Dave Heineman and top Cuban trade officials are putting the final touches on another round of contracts to export the U. In 2005, he signed deals to export US$30 million worth of agricultural products to Cuba, and Nebraska officials agreed to a similar deal a year ago, with about a third of those contracts executed since, the governor said. Past agreements have sent Nebraska beans, corn, wheat, turkey, pork, beef and soy products to the island. It was the Republican s third visit to...

The company s permit now prohibits it from buying hogs from farms built after 2002 unless the farms use such methods, a ban that state regulators continue to support. Under those exemptions to the 1997 law that established the moratorium, 73 new hog farms have been built, 25 have been expanded and four were reactivated, state water regulators told The News & Observer of Raleigh. The majority of these exceptions use waste pits and spray fields to dispose of hog manure, both of which the...

The National Pork Board has responsibility for research, promotion and consumer information projects and for communicating with pork producers and the public. Swier was one of 154 delegates who represented producers from 46 states and importers who sell pork products in the United States. The Pork Checkoff funds national and state programs in advertising, consumer information, retail and foodservice marketing, export market promotion, production improvement, education and technology, and...

It's been a decade since North Carolina banned pork farmers from building new hog waste lagoons. With the lagoon moratorium set to expire in September, there are several proposals at the statehouse on what to do next. Carolyn Justice, a Republican, introduced legislation Tuesday that would effectively block most new lagoons, but also help swine farmers willing to experiment with other ways to treat hog waste pay for the new technology. People are interested in helping us find solutions...

n Kansas ranks third in sunflower production, seventh in corn production, ninth in hog production, tenth in soybean production and eighteenth in milk production. Sebelius noted that because of the commitment and hard work of farmers and ranchers statewide: Department of Energy is investing in the state's first plant to produce ethanol from cellulosic sources and Kansas was selected as a site to grow biotech rice that can be processed into life-saving medicine, Sebelius said. The number of...