Free Republic

And now some welcome news for a change: In a little-noticed move, the U.S. Congress tore down a barrier to imports of chicken from China last week. It's a victory for free trade and for a more rational approach to safety standards. President Obama signed an appropriations bill Wednesday that clears the way for the imports by allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct in China the safety inspections U.S. law requires for any country exporting food to America. The congressional move in 2007 to block funding for those regulatory steps amounted to an import ban. Now USDA will...

Continued concerns about Chinese products being sold in the U.S. now include poultry. Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor was recognized in Washington today for his work on an agriculture appropriations bill that focuses on the use of appropriated funds from the Department of Agriculture for potential imports of poultry products from China. "Food safety and trade are not mutually exclusive, and are in fact very important to the economy of Arkansas. We can have both as long as the USDA can do its job of policing imports to make sure they meet our food safety standards. Our agreement enables the government...

Troutville, Va. (AP) - An animal rights group wants to rent a prison building the state plans to close and turn it into the nation's first chicken empathy museum. A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals official sent a letter Monday to Gov. Tim Kaine asking to rent the Botetourt Correctional Center building in Troutville. Kaine spokeswoman Lynda Tran said the state doesn't lease to private entities except for cases grandfathered in when it purchases buildings.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 21, 2009 – The Women’s Poultry Project in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province is a giant leap forward for the women who call the Panjshir River valley their home. The project is designed to empower women in the valley by assisting them in providing food and income for families. Greg Schlenz of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agricultural advisor to the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team, said the project began last spring in the Anaba district with about 200 families and now includes more than 1,200 Panjshir families in the Anaba, Rhoka, Bazarak, Dara and Khenj districts. In...

Chile detected the H1N1 swine flu virus in turkeys, authorities said, the first time the virus has been found outside humans and pigs, but said there was no indication the disease had spread to other parts of Chile. The country's farming and livestock agency SAG said yesterday the flu outbreak had been controlled at the two farms 120 km west of the capital Santiago and notified the World Organization for Animal Health. "We call on the public to consume turkey products with confidence," a SAG statement said. It added that laboratory results ruled out the presence of H5N1 or bird...

This spring we wanted chicken manure spread on the pastures because it is incredibly rich in nutrients, the best “natural” fertilizer known to man, and quite inexpensive, comparatively speaking. So I asked one of my truck driver friends, who cleans out houses for Sanderson Farms affiliates, to bring me several dump truck loads. “No can do, because they aren’t having it done, this year,” quoth he. How odd. I mulled that over off and on for months, and today I got the answer. The greenies are at it again! THIS time they are claiming that litter (sawdust and, ah, processed...

HOMER, IL – It may seem like an easy way to save a little money on your grocery budget: Buy a few chickens and start collecting farm-fresh eggs. An increasing number of families in our area are doing just that, and some are also selling their surplus eggs to neighboring families. Garry Herzog, owner of Prairieland Feeds in Savoy, said there's been a steady increase in demand for "laying feed" for chickens over the past two to three years. He said his store also gets many requests for how-to information from chicken-raising rookies. And if Yahoo! is any indication, the...

China is expected to ban imports of U.S. chicken in coming days, a move likely to deliver a blow to the struggling American chicken industry and escalate trade tensions between the two nations. James H. Sumner, president of the Georgia-based USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, said he learned Tuesday from "several importers" in China that the U.S. wouldn't receive any import permits from the country's ministry of commerce starting July 1. Mr. Sumner said he has informed the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and that it is looking into the matter. There has been no official confirmation from the Chinese...

PITTSBURG, Texas (AP) Pilgrim's Pride Corp. said Friday it will cut 3,000 jobs, or about 7 percent of its U.S. work force, as it shuts operations at three of its 32 chicken processing plants.

I need some advice on chicken breeds. Where I live in Central Texas, in the summer it’s not uncommon for us to have a 6 week run of high temperatures going over 100’. So here’s what I’m looking for in my dual-purpose hens:- I want girls that are temperature hardy that can handle the heat. (I know that I’m going to have to help any chicken survive a severe, prolonged heat-wave, [fresh water, misters, shade, etc.] but I don’t want to suffer 50% losses just because I was stupid enough to get birds which were never bred to handle it...

