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Category: Agriculture

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness

    Source: The White House

    class=”has-text-align-left”>By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

    Section 1. Purpose. Commonsense approaches and investments by State and local governments across American infrastructure will enhance national security and create a more resilient Nation. Federal policy must rightly recognize that preparedness is most effectively owned and managed at the State, local, and even individual levels, supported by a competent, accessible, and efficient Federal Government. Citizens are the immediate beneficiaries of sound local decisions and investments designed to address risks, including cyber attacks, wildfires, hurricanes, and space weather. When States are empowered to make smart infrastructure choices, taxpayers benefit.

    This order empowers State, local, and individual preparedness and injects common sense into infrastructure prioritization and strategic investments through risk-informed decisions that make our infrastructure, communities, and economy resilient to global and dynamic threats and hazards.

    Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that State and local governments and individuals play a more active and significant role in national resilience and preparedness, thereby saving American lives, securing American livelihoods, reducing taxpayer burdens through efficiency, and unleashing our collective prosperity. In addition, it is the policy of the United States that my Administration streamline its preparedness operations; update relevant Government policies to reduce complexity and better protect and serve Americans; and enable State and local governments to better understand, plan for, and ultimately address the needs of their citizens.

    Sec. 3. Updating Federal Policy to Save Lives and End the Subsidization of Mismanagement. (a) National Resilience Strategy. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the heads of relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies), shall publish a National Resilience Strategy that articulates the priorities, means, and ways to advance the resilience of the Nation. The National Resilience Strategy shall be reviewed and revised at least every 4 years, or as appropriate.

    (b) National Critical Infrastructure Policy. Within 180 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the heads of relevant agencies, shall review all critical infrastructure policies and recommend to the President the revisions, recissions, and replacements necessary to achieve a more resilient posture; shift from an all-hazards approach to a risk-informed approach; move beyond information sharing to action; and implement the National Resilience Strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. For purposes of this order, critical infrastructure policies do not include any policies related to purported “misinformation,” “disinformation,” or “malinformation,” nor so-called “cognitive infrastructure,” which should be reevaluated consistent with the policy set forth in Executive Order 14149 of January 20, 2025 (Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship), through a separate process. The policies to be reviewed and recommended for modification, as appropriate, include:

    (i) National Security Memorandum 16 of November 10, 2022 (Strengthening the Security and Resilience of United States Food and Agriculture);

    (ii) National Security Memorandum 22 of April 30, 2024 (Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience);

    (iii) Executive Order 14017 of February 24, 2021 (America’s Supply Chains); and

    (iv) Executive Order 14123 of June 14, 2024 (White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience).

    (c) National Continuity Policy. Within 180 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, shall review all national continuity policies and recommend to the President the revisions, recissions, and replacements necessary to modernize and streamline the approach to national continuity capabilities, reformulate the methodology and architecture necessary to achieve an enduring readiness posture, and implement the National Resilience Strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. The policies to be reviewed and recommended for modification, as appropriate, include:

    (i) Executive Order 13618 of July 6, 2012 (Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions);

    (ii) Executive Order 13961 of December 7, 2020 (Governance and Integration of Federal Mission Resilience);

    (iii) National Security Memorandum 32 of January 19, 2025 (National Continuity Policy); and

    (iv) Executive Order 14146 of January 19, 2025 (Partial Revocation of Executive Order 13961).

    (d) Preparedness and Response Policies. Within 240 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies and informed by the reports and findings of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Council established pursuant to Executive Order 14180 of January 24, 2025 (Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency), shall review all national preparedness and response policies and recommend to the President the revisions, recissions, and replacements necessary to reformulate the process and metrics for Federal responsibility, move away from an all-hazards approach, and implement the National Resilience Strategy described in subsection (a) of this section. The policies to be reviewed and recommended for modification, as appropriate, include:

    (i) Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988 (Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities);

    (ii) Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 of February 28, 2003 (Management of Domestic Incidents);

    (iii) Presidential Policy Directive 8 of March 30, 2011 (National Preparedness);

    (iv) Presidential Policy Directive 22 of March 28, 2013 (National Special Security Events); and

    (v) Presidential Policy Directive 44 of November 7, 2016 (Enhancing Domestic Incident Response).

    (e) National Risk Register. Within 240 days of the date of this order, the APNSA, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the heads of relevant agencies, shall coordinate the development of a National Risk Register that identifies, articulates, and quantifies natural and malign risks to our national infrastructure, related systems, and their users.

    (i) The quantification produced by the National Risk Register shall be used to inform the Intelligence Community, private sector investments, State investments, and Federal budget priorities.

    (ii) The National Risk Register shall be reviewed and revised at least every 4 years, or as appropriate, to evolve with the dynamic risk landscape.

    (f) Federal National Functions Constructs. The Federal Government organizes national preparedness and continuity through the bureaucratic and complicated lens of overlapping and overbroad “functions,” which include: the National Essential Functions, Primary Mission Essential Functions, National Critical Functions, Emergency Support Functions, Recovery Support Functions, and Community Lifelines. Within 1 year of the date of this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall propose changes to the policies outlining this framework and any implementing documents to ensure State and local governments and individuals have improved communications with Federal officials and a better understanding of the Federal role. This proposal shall be coordinated through the process established by National Security Presidential Memorandum 1 of January 20, 2025 (Organization of the National Security Council and Subcommittees), or any successor processes, before being submitted to the President through the APNSA.

    Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

    (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

    (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

                                   DONALD J. TRUMP

    THE WHITE HOUSE,
    March 18, 2025.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Canada: More schools for Edmonton and area | Un plus grand nombre d’écoles pour la région d’Edmonton

    [. That is why through Budget 2025, if passed, Alberta’s government is funding 14 new school projects in the Edmonton metro area, adding about 16,400 new and updated student spaces. In total, there are now 36 projects underway in and around Edmonton.

    “We have heard loud and clear that Edmonton and surrounding communities need new schools. To meet this call, we are supporting new and ongoing school projects in Edmonton and area to ensure every student has a space to grow and thrive.”

    Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education

    Budget 2025, if passed, funds a total of 41 new school projects across the province. These school projects will add 38,500 new or upgraded student spaces. With the new investments in Budget 2025, there are now 132 active school projects underway in Alberta, all of which are being fast-tracked through the new and improved funding process designed and released by Alberta’s government in fall of 2024.

    “When we ensure that students have access to the classrooms they need, we are setting up the next generation to succeed. Our team is committed to working with everyone involved to turn permits into progress and get students into well-built and well-maintained schools as soon as possible.”

    Martin Long, Minister of Infrastructure

    Last fall, Alberta’s government announced an $8.6 billion program to accelerate school construction and build new classroom spaces to help ensure that every student has the space needed to grow and thrive. Over the next seven years, Alberta’s government will deliver more than 100 new and updated schools or about 200,000 student spaces.

    “The investment in five school projects is welcome news. Space for students in all grades, especially for high schools, is critical for Edmonton Public Schools. A school is the heart of a community, and we are grateful that more students will have access to a public school closer to home.”

    Julie Kusiek, board chair, Edmonton Public Schools

    “We are grateful for this investment in Catholic education. With nearly all our high schools over capacity and enrolment continuing to grow, this commitment is an important step in addressing these pressures. We look forward to advancing these projects quickly to ensure students have the spaces they need to succeed.”

    Sandra Palazzo, board chair, Edmonton Catholic Schools

    Budget 2025 is meeting the challenge faced by Alberta with continued investments in education and health, lower taxes for families and a focus on supporting the economy.

    Quick facts

    • The 2025 Capital Plan allocates $75 million over the next three years for the planning and design of the 41 school capital projects approved in 2025 and $2.3 billion to building and updating previously announced school projects.
    • With Budget 2025, if passed, there are now 36 school projects underway in the Edmonton metropolitan region:
      • 19 projects with construction approval
      • 7 projects with design approval
      • 10 projects with planning approval

    Budget 2025 (if passed) new school projects in the Edmonton region (11):   

    Community

    School division

    Project type/name

    Design funding (2)

    Edmonton

    Edmonton Public Schools 

    addition to Dr. Anne Anderson High School

    new K to 6 in Hawks Ridge

    Planning funding (9)

    Beaumont

    St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools

    new 10 to 12

    Black Gold School Division

    new 10 to 12

    Edmonton

    Edmonton Public Schools

    new 10 to 12 in Castle Downs

    new 10 to 12 in The Grange

    new K to 6 in Silver Berry

    Edmonton Catholic Schools

    new 10 to 12 in Lewis Farms

    new 10 to 12 in The Meadows

    Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord

    new K to 6 in Haddow/Henderson

    St. Albert

    St. Albert Public Schools

    new K to 9 in Chérot

    Budget 2025 (if passed) replacement school projects in the Edmonton region (2): 

     Community

    School division

    Project type/name

    Design funding (1)

    Morinville

    Sturgeon Public Schools

    replacement of Morinville Public School

    Planning funding (1)

    Edmonton

    Edmonton Catholic Schools

    replacement of St. Lucy Catholic Elementary School and Katherine Therrien Catholic Elementary School with K to 9 solution in Palisades/Oxford

    Budget 2025 (if passed) public charter school projects in the Edmonton region (1): 

     Community

    Charter authority

    Project type/name

     

    Design funding (1)

     

    Edmonton

    Alberta Classical Academy

    acquire and modernize the Edmonton Classical Academy, Eastgate Campus (K to 12)

    Related information

    • Budget 2025 Capital Plan
    • Budget 2025 overview
    • School construction accelerator program
    • Public charter schools

    Related news

    • Building schools in every corner of the province (March 7, 2025)
    • More schools for Calgary and region (March 14, 2025)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the news conference

    Quatorze nouveaux projets d’écoles pour Edmonton et les collectivités avoisinantes.

