• USDA will move ahead with its plans to create a second beef checkoff in the absence of consensus from the industry as to how to overhaul the existing program.

    USDA is expected to file a notice in the Federal Register in early November seeking public comment on the proposal.

    Ag Secretary Vilsack said earlier this month he’d create the parallel program if industry members couldn’t reach consensus on the existing checkoff’s reforms. Cattlemen’s groups nationwide responded with a letter urging the secretary to back off, arguing that USDA’s program would give the government too much control.

  • Consumer campaigns are urging Lowe’s to take ‘bee-killing’ pesticides off its shelves.

    Friends of the Earth said the environmental group and its allies have organized more than 30,000 people to “swarm” Lowe’s stores around the country to deliver one million petition signatures to ask the home improvement company to remove neonicitinoid pesticides and plants treated with them from its shelves.

    The campaign follows similar moves regarding groups trying to get certain foods off of store shelves.

More From News Talk KIT