by using certain conservation practices.

“According to EPA, the Herbicide Strategy and other ESA strategies are simply frameworks,” ASA says. The group said, however, that this latest decision shows EPA “is willing to deviate from its own strategies to set more restrictive requirements for individual registrations.” ASA director Alan Meadows also says, “EPA seems to have relented to pressure from environmental groups and decided to impose additional Endangered Species Act restrictions on farmers.”

On the other hand: A group central to the effort to get EPA to address endangered species, the Center for Biological Diversity, says many groups, including the ASA, have been working closely with EPA on the issue to figure out how to protect endangered species from pesticides.

“We raised a bunch of issues with the proposed registration of glufosinate-P, most of which were ignored by EPA,” Environmental Health Science Director Nathan Donley says. “Although it was nice to see the number of runoff mitigation points increase from 1 to 3, EPA was just simply aligning this registration with the herbicide strategy, which all stakeholders, including ASA, commented on extensively.”

Donley calls it “laughable” that EPA would be “in cahoots” with the center. “This type of rhetoric shows that ASA is not interested in finding solutions, only sowing discord amongst its ranks,” he says.

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McDonald’s rules out beef patties as E. coli source

Quarter Pounders will return to menus at McDonald’s stores after state testing confirmed beef patties were not the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak. 

The Colorado Department of Agriculture notified the fast food giant over the weekend that there was no E. coli detected in samples of Quarter Pounder beef patties from restaurants in the area. Along with CDC epidemiological and supply chain traceback data, the company has ruled the patties out as the source. 

The 900 restaurants in parts of 12 states that have typically received slivered onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility will resume selling the Quarter Pounders without the onions. Taylor Farms issued a recall for some onions from the facility out of concern for E. coli contamination. 

Take note: FDA has still not publicly identified a source of the contamination, although initial traceback data pointed to slivered onions served on the burger as the likely culprit. 

On Oct. 25, the FDA updated the number of reported illnesses associated with the outbreak to 75. So far, 22 people have been hospitalized, two have developed a condition that can cause kidney failure, and one has died.

EPA rolls out $3 billion in funding aimed at reducing port emissions

EPA is pooling $3 billion into zero-emission equipment and climate and air quality planning projects at ports. The funding will be going to 55 applicants across 27 states through the Clean Ports Program. 

Zero-emission forklifts, electric tractors and solar generation systems are among the equipment being funded.

The program lays a foundation for America’s ports to transition to fully zero emissions operations,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said on a press call Monday. 

Brazil fines meatpackers for violating deforestation law

Brazil has fined meatpackers about $64 million and impounded more than 8,800 head of cattle as part of an enforcement initiative targeting deforestation.

The country’s Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, or Ibama, said it had identified 69 rural properties in areas off-limits to production, where about 18,000 cattle were grazed. Twenty-three meatpacking companies bought the cattle.

One of those companies, JBS, says in a statement it didn’t buy any cattle from embargoed areas. JBS says it provided Ibama with documentation “confirming that these properties fully comply with current legislation and align with the company's raw material sourcing policy.”

Older farmers ahead of their generation on retirement accounts

Older farmers are more likely to have retirement accounts than other American in their age brackets, but older farm households have less in those accounts, according to USDA economists. 

Some 57% of older farmers have retirement accounts, compared to 47% of older U.S. households. On the other hand, 59% of self-employed non-farming households in that age bracket have retirement accounts, according to the Economic Research Service.

Those older farm households have socked away an average of $246,600, compared to $260,900 for senior households nationwide and $516,800 for non-farming self-employed households. 

By the way: The economists note that farm households have more assets, such as land, than average Americans but that those assets aren’t necessarily easy to access in retirement. 

Ken Bader, who led soybean association for 16 years, dies at 90

Ken Bader died in Chesterfield, Missouri, Saturday. The longtime CEO of the American Soybean Association oversaw the expansion of the organization during a period of growth for American agriculture and for farm exports.

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