    La population de l’Alberta a augmenté rapidement au cours des dernières années et cette croissance démographique a exercé des pressions sur plusieurs écoles d’Edmonton confrontées à une hausse des inscriptions. Pour cette raison, le budget 2025, s’il est adopté, fera démarrer 14 nouveaux projets d’écoles dans la région métropolitaine d’Edmonton, ce qui permettra de créer et de rénover 16 400 places pour les élèves. Au total, 36 projets d’écoles sont désormais en cours de réalisation dans la région d’Edmonton.

    « Nous avons entendu haut et fort qu’Edmonton et les collectivités environnantes ont besoin de nouvelles écoles. Nous répondons à cet appel en soutenant de nouveaux projets d’écoles ainsi que des projets déjà en cours dans la région d’Edmonton afin que chaque élève ait un espace pour grandir et réussir. »

    Demetrios Nicolaides, ministre de l’Éducation

    Le budget 2025, s’il est adopté, finance un total de 41 nouveaux projets d’écoles dans l’ensemble de la province. Ces projets d’écoles permettront de créer et de moderniser plus de 38 500 places pour les élèves. Grâce aux nouveaux investissements prévus dans le budget 2025, 132 projets d’écoles sont maintenant en cours dans toute l’Alberta, tous accélérés au moyen du nouveau processus de financement amélioré conçu et mis en œuvre par le gouvernement de l’Alberta à l’automne 2024.

    « Lorsque nous veillons à ce que les élèves aient accès aux salles de classe dont ils ont besoin, nous donnons à la prochaine génération toutes les chances de réussir. Notre équipe s’engage à travailler avec toutes les parties concernées pour faire avancer la construction et offrir aux élèves des écoles bien construites et bien entretenues dès que possible. »

    Martin Long, ministre de l’Infrastructure

    L’automne dernier, le gouvernement de l’Alberta a annoncé un programme de 8,6 milliards de dollars pour accélérer la construction d’écoles et pour construire de nouvelles salles de classe afin que chaque élève ait l’espace nécessaire pour grandir et réussir. Au cours des sept prochaines années, le gouvernement de l’Alberta financera plus de 100 projets de construction et de rénovation d’écoles, ce qui permettra d’ajouter plus de 200 000 places pour les élèves.

    « L’investissement dans cinq projets d’écoles est une bonne nouvelle. Le besoin d’espace pour les élèves de toutes les classes, en particulier pour les écoles secondaires, est crucial pour les écoles publiques d’Edmonton. Les écoles sont au cœur des collectivités et nous sommes reconnaissants que davantage d’élèves aient accès à une école publique plus proche de chez eux. »

    Julie Kusiek, présidente, Edmonton Public Schools

    « Nous sommes reconnaissants de cet investissement dans l’éducation catholique. Alors que la quasi-totalité de nos écoles secondaires dépasse leur capacité d’accueil et que les inscriptions continuent d’augmenter, cet engagement est une étape importante pour faire face à ces pressions. Nous sommes impatients de faire avancer ces projets rapidement afin que les élèves disposent des espaces dont ils ont besoin pour réussir. »

    Sandra Palazzo, présidente, Edmonton Catholic Schools

    Le budget 2025 relève les défis auxquels fait face l’Alberta en continuant d’investir dans l’éducation et la santé, en réduisant les impôts pour les familles et en soutenant l’économie.

    En bref

    • Le plan d’immobilisations 2025 alloue 75 millions de dollars sur trois ans pour la planification et la conception des 41 projets d’immobilisations scolaires approuvés en 2025 et 2,3 milliards de dollars pour les projets de construction et de modernisation d’écoles déjà annoncés.
    • Si le budget 2025 est adopté, 36 projets d’écoles seront en cours de réalisation dans la région métropolitaine d’Edmonton :
      • 19 projets approuvés pour la construction;
      • 7 projets approuvés pour la conception;
      • 10 projets approuvés pour la planification.

    Le budget 2025 (si adopté) financera ces projets de nouvelles écoles dans la région d’Edmonton (11).

    Collectivité

    Autorité scolaire

    Type/nom de projet

    Financement pour la conception (2)

    Edmonton

    Edmonton Public Schools

    agrandissement de l’école secondaire Dr. Anne Anderson High School

    nouvelle école M à 6 dans Hawks Ridge

    Financement pour la planification (9)

    Beaumont

    St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools

    nouvelle école 10 à 12

    Black Gold School Division

    nouvelle école 10 à 12

    Edmonton

    Edmonton Public Schools

    nouvelle école 10 à 12 dans Castle Downs

    nouvelle école 10 à 12 dans The Grange

    nouvelle école M à 6 dans Silver Berry

    Edmonton Catholic Schools

    nouvelle école 10 à 12 dans Lewis Farms

    nouvelle école 10 à 12 sans The Meadows

    Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord

    nouvelle école M à 6 dans Haddow/Henderson

    Saint-Albert

    St. Albert Public Schools

    nouvelle école M à 9 dans Chérot

    Le budget 2025 (si adopté) financera ce projet de remplacement d’écoles dans la région d’Edmonton (2).

    Collectivité

    Autorité à charte

    Type/nom de projet

    Financement pour la conception (1)

    Morinville

    Sturgeon Public Schools

    école de remplacement pour Morinville Public School

    Financement pour la planification (1)

    Edmonton

    Edmonton Catholic Schools

    école de remplacement pour St. Lucy Catholic Elementary School et pour Katherine Therrien Catholic Elementary School avec solution M à 9 dans Palisades/Oxford

    Le budget 2025 (si adopté) financera ces projets d’écoles publiques à charte dans la région d’Edmonton (1).

    Collectivité

    Autorité à charte

    Type/nom de projet

    Financement pour la conception (1)

    Edmonton

    Alberta Classical Academy

    acquisition et modernisation du campus Eastgate (M à 12) de l’Edmonton Classical Academy

    Renseignements connexes

    • Budget 2025 : Plan d’immobilisations (en anglais seulement)
    • Aperçu du budget 2025 (en anglais seulement)
    • Programme pour accélérer la construction d’écoles
    • Écoles publiques à charte (en anglais seulement)

    Nouvelles connexes

    • Construire des écoles aux quatre coins de la province (7 mars 2025)
    • Un plus grand nombre d’écoles pour la région de Calgary (14 mars 2025)

    Multimédia (en anglais seulement)

    • Regarder la conférence de presse

    MIL OSI Canada News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Global: Cutting welfare goes against Labour’s core values – that’s the point

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tim Bale, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary University of London

    House of Commons/Flickr, CC BY-ND

    “It’s one thing to say the economy is not doing well and we’ve got a fiscal challenge … but cutting the benefits of the most vulnerable in our society who can’t work, to pay for that, is not going to work. And it’s not a Labour thing to do.”

    So says former Labour big beast turned centrist-dad podcaster Ed Balls about the government’s welfare reform proposals. Cue furious nods from all those who were hoping and expecting better – or at least not this – from Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

    Reactions like these are wholly understandable. After all, the Labour party has long viewed support for the welfare state as both a flag around which the party can rally, and a stick with which to beat the Conservatives.

    But while that may have been the case in opposition, in office things have been a little more complicated.

    Going all the way back to the MacDonald and Attlee governments, through the Wilson era, and into the Blair and Brown years, Labour governments have often seen fit to talk and act tough to prove to voters, the media and the markets that they have a head as well as a heart. And if that means upsetting some of their MPs, their grassroots members and their core supporters in the electorate, then so be it.


    Want more politics coverage from academic experts? Every week, we bring you informed analysis of developments in government and fact check the claims being made.

    Sign up for our weekly politics newsletter, delivered every Friday.


    Welfare encompasses a raft of policies that are as much symbolic as they are substantive. Choosing between them has tangible implications for those directly affected. But those choices also say something – and are intended to say something – about those politicians and parties making that choice.

    For Labour governments – and in particular Labour chancellors – cuts in provision, even (indeed perhaps especially) if they involve backtracking on previous commitments, have always been a means of communicating their determination to deal with the world as it supposedly is, not as some of their more radical colleagues would like it to be.

    Think of Philip Snowden insisting on cuts to unemployment benefits in 1931 in an eventually vain attempt to retain the gold standard. Or Hugh Gaitskell insisting on charges for NHS “teeth and specs” to pay for the Korean war in 1951. Or Roy Jenkins reimposing NHS prescription charges in 1968 to calm the markets after devaluation. Or Dennis Healey committing to spending cuts to secure a loan from the IMF (and to save sterling again) in 1976. Or Gordon Brown insisting on cutting single parent benefits in 1997.

