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SubscribeIn support of Kentucky agriculture, Attorney General Andy Beshear joined with other egg-producing states to ask the country’s highest court to review a lower court’s decision that upheld California’s “Shell Egg Laws.”
In 2015, the six states asked the Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals to block enforcement of the California laws and regulations prescribing standards for the conditions under which chickens must be kept in order for producers to sell eggs in the state. California is the country’s largest egg market.
The appeals court ruled against the six states in favor of a lower court ruling. The group of states are now asking the United States Supreme Court to take up the issue. The states are Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
“Kentucky is a thriving egg-producing state, and this law places our agriculture industry and farming families at a disadvantage by increasing farming cost and driving up the cost of food for Kentuckians,” Beshear said. “The Supreme Court must review this issue in order to level the playing field for our producers against out-of-state regulations.”
The group of five attorneys general and the Governor of Iowa representing egg-producing states argue that the laws hurt agriculture in their states and are in violation of the Commerce Clause, which regulates trade among states and foreign nations.
The group asserts that its egg farmers must choose to either bring their entire operations into compliance or not sell in the California marketplace. The states argue that the necessary capital improvements to meet the standards would cost farmers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Kentucky farmers produced 1.3 billion eggs in 2015, according to the USDA.
Today is the last day for the annual National Farm Machinery Show. Visitors will have one final chance to see the newest and most advance equipment for all their agricultural needs before they are gone from the Kentucky Exposition Center. Whether you are large commercial farmer or a home gardener, there will be something of interest for everyone. With over 800 exhibitors, a crafts and gift market, and the Championship Tractor Pull, the event is expecting up to 300,000 attendees throughout the course of the show.
The final day of Championship Tractor Pull will feature two events including the 1:00 PM matinée and the 7:30 PM championship finals. Each event is expected to last approximately three hours. Drivers in the afternoon competition will test their machines in the classes for 7,500lb. 4×4 Super Stock Diesel Trucks, 6,400lb. Lightweight Super Stock Alcohol Tractors, and 10,200lb. Pro Stock Tractors. The evening heats include Modified Tractors, Super Farm Tractors, 2WD Super Modified Trucks, Super Stock and Alcohol Tractors, and the massive 10,200lb. Pro Stock Tractor class.
Last night, visitors were treated to a down-to-the-wire performance as three Pro Stock tractors made a full pull of the weight sled to result in a head to head pull-off to determine the winner. The competition is exciting and the event is loud so be sure to bring your ear protection. This is a separate event from the admission-free Farm Machinery Show and tickets must be purchased ahead of time. Pricing starts at $20 for the afternoon event and $25 for the evening event. As with most events at the KY Exposition Center, parking is $8 per car. Do not miss out on one of larger shows that comes Louisville.
Don’t Miss the Nation’s Largest Indoor Farm Show, Gift & Craft Craft Market, and Championship Tractor Pull Finals
The 52nd annual National Farm Machinery Show at the Kentucky Expo Center is more than two days in, but visitors still have time to get in on the action.
With nearly 900 vendors in the farm show exhibit area and the Gift & Craft Market, the event is not just for those in the commercial agriculture industry. Everyone from home gardeners to country craft lovers will find something to spark their interest, from free seminars to face-time with vendors to the excitement of truck and tractor pulling competitions.
While the NFMS itself is free to attend and open to the public, the associated Championship Tractor Pull events each night, with an afternoon matinee on Saturday, require reserved seat tickets, which start at $20. Fans will be treated to thundering excitement as drivers compete in ten weight-based divisions as they try to drag weighted sleds down the full length of the dirt track. If two or more drivers in a division succeed in making a “full pull,” more weight is added and they try again and the driver who pulls the sled farthest wins.
The tense – and LOUD – competition isn’t just for bragging rights, either. Competitors are vying for a piece of a quarter-million dollar purse. Don’t forget your ear plugs!