Monona Ald. Doug Wood is trying to make his city more chicken-friendly."The first reaction is they sort of laugh," Wood said of his constituents when they hear about his draft ordinance to allow Monona residents to raise chickens. Even he thought the idea sounded funny at first. But, after a number of sustainable-living enthusiasts egged him on, he took stock of other urban chicken laws across the country — including Madison's, approved in 2004 — and decided one might fit well in Monona. The proposal will be presented to the City Council at their next meeting Monday. The most recent...

Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest chicken producer, which has plants in northeast Georgia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, a move some analysts had predicted given the company's sagging debt load and volatile feed prices. The Pittsburg, Texas-based company sought the bankruptcy protection in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas on Monday, saying that as of Sept. 27 it had $3.75 billion in assets and $2.72 billion in debts. Company spokesman Ray Atkinson said Pilgrim's Pride was reorganizing and not liquidating its assets, and the company will keep operating throughout...

The government of Mexico has voluntarily suspended shipments of meat and processed poultry to the United States after U.S. officials raised concerns about the quality of Mexican food processing and inspections, an Agriculture Department official said Thursday. The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service identified systemic problems with sanitation controls and recordkeeping during an annual audit that took place in Mexico between June 24 and July 31. The voluntary suspension began Aug. 29, said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the service. About 2 percent of beef and poultry in the U.S. comes from Mexican producers. "Safety concerns in multiple establishments...

Food prices to post biggest rise since 1990: USDA By Christopher Doering Wed Aug 20, 5:43 PM ET U.S. consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday. Food prices are forecast to rise by 5 percent to 6 percent this year, making it the largest annual increase since 1990. Just last month, USDA forecast food prices would climb between 4.5 and 5.5 percent in 2008. "It's a little bit of a surprise how...

A small town struggles after immigration raid Email this Story Aug 16, 1:05 PM (ET) By MONICA RHOR Google sponsored links Get the facts on Peta - Find out the details of Peta's Euthanasia record. PetaKillsAnimals.com Information on PETA - Find out more about the founder's statements and philosophy. www.ActivistCash.com POSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) - A vague unease whispered through this tiny town in northeastern Iowa, where the rolling hills are a study in vivid colors - red barns, white clapboard houses, and vibrant green cornfields plowed with almost architectural precision. It drifted through Postville's downtown, where restaurants serving tamales share...

<p>SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be given the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr as a holiday.</p> <p>According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new 5-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate the hundreds of Somali Muslims who work at the plant .</p>

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be given the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr as a holiday...

<p>TSN 17.11, +0.13, +0.8%) dropped 8% to close at $16.98 Tuesday following a report that 15,000 chickens in a northwest Arkansas plant had tested positive for a mild strain of avian influenza.</p> <p>U.S. Dept. of Agriculture spokeswoman Angie Harless said the National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the presence Sunday of avian influenza antibodies in Tyson chickens, indicating that they had a mild strain of avian flu.</p>

When her neighbor's roosters and chickens persisted in running through her yard, G. Stone took matters into her own hands. She marched next door and issued a warning: Do something about the uninvited guests or the birds "were going in my pot." The incursions stopped. But Stone, a retired Los Angeles County librarian who lives northwest of Watts, shook her head in exasperation as she recalled the incident. "I've lived here for 50 years," she said. "All of a sudden, there's an influx of chickens. You're not supposed to have chickens in the city." For many, the image of South...

   International Respect for Chickens Day, May 4, celebrates the devotion of hens to their chicks and deplores the suffering of motherless chickens on factory farms. In this photo, Ruby fosters Ivy, a chick rescued from a factory farm in North Carolina to live in a safe and loving home. (PRNewsFoto/United Poultry Concerns)MACHIPONGO, VA UNITED STATES May is International Respect for Chickens Month MACHIPONGO, Va., April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- InternationalRespect for Chickens Day, May 4, celebrates the dignity, beauty and life ofchickens and protests against the bleakness of their lives in farmingoperations. Launched by United Poultry Concerns in 2005,...