    On every occasion, those decisions have provoked outrage: a full-scale split in the 1930s, the resignation of three ministers (including Harold Wilson and leftwing titan Nye Bevan) in the 50s, parliamentary rebellions and membership resignations in the 60s, more generalised despair in Labour and trade union ranks the 70s, and yet another Commons rebellion in the 90s.

    But what we need to appreciate is that the fallout is never merely accidental. Rather, it is a vital part of the drama. For the measures to have any chance of convincing sceptical markets and media outlets (as well as, perhaps, ordinary voters) their authors have to be seen to be committing symbolic violence against their party’s own cherished principles.

    The proof that sacred cows really are being sacrificed is the anger (ideally impotent anger) of those who cherish them most – Labour’s left wingers. Their reaction is not merely predictable (and expect, by the way, to see Labour’s right wingers employ that term pejoratively in the coming days), it is also functional.

    The cruelty is the point

    Away from the Labour party itself, both those directly affected by the changes to sickness and disability benefits and those who campaign on their behalf, are – rightly or wrongly – already labelling those changes as cruel. But, likewise (and to put it at its most extreme) the cruelty, to coin a phrase, is the point.

    The government will naturally be hoping that, in reality, as few people as possible will be significantly hurt by what it is doing. But the impression that it is prepared to run that risk in pursuit of its wider aim is, in many ways, vital to its success.

    As to what that wider aim is? Labour’s essential problem is that, for all its social democratic values, it understandably aspires to become the natural party of government in what is an overwhelmingly liberal capitalist political economy.

    It has all too often sought to achieve that, not so much by creating expectations among certain key groups and then rewarding them, as it has by aiming to demonstrate a world-as-it-is governing competence. That, in the view of its leaders (if not necessarily its followers), is the master key to the prolonged success experienced by the Conservative party – a party which has traditionally enjoyed the additional advantage of being culturally attuned to the market and media environment in which governing in the UK has to be done.

    So, no, Ed Balls, you’re wrong: for good or ill, this week’s announcement is very much “a Labour thing to do”.

    Tim Bale received funding from the ESRC for the PhD upon which the book, “Sacred Cows and Common Sense: The Symbolic Statecraft and Political Culture of the British Labour Party” is based.

    – ref. Cutting welfare goes against Labour’s core values – that’s the point – https://theconversation.com/cutting-welfare-goes-against-labours-core-values-thats-the-point-252660

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: A Stepwise, Coordinated Plan for Stone Wall Conservation

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    New England’s expanse of stone walls is not only picturesque: each wall contains a rich history about the region’s geological past and insights about those who placed each stone.

    Department of Earth Sciences Professor Robert Thorson has worked for decades to tell these stories and build an appreciation for these historical structures, but he says we need a systematic and methodical way to collect and catalog the information to effectively manage and conserve these emblematic features of the landscape.

    In a paper published in The Public Historian, Thorson presents the case for conservation based on scenic, legal, historic, ecologic, and Indigenous values, and lays out a stepwise plan for effective management to ensure stone walls are preserved.

    The Plan for Conservation

    After advocating for stone walls for many years, including writing books and articles, and giving over a thousand talks on the subject, Thorson says, “I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing all of this work for conservation if we do not have a methodological or rational approach?’ I see a very clear parallel to managing stone walls the same way we did with wetlands conservation.”

    Professor Robert Thorson examines a stone wall (UConn Photo)

    This inspired Thorson to develop a plan to bridge this gap. His plan starts with engaging the community to ensure that everyone involved with the project understands and appreciates the importance of preserving relics of local and regional history.

    The next step is locating and mapping the sprawling networks of stone walls across whatever jurisdiction is involved, whether private, town, state, federal, or Indigenous. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) software, Thorson says entities can create a layer and database for the stone domain, just as they do for wetlands, zoning, emergencies, or parks. Using a top-down approach, they can implement the new technology of light detection and ranging technology (LiDAR), to locate potential sites for ground-truthing. From the bottom up, they can import whatever information is already available, for example, inventories from historical commissions and land trusts.

    The next steps involve on-the-ground, inventory, cataloging, and classifying of each wall and related object using a taxonomy—or systematic method of naming—developed by Thorson.

    Description comes next, which Thorson says reveals information not found in any other data source, but the stone walls themselves; for example, their construction methods, types of stone, and idiosyncratic folk art. An example of difference in context includes the layouts of walls across the landscape in New Hampshire compared to Connecticut. The regions have distinct patterns, Thorson says, due to later and earlier settlement patterns.

    An important next step is to determine where the stone walls lie in relation to current property lines. Whether public or private, this will dictate what conservation measures can be taken. Management is the following step in Thorson’s plan, which he says will vary case by case. The final step is interpretation, which culminates in integrating the information, now centrally gathered, and sharing the findings with the public. This can happen through talks, walks, field trips, websites, curricula, and many other types of public programming to share what stories unfold.

    The Stories Waiting to be Told

    The result of the plan is the public would essentially have a library of stone stories for each wall available. For example, we can learn more about the largely lost history of ordinary individuals who tossed or placed each stone by hand as they worked land, often humorously described as containing more rocks than dirt.

    “Ultimately the goal is storytelling, using a source of information that is independent of conventional history,” Thorson says.

    Thorson also hopes to convey that anyone can learn how to interpret the wealth of information from the walls. One can begin scratching the surface by looking at the stones themselves. For example, the familiar rounded gray stones are glacially milled fragments of granite that reveal a story of past climate change. And those with drilled holes can help date a wall, based on technology.

    The structure of the walls reveals more details. As farmers “made land” they stacked the plentiful waste stones at the periphery of their fields, sometimes more haphazardly. During the laborious initial clearing to establish a farm, many were placed by the less experienced hands of younger helpers. Those of later years, may reveal the techniques of a master mason.

    A stone wall along RT 195 near the Jacobson Barn. (UConn Photo)

    “For example, a sprawling band is a pioneering wall, and a well-built double wall with a capstone says something different from a moderately built one without a capstone, which tells you something differently from a single wall that’s just your basic triangular shape,” says Thorson. “Farmers, would toss stones that would become a pasture wall.”

    Later, perhaps as the farm was more well-established and they are past the point of barely surviving, a farmer may have had more opportunities to take the time to build a more deliberate and aesthetically pleasing wall. Or not. All these observations give clues about the people who constructed the walls and sometimes that evidence can be confirmed with additional information gathered from historical archives. With Thorson’s proposed plan, this will be easier to do.

    “The idea is that if you have a GIS layer of the stone domain, you can continue to grow it with field evidence, using students, volunteers, citizen scientists, whoever is interested. And it will be higgledy, piggledy to the extent that whatever your entity is, whether it be town, Park, forest, state, federal, Indigenous, you’ll be using it as a database for management, conservation, research, history, and storytelling.”

    This topic gains a lot of attention, says Thorson, who is regularly contacted by people reaching out for advice or with the hopes that he can help advocate on their behalf.  For example, later this spring he will be working with the Connecticut towns of Litchfield, Lyme, and Stonington, and elsewhere in three other New England states. The interest is accelerating.

    “The main thrust of this recent paper is for people wondering how to go about managing stone walls. Each wall is analogous to a library of Earthly stories or to a natural history museum of specimens. None of this information is available from historical documents. Yet it is easily accessed with limited training. That’s what I’m really getting at for the end user. Though the cataloging is more boring, it has to be done.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Security: Maryland Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Pandemic Relief Loan Fraud and Commercial Loan Fraud

    Source: United States Department of Justice (National Center for Disaster Fraud)

    Defendant admitted to spending portions of fraudulent-loan proceeds on a Lamborghini and home renovations.

    Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Lydia K. Griggsby sentenced Andra Shirone Thompson, 48, of Silver Spring, Maryland, to a year and a day for two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    Thompson pled guilty to conspiring to defraud Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act loan programs and his role in a years-long scheme to defraud commercial equipment financing companies. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised released and ordered to forfeit $847,280, and pay $813,363.01 in restitution to the victims of his schemes.

    Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, made the announcement with Supervisory Official Matthew Galeotti, Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Executive Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C., Field Office; Jeffrey D. Pittano, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), Mid-Atlantic Region; Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Braithwaite, Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG), Eastern Region; and Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office.

    According to his guilty plea, Thompson admitted to participating in a conspiracy to submit fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans on behalf of companies he controlled. The companies included Alpha Bravo Tango LLC., Senergy Consulting Group Inc., and Novus Ordo Seclorum LLC. Through the scheme, Thompson fraudulently obtained $716,375. He spent a portion of the proceeds on vehicles, including a 2014 Lamborghini Aventador, and on renovating a home in North Carolina.

    Thompson also joined a conspiracy to defraud equipment financing companies by submitting fraudulent invoices that falsely showed the sale of substantial quantities of computer servers and related equipment. Thompson and his co-conspirators caused borrowers to submit fraudulent invoices to lenders to support their loan applications to purchase items. After approval, lenders deposited loan proceeds into accounts controlled by Thompson and his co-conspirators. The lenders were unaware that the sales on the invoices never occurred. Thompson and his co-conspirators typically “kicked back” a portion of the proceeds to the borrower who submitted the application and kept the rest for themselves. Thompson personally participated in three executions of this scheme, causing approximately $813,362 in fraudulently induced lending.