Fans wanting to check out the powerful machines before they roar into the arena can visit the pit area in Broadbent Arena, where they can get up close and personal with the trucks and tractors and trucks and meet drivers for photos and autographs. The pit area is open today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 to 11 a.m.
Connect with Louisville Dispatch on Facebook for more photos of the event and to share you own. Continue reading
Just one week from today, the 52nd National Farm Machinery Show is returning to Louisville and brining with it the 49th annual Championship Tractor Pull.
The event, hosted at the Kentucky Exposition Center at 937 Phillips Lane, runs from Wednesday, February 15, through Saturday, the 18th. KY Expo Center parking is $8 with admission to the Farm Machinery Show free and open to the public. Tickets for the Championship Tractor Pull are available through Ticket Master starting at $20.
The National Farm Machinery Show is the nation’s largest indoor farm show, featuring nearly 900 exhibitors, offers the most complete selection of cutting-edge agricultural products, equipment and services available in the farming industry. In addition to seeing the industry’s newest products , visitors can attend free seminars from experts on topics including the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), data handling, weather and commodity trends, and marketing.
Tyne Morgan and Al Pell will also be performing a live-taping of “U.S. Farm Report” during the show that visitors can stop by and watch. The show also features more than 80 vendors in the Gift & Craft Market in the South Wing Mezzanine, offering something for everyone.
Championship Tractor Pull
Former champions and a record-breaking number of women drivers will compete for a share of the $250,000 purse in 2017 at the 49th annual Championship Tractor Pull.
2016 champions including Terry Blackbourn, Steve Bunnage, and Mendi Nelson, among others are returning to try to keep their titles. The 2017 competition will also break last year’s record for women competitors as Anna Belle Bradley, Ashley Corzine, Julia Ray, and Kentucky’s own Monica Shaw and Lisa Tatum, along with many other female pullers enter the arena.
Over 70,000 fans are expected to attend the competition, which will include several new categories such as the 6,350 Modified 4×4 Truck and 9,500 Limited Pro Stock Tractor classes.
If you like the roar of Pro Stocks, Super Stocks, Modified, and Alcohol Tractors as well as two- and four-wheel drive trucks battling it out in the dirt, don’t miss the excitement every night of the 2017 National Farm Machinery Show in Freedom Hall.
Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles led a meeting of advocates for the hungry and local leaders to learn what is being done at the local level to combat food insecurity in the Louisville area Tuesday at the Dare to Care Food Bank on Fern Valley Road.
“These regional meetings will give the Kentucky Hunger Task Force a clearer picture of the need as well as actions being taken locally to meet the need,” Commissioner Quarles said. “With this information, the task force can develop measurable, attainable goals for reducing hunger in Kentucky and a plan of action to achieve those goals.”
Dare to Care reported that 156,570 food-insecure individuals live in the eight Kentucky counties that it serves. Dare to Care distributed 14.2 million meals to Kentucky clients in its most recent fiscal year, including 70,000 backpacks of food to 1,760 students in 29 Kentucky schools and 260,000 hot Kids Café meals. Map the Meal Gap, an annual study by Feeding America, found that 17 percent of the population of Kentucky – or 1 out of every 6 Kentuckians – is food insecure.
The Hunger Task Force is part of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Hunger Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort to alleviate food insecurity in Kentucky. The objectives of the Hunger Task Force are to study the sources of hunger, identify the unique issues that affect different regions of the Commonwealth, and take an inventory of resources that can be brought to bear against the hunger problem in Kentucky.
The task force is holding a series of regional meetings throughout the state to hear from volunteers fighting hunger at the local level. Meetings are scheduled for Sept. 19 in Elizabethtown and Sept. 28 in Pikeville.
For more information about the Hunger Initiative and the Hunger Task Force, visit kyagr.com/hunger.
After a study completed by the Office of Planning and Design Services, a draft of regulations regarding methane plants within the county has been given the Louisville Metro Council.