    Additionally, the co-conspirators caused more than $60 million of fraudulently induced lending across more than 350 separate loans through this scheme. Thompson’s principal co-conspirator, Craig David Davis, 49, of Venice, California, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and was sentenced earlier this month to 93 months incarceration.

    Financial assistance offered through the CARES Act included forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and other expenses, through the PPP, administered through the Small Business Administration (SBA).  The SBA also offered an EIDL and/or an EIDL advance to help businesses meet their financial obligations.

    The District of Maryland Strike Force is one of five strike forces established throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute COVID-19 fraud, including fraud relating to the CARES Act. The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-state pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors.  The strike forces are interagency law enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams designed to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

    For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.  Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

    U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the IRS-CI, FDIC-OIG, SBA-OIG, and the FBI who investigated the case. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wenner, along with Trial Attorney David A. Peters from the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, who prosecuted the federal case.

    For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI: Australian Oilseeds Sees Surging Demand for its Canola Oil from China

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    COOTAMUNDRA, Australia, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Australian Oilseeds Holdings Limited, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: COOT) today announced that it is seeing surging demand for its canola oil products from China in response to the ongoing trade war between China and Canada.

    “Our high-quality oils are well positioned for growth in China and the partnership with Shanghai Maiwei Trading Co., which we announced in January 2025, provides a strong foundation to capitalize on the recent surge in demand for our canola oil,” said Gary Seaton, Chief Executive Officer. “We have received numerous inquiries from both private and state-owned enterprises and anticipate entering into several long-term supply agreements with Chinese companies over the next 12 months.”

    According to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in 2024, the United States (US) goods trade with Australia totaled an estimated $51.3 billion, with US goods exports to Australia at $34.6 billion and imports from Australia at $16.7 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $17.9 billion for the US.  Currently, a majority of sales are from the domestic market through major supermarkets and retailers, thus any current or future trade tariff’s implemented by US are expected to have no significant impact on sales or profitability of business.

    About Australian Oilseeds Investments Pty Ltd. Australian Oilseeds Investments Pty Ltd. is an Australian proprietary company that, directly and indirectly through its subsidiaries, is focused on the manufacture and sale of sustainable oilseeds (e.g., seeds grown primarily for the production of edible oils) and is committed to working with all suppliers in the food supply chain to eliminate chemicals from the production and manufacturing systems to supply quality products to customers globally. The Company engages in the business of processing, manufacture and sale of non-GMO oilseeds and organic and non-organic food-grade oils, for the rapidly growing oilseeds market, through sourcing materials from suppliers focused on reducing the use of chemicals in consumables in order to supply healthier food ingredients, vegetable oils, proteins and other products to customers globally. Over the past 20 years, the Company’s cold pressing oil plant has grown to become the largest in Australia, pressing strictly GMO-free conventional and organic oilseeds.

    Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding our financial outlook, business strategy and plans, market trends and market size, opportunities and positioning. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “believe,” “hope,” “target,” “project,” “goals,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “may,” “will,” “might,” “could,” “intend,” “shall” and variations of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control. For example, global economic conditions could in the future reduce demand for our products; we could in the future experience cybersecurity incidents; we may be unable to manage or sustain the level of growth that our business has experienced in prior periods; our financial resources may not be sufficient to maintain or improve our competitive position; we may be unable to attract new customers, or retain or sell additional products to existing customers; we may experience challenges successfully expanding our marketing and sales capabilities, including further specializing our sales force; customer growth could decelerate in the future; we may not achieve expected synergies and efficiencies of operations from recent acquisitions or business combinations, and we may not be able to pay off our convertible notes when due. Further information on potential factors that could affect our financial results is included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views only as of the date of this press release and we assume no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

    Contact
    Australian Oilseeds Holdings Limited
    126-142 Cowcumbla Street
    Cootamundra New South Wales 2590
    Attn: Bob Wu, CFO
    Email: bob@energreennutrition.com.au

    Investor Relations Contact
    Reed Anderson
    (646) 277-1260
    reed.anderson@icrinc.com

    The MIL Network –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI: Blackford Capital Announces Hiring of Rick Lopez as Managing Director

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Blackford Capital (“Blackford”), a leading private equity firm focused on investing in lower middle-market businesses, is pleased to announce the appointment of Rick Lopez as Managing Director. With over 25 years of experience in finance, investment banking, and private equity investing, Rick brings a wealth of expertise to the firm.

    In his new role, Rick will primarily oversee Blackford Capital’s fundraising efforts, while also contributing to transaction sourcing, investment analysis, portfolio construction and management, deal financing, and internal operations. He will be based in the firm’s Chicago office.

    “We are thrilled to welcome Rick to the Blackford Capital team,” said Martin Stein, Founder and Managing Director of Blackford Capital. “Rick’s extensive background in capital raising, deal structuring, and his deep understanding of both investment banking and private equity make him an ideal fit to help guide the firm through its next phase of growth.”

    Prior to joining Blackford Capital, Rick was a Partner and Co-Founder at Rush Street Capital, a middle-market investment bank specializing in capital raising for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. In this capacity, he led the capital markets group and was responsible for deal sourcing, execution, sponsor and capital provider relationship management, and deal structuring and negotiation. Rick co-managed six deal professionals and over a dozen interns in his time at Rush Street. Additionally, Rick worked closely with Rush Street’s investment arm assisting with deal sourcing, fundraising, diligence, the closing process, portfolio management, and served on the boards of the two portfolio companies. While at Rush Street Capital, Rick was involved with 93 total successful middle market raises totaling over $1.4 billion in capital commitments.

    Jeff Johnson, Managing Director of Blackford Capital, noted that, “Rick’s direct working experience with our team and our portfolio gives him a level of familiarity with Blackford Capital that has allowed him to be extremely effective since joining us.” Rick assisted Blackford Capital as an advisor while at Rush Street between 2016 and 2024. During that period, Rick successfully completed 18 different mandates for Blackford Capital raising over $367 million in capital. Rick completed raises for six of Blackford Capital’s current seven portfolio companies, including the initial platform investments for Helio Outdoors, Outova, PACIV, Security Fire Systems, and Design Environments. Rick also assisted with capital raises for key add-on acquisitions, such as Empire Distributing for Outova and Mortech Manufacturing for the recently exited Mopec investment.

    Rick’s extensive career also includes over 15 years at major financial institutions, including Chase Bank, LaSalle Bank, BMO, and Huntington Bank, where he gained valuable experience in retail banking and corporate bond units as well as commercial lending.

    Beyond his professional accomplishments, Rick is an active member of the business community, serving on several boards. He is also a board member and treasurer of the Kellogg Alumni Club of Chicago-Western Suburbs and actively participates in ACG Chicago’s Private Equity and M&A Committee.

    Rick earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Outside of work, Rick enjoys family time, early morning F3 Naperville bootcamps, and spending time at Wrigley Field.

    “I am excited to join Blackford Capital and look forward to working with the team to help drive the firm’s mission of creating value for our investors and portfolio companies,” said Rick Lopez. “The firm’s strong track record and commitment to supporting industrial businesses in the lower middle-market space present great opportunities for growth, and I am eager to contribute to its continued success and lead our Chicago office.”

    About Blackford Capital
    Founded in 2010, Blackford Capital is a private equity investment firm headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Blackford acquires, manages, and builds founder and family-owned, lower middle-market companies, with a focus on the manufacturing, industrial and distribution industries. Blackford has a track record of exceptional returns, a disciplined and relentless approach to value creation, and a focus on operational excellence and a compelling culture. In 2023 and 2024, Blackford Capital was named to Inc’s list of Founder-Friendly Investors, was recognized by ACG Detroit with the 2023 M&A Dealmaker of the Year Award and awarded the 2023 Small Markets Deal of the Year award by both Buyouts Magazine and the Global M&A Network Atlas Awards. For more information, visit www.blackfordcapital.com.

    Media Contact:
    Lambert by LLYC
    Jennifer Hurson
    (845) 729-3100
    jhurson@lambert.com

    Jackson Lin
    (646) 717-4593
    jlin@lambert.com

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1ba3b42a-a7d3-4c04-b62c-c1101dae6ee8

    The MIL Network –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Russia: Moscow couples will be able to get married at the Moskino cinema park

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    City registry offices have begun accepting applications for marriage at the Moskino cinema park. It has become a new venue for the Moscow Mayor’s project “New Addresses of Happiness”.

    “The Moskino Cinema Park has already established itself as the country’s central film shooting location and is becoming a territory where Muscovites and city guests can have an exciting weekend or become spectators of large-scale theatrical projects. Now, thanks to the New Addresses of Happiness project, families will be created in the cinema park, and its scenery will become the background not only for the adventures of movie characters, but also for the most important events in the lives of Muscovites,” noted the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the capital’s Department of Culture

    Alexey Fursin.

    The Gonzaga Theatre is a miniature copy of the theatre built by the 19th century stage designer Pietro Gonzaga (Pyotr Gonzaga in Russia) in the Arkhangelskoye estate. During its creation, the proportions of the stage, auditorium and foyer of the original building were preserved. The Gonzaga Theatre is located in the educational centre of the cinema park and is one of the most popular sets. Concerts, performances and plays are held there every weekend.

    “On the first day of spring, we held our first marriage registration at the Moskino Cinema Park. The idea of getting married at such an unusual venue was very popular with the capital’s couples. At the request of the newlyweds, we decided to include the Moskino Cinema Park in the Moscow Mayor’s project “New Addresses of Happiness”. The wedding ceremonies will take place in the amazing natural scenery of the Gonzaga Theater. After the marriage registration, the newlyweds and their guests will be able to organize a photo shoot in the unique scenery of the park. The first date for which you can already apply is the eve of the Krasnaya Gorka holiday, April 26, 2025,” said

    Svetlana Ukhaneva, Head of the Civil Registry Office of the City of Moscow.

    The locations for photo sessions will be chosen based on the filming schedule. The newlyweds will be able to feel like they are part of the world of cinema, taking pictures near the Tu-154 aircraft, in the decorations of “Cathedral Square of Moscow” and “Cowboy Town”.

    First wedding ceremony was held in the cinema park on March 1 in the decoration of “Cathedral Square of Moscow”. Not only invited guests but also visitors of “Moskino” witnessed the event. After the official part, the newlyweds took part in a costume photo session in the style of the film “That Same Munchausen”.

    You can apply for marriage registration at the cinema park at portal of public services oron mos.ru, as well as in person at the Yuzhnoye Butovo Wedding Palace. The state fee is 350 rubles.

    The Moskino Cinema Park is part of Sergei Sobyanin’s Moscow — City of Cinema project and an object of the Moscow film cluster. The first stage of development has already been completed here: 18 natural sites and four pavilions have been built, including the sets of Moscow Center, Moscow in the 1940s, Vitebsk Station, Yurovo Airport, Moscow Cathedral Square, Deaf Village, Partisan Village, County Town, Cowboy Town, St. Petersburg Bar and others.

    There are over 50 venues available for holding ceremonies in Moscow, including wedding palaces, museums, metro stations, estates and restaurants. A new service will help you choose the perfect venue “Our Wedding”This is the most detailed guide to wedding venues in Moscow.

    Using filters in the service, you can set the necessary parameters, such as the type of venue, interior style and other features – from holding an event outdoors to live music and panoramic views. In addition, you can specify the desired registration date, the nearest metro station, the maximum number of guests and much more. The pages of the venues contain a detailed description and contact phone numbers.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please Note; This Information is Raw Content Directly from the Information Source. It is access to What the Source Is Stating and Does Not Reflect

    https: //vv.mos.ru/nevs/ite/151491073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Cabinet approves implementation of revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission with enhanced allocation for the years 2024-25 and 2025-26

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 4:19PM by PIB Delhi

    The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has today approved the Revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) to boost growth in livestock sector.  Implementation of revised RGM, as Central Sector component of Development Programmes scheme is being done with an additional outlay of Rs.1000 crore that is total outlay of Rs.3400 crore during 15th Finance Commission cycle from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

    Two New activities added are: (i) One-time assistance of 35% of the capital cost for establishment of Heifer Rearing Centres to Implementing Agencies for creation of 30 housing facilities having total 15000 heifers and (ii) To encourage farmers to purchase High genetic merit (HGM) IVF heifers to provide 3% interest subvention on loan taken by the farmer from milk unions / financial institutions/ banks for such purchase.  This will help in systemic induction of high yielding breeds.

    The revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission is approved with an allocation Rs.3400 crore during 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26).

    The scheme is for continuation of ongoing activities of Rashtriya Gokul Mission- strengthening of semen stations, Artificial Insemination network, implementation of bull production programme, accelerated breed improvement programme using sex sorted semen, skill development, farmer awareness, support for innovative activities including establishment of Centre of Excellence, strengthening of Central Cattle Breeding Farms and strengthening of Central Cattle Breeding Farms without any change in the pattern of assistance in any of these activities.

    With the implementation of the Rashtriya Gokul Mission and other efforts of the Government, milk production has increased by 63.55% in the last ten years, along with the availability of milk per person, which was 307 grams per day in 2013-14, has increased to 471 grams per day in 2023-24. Productivity has also increased by 26.34% in the last ten years.

    The Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme (NAIP) under the RGM provides free of cost Artificial Insemination (AI) at the farmer’s doorstep in 605 districts across the country where the baseline AI coverage was below 50%. Till date, over 8.39 crores animals have been covered and 5.21crores farmers have been benefitted. RGM has also been at the forefront in bringing the latest technological interventions in breeding to the farmer’s doorstep. A total of 22 in vitro fertilization (IVF) labs have been set up across the country under the State Livestock Boards (SLBs) or in Universities and over 2541 HGM calves have been born. Two path breaking steps in Atmanirbhar technology are the Gau Chip and Mahish Chip, genomic chips for indigenous bovines developed by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and ICAR National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) and Gau Sort indigenously developed sex sorted semen production technology developed by NDDB.

    The scheme is set to significantly boost milk production and productivity, ultimately increasing farmers’ incomes. It focuses on the protection and preservation of India’s indigenous bovine breeds through systematic and scientific efforts in bull production and the development of indigenous bovine genomic chips. Additionally, in Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has become an established technology, due to the initiatives taken under the scheme. This initiative will not only enhance productivity but also improves livelihoods of 8.5 crores farmers engaged in Dairying.

    *****

    MJPS/BM

    (Release ID: 2112789) Visitor Counter : 9

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: CISA Probationary Reinstatements

    News In Brief – Source: US Computer Emergency Readiness Team

    The Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order in Maryland, et al v. United States Dep’t of Agriculture, et al, No. 25-cv-00748, Docket No. 43 (D. Md.) (March 13, 2025). If you believe you are a CISA employee whose termination fell within the Court’s order and have questions regarding your reinstatement, please reach out to CISAHR@mail.cisa.dhs.gov. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Strengthening of the Cooperative Sugar Mills

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 3:01PM by PIB Delhi

    The Government of India has taken the following steps for strengthening of Cooperative Sugar Mills (CSMs):-

    1. Relief from Income Tax to Cooperative Sugar Mills: Sugar factories operating in the co-operative sector in certain States of India pay to sugarcane growers a final amount, often referred to as Final Cane Price (FCP) which is over and above the Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) fixed by the Central Government under the Sugarcane Control Order, 1996.

    The payment of FCP by the co-operative sugar factories over and above the SMP for purchase of sugarcane had resulted into tax litigation. The co-operative sugar factories were claiming this excess payment as business expenditure whereas the same has been disallowed in the assessment on the ground that the excess price paid for purchase of sugar cane over and above SMP is in the nature of appropriation/distribution of profit and hence not allowable as deduction.

    In order to provide certainty in this matter and to encourage co-operative movement in sugar sector, a new clause (xvii) was inserted to amend sub-section (1) of section 36 of

    the Income-tax Actto provide that the amount paid for purchase of sugarcane by the co-operative societies engaged in the manufacture of sugar at a price which is equal to or less than the price fixed by or fixed with the approval of the Government, including price fixation by State Governments through State-level Acts/Orders or other legal instruments that regulate the purchase price for sugarcane, including State Advised Price, which may be higher than the Statutory Minimum Price/Fair and Remunerative Price fixed by the Central Government shall be allowed as deduction for computing business income of the sugar co-operative factories w.e.f. 01.4.2016.

    1. Resolving decades old pending issues related to income tax demand on Cooperative Sugar Mills: The provision at SI. No (i) above resolved the issue of treatment of additional payment for sugar price by CSMs as an income distribution to farmers w.e.f.01.04.2016. However, pending demands and litigation still persisted in respect of assessment years(AYs) prior to 2016-

    17. Therefore, to conclude the matter logically and to extend the benefit of the abovementioned relief to all the applicable years, section 155 of the Act has been amended to insert a new sub- section (19) vide Finance Act, 2023, w.e.f. 01 April 2023. It provides that in the case of a sugar mill cooperative, where any deduction in respect of any expenditure incurred for the purchase of sugarcane has been claimed by an assessee and such deduction has been disallowed wholly or partly in any previous year commencing on or before the 1ª day of April, 2014, the Assessing Officer shall, on the basis of an application made by such assessee in this regard, recompute the total income of such assessee for such previous year. The Assessing Officer shall allow such deduction to the extent such expenditure is incurred at a price which is equal to or less than price fixed or approved by the Government for that previous year. CBDT has also issued Standard Operating Procedure in this regard on 27.07.2023.

    1. Rs 10,000 crore loan scheme through NCDC for strengthening of Cooperative Sugar Mills: Ministry of Cooperation has launched a new scheme named ‘Grant-in-aid to NCDC for Strengthening of Cooperative Sugar Mills’, under which Government of India has provided grant of Rs.1,000 crore to NCDC during financial year 2022-23 and 2024-25. NCDC will use this grant to provide loans up to Rs. 10,000 crores to Cooperative Sugar Mills, for setting up ethanol plants or for setting up cogeneration plants or for working capital or for all three purposes. NCDC has so far sanctioned 87 loans of ₹ 9893.12 crore to 48 CSMs.

    For ease of CSMs availing loan for setting up of ethanol plants under the scheme, NCDC has revised its funding pattern from 70:30 to 90:10 wherein the society has to raise only 10% of the project cost and 90% of the project cost will be provided by NCDC subject to technical and financial viability of the project. Further,for benefit of the Cooperative Sugar Mills, NCDC has reduced its floating rate of interest for term loan to 8.50% under the scheme.