The methane plants are bio-digester. A bio-digester is defined as a renewable energy system that uses controlled decomposition of biodegradable materials (e.g. outdated food from local groceries and yard waste) in oxygen-deprived environments using naturally occurring bacteria to convert the biodegradable materials into methane-rich biogas and a waste product, which is used as a fertilizer.
According to the proposed regulations, any plant will need to be a minimum of 1,320 feet away from a residential property, school, religious building, park, community center, hospital, nursing home, or assisted living facility and at least 50 feet from a public right-of-way. Vehicles delivering feedstock, the biodegradable materials, shall not unload their cargo until they are fully enclosed in the receiving building and feedstock can only be stored in a fully enclosed building. All bio-digesters must also comply with noise ordinances, all local, state and federal laws regarding utility substations, safety, maintenance, health, and so on. Plants must also submit an emergency response plan and strategies for limiting odor that is generated from the decomposition. Natural methane is an odorless gas and it is produced in a variety of places throughout the world, including swamps and marsh lands.
There are currently three bio-digesters in the county: two of which are operated about Metropolitan Sewer District and the third is a private company. Any new proposed plants would need to seek a conditional use permit in industrial zones and the permit grants the applicant the ability to hold a public hearing. Conditional use permit holders must meet all requirements set forth in the regulations, and the Board of Zoning Adjustment must determine that there will be no adverse effects to neighboring properties before the permit is issued. However, plants that are strictly for agricultural use are exempt from zoning requirements, noise ordinances, odor mitigation, and emergency response plans per state law. A map of lands that are eligible for use is available on the City’s website.
The regulations are open for public comment, and if you missed one of the six meetings already, the final four meetings are coming up quick:
- July 27th, 6 – 8 PM – Newburg Library: 4800 Exeter Ave,
- July 27th, 6 – 8 PM- Central Government Center: 7201 Outer Loop
- July 28, 9 AM- Old Jail Auditorium: 514 W. Liberty St
- August 1, 6 PM – Old Jail Auditorium: 514 W Liberty St
Written comments can be submitted to Brian Mabry via Brian.Mabry@louisvilleky.gov. All comments must be received by 12 PM on August 1st to considered during the evening public hearing.
With the summer travel season upon us, state and local authorities are working with retailers to prevent thieves from stealing consumers’ data at fuel pumps, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles announced recently.
“This form of identity theft, known as card skimming, is exploding around the world,” Commissioner Quarles said. “Losses due to skimming are expected to exceed $3 billion globally this year. Kentucky Department of Agriculture inspectors are on the lookout for evidence of skimming to protect Kentucky consumers and businesses.”
The KDA is charged with the task of inspecting motor fuel pumps in every retail establishment in the Commonwealth once a year. KDA inspectors test pumps to ensure that the amount of fuel dispensed matches the amount shown on the pump, and check to make sure pumps are in proper working order.
As part of the inspection, they look for signs that a pump has been compromised by thieves who install electronic devices called “skimmers” that capture data from consumers’ credit cards. The data is used to produce fake credit cards and make fraudulent charges on the victim’s account. Inspectors shut down any pump that may have been tampered with and report the incident to law enforcement authorities.
Jason Glass, assistant director of the KDA’s Division of Regulation and Inspection, said card readers on fuel pumps are especially susceptible to tampering because pumps often are located out of sight of an attendant.
Glass said retailers are taking action to prevent credit card skimming by installing proprietary locks on pumps, using security tape to seal the pumps, and logging the numbers on the tape to make sure the seal hasn’t been broken and replaced. Some pumps shut down when they are entered unlawfully, Glass said. Credit card companies are deploying technology to make credit cards harder to skim, he said.
Glass said consumers can help themselves by looking for signs that a pump has been tampered with, such as locks that appear to have been compromised, doors that may have been pried open, and security tape that is broken or doesn’t adhere to the pump.
Consumers may report suspected tampering to the retailer, law enforcement, or the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. To submit a report to the KDA, call (502) 573-0282 or email ag.web@ky.gov. Please include the retailer’s name and location, the pump number, and the fuel grade.