      1. Preference in purchase of ethanol to Cooperative Sugar Mills: Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are according top priority to CSMs participating in ethanol procurement cycles. So far, 24,650 KL ethanol worth ₹ 25.50 crore have been procured by OMCs from 11 CSMs.
      2. Enhancing ethanol production of Cooperative Sugar Mills by converting their molasses-based ethanol plants into multi feed ethanol plants: Ministry of Cooperation has taken initiative for conversion of existing molasses-based ethanol plants of CSMs into multi feed ethanol plants.As that they can operate their distilleries throughout the year, under this initiative CSMs will get following benefits:
    1. NCDC will provide a term loan under funding pattern of 90:10, with 90% from the society and 10% from NCDC.
    2. On March 6, 2025, the Department of Food and Public Distribution issued a Gazette Notification notifying the revised scheme titled “Scheme for Financial Assistance to Cooperative Sugar Mills (CSMs) for Converting Their Existing Sugarcane-Based Feedstock Ethanol Plants into Multi-Feedstock-Based Plants to Utilize Grains Such as Maize and Damaged Food Grains (DFG) for Enhancing and Augmenting Ethanol Production Capacity”, exclusively for cooperative sugar mills. Under the scheme, Central Government will bear the interest subvention on the loan availed by them at a rate of either 6% per annum or 50% of the interest rate charged by the lending institution, whichever is lower, for a period of five years, including a one-year moratorium.
    3. Cooperative sugar mills availing the benefit of interest subvention will be given Priority-1 by OMCs to facilitate their transition from single-feed ethanol plants to multi-feed ethanol plants.

    This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

    *****

    RK/VV/ASH/RR/PR/PS

    (Release ID: 2112725) Visitor Counter : 42

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR DAIRY DEVELOPMENT

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 2:10PM by PIB Delhi

    Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) is implementing “National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)”scheme across the country since Feb-2014. The scheme has been restructured/ realigned in July 2021 for implementation from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the following two components:

    (i)   The Component ”A” of NPDD focuses on creating/strengthening of infrastructure for quality milk testing equipment as well as primary chilling facilities for State Cooperative Dairy Federations/ District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union/SHGs/Milk Producer Companies/Farmer Producer Organizations.

    (ii) The Component ‘B’ of the NPDD scheme “Dairying through Cooperatives” aims to increase sale of milk and dairy products by increasing farmer’s access to organized market, upgrading dairy processing facilities and marketing infrastructure and enhancing the capacity of producer owned institutions.

    Under Component A of NPDD scheme, 110 projects have been approved across the country including Tamil Nadu  with the total outlay of Rs.2247.46 crore. (including Central Share of Rs.1658.29 crore) and under Component B of NPDD scheme, 22 projects have been approved with a total project cost of Rs.1130.62 crore (including Loan amount of Rs.705.53 crore, Grant of Rs.329.70 crore & participating institution (PI) contribution of Rs.93.38 crore) during last five years (2019-20 to 2023-24). Out of the total 132 projects approved under the scheme, 52 have been completed. In Tamilnadu, 4 projects have been approved with the total outlay of Rs.177.61 crore. (including Central Share of Rs.133.42 crore) during last five years (2019-20 to 2023-24). Out of these 4 projects, 2 have been completed under NPDD scheme.

    Total 16041 dairy cooperative societies have been organised & 15.31 lakh farmers/milk producers have been enrolled under NPDD scheme during last five years (2019-20 to 2023-24). Tamilnadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited (TCMPFL) has informed that total 3.79 lakh farmers belonging to 9235 cooperative societies in Tamil Nadu have benefitted by getting remunerative price for their produce and the scheme made producers to supply their milk with easy access.

    Dairy Plant Capacity of 1.82 Lakh litre per day (LLPD) has been enhanced under NPDD scheme during last three year (2021-22 to 2023-24). In addition, TCMPFL has informed that milk processing plant and value added product capacity created other than NPDD scheme in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:

    Sr. No.

    Scheme/Funding

    Activity created

    1.

    Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME)

    Milk processing plant of capacity 2.00 lakh litre per day

    2.

    National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP).

    Paneer Plant of capacity 2000 Kilogram per day at Coimbatore

    3

    TCMPFL Fund

    Ice Cream Plant of capacity 30,000 litre per day at Coimbatore at Madurai

    4.

    National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

    Production capacity of Butter, Ghee & Paneer with capacity of 5000 Kilogram per day, 2000 litre per day & 1000 Kilogram per day respectively at Virudhunagar District Milk Union.

    5.

    Milk Union Fund

    Curd plant of capacity 10,000 Litre per day Kanchipuram-Tiruvallur District Milk Union

      

    Under Comp B of NPDD, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assisted programme, loan has been provided with subsidized rate of interest @1.50% for the eligible institutions for creations of dairy infrastructure in the interest of  farmers and cooperative societies.

    This information was given by Union Minister of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 19th March, 2025.

    *****

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    (Release ID: 2112693) Visitor Counter : 82

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: ROADMAP FOR PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN THE LIVESTOCK SECTOR

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 2:09PM by PIB Delhi

    The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) framed the National Livestock Policy in 2013 to address key challenges hindering the growth of the livestock sector. These challenges include shortage of feed and fodder, low productivity, livestock health, livestock and environment, knowledge gap, and inadequate infrastructure for marketing, processing and value addition.

    The policy aims to increase livestock productivity and production sustainably while improving farmers’ livelihoods. It also focuses on strengthening research and development initiatives to improve productivity, biosecurity and profitability in the sector. The policy promotes the conservation and genetic improvement of indigenous livestock and poultry breeds. It also aims to enhance feed and fodder availability to meet livestock nutrition requirements and achieve optimal productivity.

    The National Livestock Mission (NLM) is being implemented since 2014-15 on the lines of the National Livestock Policy 2013 wherein the activities were undertaken for development of feed and fodder by providing financial assistance, conservation of threatened breeds and providing breeding stock to the farmers for livelihood development. Realigned in 2021-22, the NLM has three sub-missions.

    1. Sub-mission on Breed Development of Livestock and Poultry proposes to bring sharp focus on entrepreneurship development and breed improvement in poultry, sheep, goat and piggery through NLM-Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP-NLM) by providing 50 percent capital subsidy for the establishment of breed multiplication farms.
    2. Sub-mission on feed and fodder development is continuing to address the challenges of feed and fodder, the Government is promoting partnership with public and private companies for production of quality (breeder, foundation and certified) fodder seeds, besides promoting Entrepreneurship in fodder development.
    3. The sub-mission on Extension and Innovation is implemented with an activity of Research and Innovation, including Livestock Insurance. The scheme has further been modified in February 2024 to expand its scope by including the conservation and genetic improvement of indigenous breeds of horses, camels, and donkeys; fodder development from waste lands and degraded forest lands, and entrepreneurship in fodder seed processing.

    Furthermore, the Department with cooperation of private industry has adopted a PPP approach for the establishment of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)-free poultry compartments. These compartments are managed by private enterprises that adhere to strict biosecurity protocols, including surveillance measures. This initiative facilitates the export of poultry and poultry products, even during outbreaks in other parts of the country.

    Under the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) of National Livestock Mission (NLM), the Central Government provides a 50 percent capital subsidy for the establishment of breed multiplication farms. Eligible beneficiaries include individual farmers, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs), Farmers Cooperative Societies (FCOs), Joint Liability Groups (JLGs), and Section 8 companies. Similarly, 50% subsidy is provided for the establishment of feed and fodder units including silage production, Total Mixed Ration (TMR) plants, and fodder seed processing and grading infrastructure.  Under NLM-EDP, a total of 3295 projects have been approved with a project cost of ₹ 2381.12 crore, with a subsidy of ₹1,098.63 crore. Additionally, to increase the production of quality fodder seed, 100 percent financial support is available for Central Government and other credible institutions engaged in producing certified, foundation, and breeder seed.

    In addition, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) is implementing the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) to promote private-sector investments. This fund incentivizes investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSMEs, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs), Section 8 companies, and dairy cooperatives. Under AHIDF, the Central Government provides a three percent (3%) interest subvention on loans, allowing eligible entities to avail term loans up to 90 percent of the project cost from any scheduled bank, NABARD, NCDC, or NDDB. The AHIDF supports the establishment of dairy processing and value addition infrastructure, meat processing and value addition infrastructure, animal feed plants, breed improvement and multiplication farms for cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, and pig, veterinary vaccine and drug production facilities, animal waste-to-wealth management (agri-waste management), and primary wool processing infrastructure. The AHIDF actively encourages private sector investment in veterinary drugs and vaccine infrastructure, further strengthening India’s animal health and production ecosystem. Till date, an interest subvention of ₹293 crore has led to the leveraging of a total investment of ₹16582 crore in 353 projects under AHIDF.

    This information was given by Union Minister of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 19th March, 2025.

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Inland fisheries promotion in Kerala

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 2:07PM by PIB Delhi

    The Department of Fisheries, Government of India (DoF, GoI) through its schemes, policies and programs has been taking several initiatives towards holistic development of both marine and inland fisheries sector in all States and Union Territories including Kerala. Promotion of fish production and strengthening of fisheries value chain system have been the core of these initiatives.

    The DoF, GoI is implementing flagship scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana’ (PMMSY) in all the States and Union Territories of India including Kerala for a period of 5(five) years from FY 2020-21 to FY 2024-25. The PMMSY inter-alia aims at harnessing of fisheries potential including inland fisheries in a sustainable manner, enhancing fish production and productivity through expansion, intensification, diversification and productive utilization of land and water, strengthening of value chain, doubling fishers and fish farmers incomes and generation of employment and also ensuring social & economic security for fishers and fish farmers.

    During last four years (2020-21 to 2023-24) and current financial year (2024-25) under PMMSY, the DoF, GoI has accorded approvals to the fisheries developmental proposals of Government of Kerala amounting Rs.1358.10 Crore.  The approved activities inter alia included inland fisheries development activities like assistance towards construction of freshwater finfish hatcheries (05 Nos), new rearing & grow-out ponds for fish culture (89 ha.), fish feed mills (05 Nos), ornamental fish rearing and breeding units (798 Nos), cage culture in reservoirs (750 Nos), high-tech culture systems like Re-circulatory Aquaculture System (646 Nos), Biofloc culture units (850 Nos), pen culture units (31 ha.), integrated development of reservoirs (07 Nos), boats and nets to traditional fishermen (200 Nos), extension and support services under ‘Matsya Seva Kendras’ (10 Nos).

    The approved activity also included cold chain and marketing activities like iceplants/cold storages (16 Nos), fish transportation vehicles (468 Nos), live fish vending centre (77 Nos), value added enterprises (10 Nos), fish retail markets (05 Nos), whole sale fish markets (02 Nos) and also referral lab and disease diagnostic labs (02 Nos) for timely disease diagnostics. Awareness campaigns and capacity building programs have been also taken up in Kerala through National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) in various areas of inland fisheries. Besides, the GoI has also extended facilities of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to the fisheries and fish farmers from FY 2018-19 to meet their working capital requirement in all States/UTs including Kerala.

    Further, Government of Kerala has informed that under the State plan scheme, Janakeeya Matsya Krishi, includes different schemes like diversification of species & aquaculture practices, Kerala reservoir fisheries development programme for effective utilization of potential in reservoirs, ranching, establishment of fish/clam protected areas. It is also informed that hi-tech fish marts in various districts of Kerala are established through Matsyafed wherein the fresh fish are directly procured from fishers/farmers and supplied to consumers. It is further informed that due to changing food habits and enabling convenience, easy to cook/ready to eat kind of value added products like fish curry, fish cutlets, fish pickles are sold through Matsyafed in some districts.

    Government of Kerala has informed that due to these interventions from Centre and State the inland fish production has increased from 2.05 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 to 2.51 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.

    This information was given by Union Minister of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri George Kurian, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 19th March, 2025.

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: National Seminar – cum- Exhibition on Organic Farming

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 12:59PM by PIB Delhi

    National Centre for Organic and Natural Farming (NCONF), Ghaziabad under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India is organizing a two-day national seminar – cum – exhibition on organic farming for all stakeholders from 18th to 19th March, 2025 at its campus in Ghaziabad. The national seminar is aimed to bring all stakeholders together and to deliberate on sustainable agricultural practices. This will also help in making useful recommendations for policy interventions, formulations and to motivate and sensitize farmers for practicing organic farming by providing basic and latest technical know-how and creating awareness on various aspects of soil health, sustainable production, value addition and marketing.  More than 200 stakeholders including scientists from ICAR and KVKs are participating in it.

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    (Release ID: 2112658) Visitor Counter : 55

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 20, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Africa: High soybean prices in Zambia and Malawi may make chicken costly too: lack of competition is to blame

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Arthur Khomotso Mahuma, Economist and Researcher at the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, University of Johannesburg

    Poultry is one of the cheapest protein sources for the growing population of the east and southern Africa region. That makes soybeans critical to food security in the region, as they are an important input in chicken feed.

    Soybean pricing and production dynamics have been challenging for Zambia and Malawi, threatening poultry production in the region.

    Poultry feed makes up 60%-70% of the total cost of poultry production. Soybean prices directly affect the affordability of poultry and the ability of producers to be competitive. Small-scale independent poultry producers in particular have a hard time because they buy feed from the open market and are too small to determine prices. Large producers source feed from their own operations and determine soybean prices.

    Figure 1: From soybeans to poultry

    Source: Authors compilation

    Zambia and Malawi are the key soybean producers in east and southern Africa. Both countries were hit hard in 2024 by climate change related weather and by the behaviour of players in the soybean market, including processors and traders.

    Zambia’s soybean production fell by 74% because of poor rains and also because of farmers being squeezed. Large buyers had negotiated very low prices in previous years, so farmers planted less.

    Malawi’s production also fell (20%), but much less than Zambia’s. Yet the surge in soybean prices in Malawi by 48% between May 2024 and November 2024 was out of proportion with the drop in production, and even surpassed Zambian prices (Figure 2). Malawian prices were the highest in the region, even though it produced enough to export.

    We are economists at the African Market Observatory, which monitors prices of staple foods and conducts research on market dynamics. We analyse market concentration and barriers to entry, within and across countries in east and southern Africa, and we do in-depth field work.

    Our work shows that competition issues, such as the ability of large buyers to influence prices and high margins, are at the heart of the surge in prices and low production in Malawi and Zambia. The climate-related weather effects are an additional factor.

    Figure 2: Soybean prices in Zambia, Malawi and South Africa (benchmark) (3-month moving averages)

    Source: Authors calculation based on data provided by the African Market Observatory (AMO)’s partners

    Market outcomes

    In Zambia, dominant buyers of soybean offered farmers very low prices during the 2023 season – well below US$400/t and the South African benchmark (Figure 2). This meant that farmers planted less than half the 2023 crop in the 2024 season.

    Crops were also affected by poor rainfall. Malawi’s 2024 production fell by 20% because of the worst drought in 100 years. The drop in production was lower than expected, demonstrating that farmers can adapt to weather changes. Prices still rose, however, driven by the highly concentrated soybean trading and processing market.

    Cheapest source of proteins

    Poultry is one of the cheapest sources of protein and has one of the lowest environmental impacts. It is essential that the value chain works well from feed to chicken rearing and becomes more resilient to extreme weather events.

    The experience of 2024 shows what can go wrong.

    Poultry demand in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow more than fourfold by 2050. Producers will need affordable feed.

    Among them are many small-scale independent producers who rely on competitive markets for their inputs. Yet we found that with the escalating soybean and feed prices in Malawi from late 2021, and higher prices for day-old chicks, small independent producers had negative margins, meaning they made a loss in the second half of 2021. High feed prices undermine the competitiveness of Malawi’s poultry industry.

    Aside from South Africa (which relies on genetically modified soybean), Zambia and Malawi have been the largest producers in the region. These countries have been exporting around half of their production (including soycake) to neighbouring countries with larger populations such as Tanzania and Kenya.

    Zambia’s production plummet

    Between 2020 and 2023, Zambia’s soybean production grew from 297,000 tonnes to 650,000 tonnes (Figure 3). In 2024, its production collapsed by 74% to 170,000 tonnes. This sharp decline was primarily due to farmers opting to plant less soybean because of the low prices offered from processors in 2023 (Figure 2). Farmers bought 50% less soybean seed for the 2024 season than the 2023 season.

    Figure 3: Soybean production in Zambia and Malawi

    Source: Authors calculation based on data provided by the African Market Observatory (AMO)’s partners.

    With limited storage facilities available for farmers in most countries in the region, including Zambia, farmers typically have to sell to traders and processors shortly after harvest.

    In Zambia, soybeans are produced by many small farmers, so they compete to sell their crop to a few main processors in a concentrated market. As a result, these processors have greater power to influence the terms of trade, such as price. This was especially evident in 2023 when processors offered farmers lower prices (Figure 2).

    Poor rainfall linked to the 2023/24 El Niño phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, which is the warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, causing drought in southern Africa while inducing heavy rainfalls and floods in eastern Africa, did have an impact across southern Africa, including Malawi and Zambia. While Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania recorded above average rainfall, their soybean output is low.

    Resilience to climate change impacts requires deepening and diversifying agriculture production across countries and regional trade to meet demand.

    Soybean prices in Malawi remain high but Zambia’s prices stabilise

    Malawi’s prices increased rapidly to over US$700/tonne in June 2024, surpassing Zambia’s, and continued to rise to almost $900/tonne at the end of the year, far above other countries in the region. The reason couldn’t be reduced production from poor rainfall, because production still exceeded local demand. This happened even as the Malawi government put export restrictions on soybeans (but not soymeal). The price surge raises competition concerns in Malawi, where trading and processing is highly concentrated. In theory, highly concentrated markets are characterised by high prices, due to a lack of price competition.

    By comparison, Zambia’s prices moderated because of imports. In addition, the low soybean prices offered to farmers in 2023 also meant that processors had crushed surplus soybeans, thereby building up soymeal stock. This reduced the demand for soybeans, as did power cuts in Zambia, which limited crushers’ operations.

    Urgent next steps

    Soybean developments over 2024 show the need to consider how competition issues within and across borders can undermine the resilience of regional food markets and hinder the ability of small producers to compete. Zambia is currently conducting a commercial poultry market inquiry. But a regional approach in monitoring markets and tackling anti-competitive conduct is necessary to support poultry production.

    – High soybean prices in Zambia and Malawi may make chicken costly too: lack of competition is to blame
    – https://theconversation.com/high-soybean-prices-in-zambia-and-malawi-may-make-chicken-costly-too-lack-of-competition-is-to-blame-250322

    MIL OSI Africa –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Banking: Asian Development Review: Volume 42, Number 1

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    The opening article underscores the importance of knowledge sharing among city governments. Other articles discuss how urban green spaces can reduce flooding and the burning of waste, how growing mungbeans can reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers, and how internet access can increase farmers’ incomes. Authors also examine trade costs in Central Asia and participation in global value chains.

    For print subscription, e-mail: [email protected]

    Using a newly constructed index of trade openness, this paper finds a significant direct effect of openness on poverty reduction.

    Open Submissions

    This paper exploits the staggered roll-out of a landmark Air Quality Monitoring Program in the People’s Republic of China to study the migration response to pollution information disclosure and labor market outcomes.

    This study explores how local elites’ traits influence environmental performance, both before and after the amendment to the Environmental Protection Law.

    This study investigates the impact of green open spaces in reducing the probability of flooding and open waste burning in urban areas in Indonesia’s three largest metropolitan cities: Surabaya, Jakarta, and Medan.

    This paper studies participation by developing Asian economies in global value chains (GVCs) and uses an input–output framework to measure the impacts that GVCs of final manufactured products have on jobs and income.

    This paper investigates whether engagement with e-commerce is linked to increased sales and productivity gains for informal firms in South Asia.

    This study in Nepal assesses the determinants of mungbean adoption and its impact on fertilizer use, agricultural productivity, and food security.

    This paper measures the impact of a micronutrient training among women farmers with young children on the demand for zinc-enhanced varieties.

    This study examines the association between internet use in agriculture and farm earnings in Indonesia.

    This paper identifies and examines income shock and price shock channels through which climatic disasters affect domestic consumption in the case of Bangladesh.

    Mini Symposium on Trade Costs in Central Asia

    This paper analyzes the impact of trade costs on the exports in five Central Asian countries using a structural gravity model and Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring trade cost indicators.

    This study examines the effects of at-the-border and behind-the-border measures on the intraregional perishable goods trade in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation region.

    This paper examines the effect of COVID-19 mobility measures on the time required for cargo to clear the border crossing points of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation countries.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: CMA clears poultry feed deal

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Press release

    CMA clears poultry feed deal

    An independent inquiry group has cleared Boparan’s deal to buy ForFarmers’ Burston and Radstock feed mills.

    iStock

    The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) independent inquiry group has cleared Boparan’s proposed purchase of ForFarmers’ Burston and Radstock feed mill sites, following an in-depth Phase 2 investigation.   

    ForFarmers and Boparan (through 2Agriculture) both manufacture and supply chicken feed and other types of poultry feed in the UK.     

    The inquiry group’s investigation has found that Boparan’s purchase of ForFarmers’ Burston feed mill site could reduce the capacity available to manufacture chicken feed for chicken suppliers in the area around the mill in East Anglia. However, these suppliers will still have choice and the option to switch providers due to competition from other chicken feed providers in the market.  

    Having reviewed the evidence in the round, including the single response received from the parties in response to its interim report, the inquiry group does not believe the merger would lead to a substantial lessening of competition.  

    Kirstin Baker, chair of the independent inquiry group, said:   

    Having assessed the evidence and feedback to our interim report, which suggested that competition would not be harmed, we have given this acquisition clearance to proceed.

    For more information, visit the Boparan / ForFarmers (Burston and Radstock mills) case page.   

    Notes to Editors: 

    1. ForFarmers is a European manufacturer and supplier of animal feed, based in the Netherlands. 2Agriculture, a subsidiary of Boparan, is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of poultry feed and supplies feed to Hook 2 Sisters, a company affiliated with Boparan, as well as farmers on the open market.  

    2. At the Phase 1 investigation stage, the CMA concluded that Boparan’s purchase of the Radstock feed mill site does not raise competition concerns and the sale of this mill has completed.   

    3. The CMA has a statutory duty to promote competition for the benefit of consumers and assesses each case on its individual merits. This includes a duty to investigate mergers that could raise competition concerns in the UK where it has jurisdiction to do so. In this case, the CMA has concluded that the CMA has jurisdiction to review this merger because a relevant merger situation has been created: each of Boparan and ForFarmers’ Burston and Radstock feed mills is an enterprise that will cease to be distinct as a result of the merger and the turnover test is met.  More information on the CMA’s mergers jurisdiction and procedure can be read on its guidance page.  

    4. All media enquiries should be directed to the CMA press office by email on press@cma.gov.uk, or by phone on 020 3738 6460.

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    Published 19 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla, Schiff Demand USDA Reverse $1 Billion in Canceled Local Food Purchases for Schools, Farmers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

    Padilla, Schiff Demand USDA Reverse $1 Billion in Canceled Local Food Purchases for Schools, Farmers

    Padilla joins effort to stop “further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets”

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) joined Senator Adam Schiff and 29 other Senators in demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture reverse its cancellation of food purchase programs across the United States. The Senators warned of the harmful impacts this move will have on both families and American farmers, asserting that the reported $1 billion in canceled purchases by the USDA adds further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets. 

    “We ask that you reverse the cancellation,” wrote the Senators. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation … poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.” 

    The purchases from American famers fund food for food banks, schools, and child care centers in all 50 states, territories, tribal governments, and the District of Columbia. 

    In California, cancellation of purchases through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS) puts more than $118 million in food purchases at risk in Fiscal Year 2025. 

    The letter was led by Schiff and Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Senator Padilla signed the letter alongside Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.),  Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Angus King (I-Maine), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). 

    Full text of the letter sent to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins is available here and below: 

    Dear Secretary Rollins:  

    We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need. These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.  

    At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical. Notably, LFPA and LFS have benefitted producers and consumers by providing funding for purchases through all 50 states, four territories, and 84 tribal governments. Through LFPA and LFS, USDA has prioritized the procurement and distribution of healthy, nutritious, domestic food. It has also taken an important step towards igniting rural prosperity by expanding and strengthening markets among farmers and rural economies. As of December 2024, the programs had supported over 8,000 producers, providing increased marketing opportunities.  

    Most importantly, we ask that you reverse the cancellation of LFPA and LFS. We also ask that you provide a thorough and complete update on USDA’s implementation of LFPA and LFS, including answers to the following questions:  

    1. What is the status of reimbursements for entities that have agreements with USDA through LFPA and LFS? What is the last date for which states, territories, and Tribes received reimbursements for food purchases under LFPA and LFS?

    2. Has the Administration conducted any assessments of how these program cancellations will impact producers and recipient organizations (e.g., food banks, schools, child care centers)? If so, please provide a copy of any such assessments.  

    We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.  

    Please provide responses to the information requested in our questions no later than Friday, April 4. Thank you for your attention to this urgent and important matter.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Australia: Press conference, Bruce Highway

    Source: Australian Ministers 1

    GLEN KELLY: Well, this is a great honour today as the Member for Mirani. It’s my honour to welcome today, we have our Federal Member, Infrastructure Minister, Catherine King. We have our state transport minister, Brent Mickelberg. And it’s an honour to have our two colleagues here, Donna Kirkland from- member for Rockhampton, and our member for Keppel, Nigel Hutton. Today is a big announcement today on the Bruce. The Bruce Highway. The Bruce Highway is the busiest highway in Queensland, and today’s announcement is going to be very welcome to the electorate of Mirani, as Mirani has 400 kilometres of the Bruce. And today’s announcement is going to go a long way into supporting the area of Mirani. Thank you and I’ll welcome Catherine King. Thank you very much.

    CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Well, look, it’s terrific to be here today. Can I thank very much my state counterpart, Brent Mickelberg. This is the first press conference we’ve done together, and this is a great partnership on the Bruce Highway. Back in January, Prime Minister Albanese, and I announced the $7.2 billion to fix the Bruce after a significant campaign by the RACQ. And I thank and acknowledge that David is here with us, and all of the communities along the highway. Matched then, or put in by $1.8 billion by the Queensland state government, and we are getting on with it. We are getting on with fixing the Bruce.

    Today we’re announcing that we’re releasing $300 million for the first stage of projects. 23 projects, 16 of them are shoulder widening, dividing the road, making sure that we’re putting those safety improvements in place. And then a further number of projects are the planning stages of the next tranche. We’ve got the Bruce Highway Advisory Committee is meeting in Rockhampton today. Brent and I will both be meeting with them to work through what are the next stages of projects. We want to get this done. This, of course, the $9 billion safety program is in addition to the money that is already being spent on the Bruce Highway, over $10 billion of major projects that are already underway. And today, we’re announcing some additional money for some of those. 200 million to deal with some cost pressures that have occurred again on the Rocky Ring Road, and Minister Mickelberg will talk a little bit about those, but making sure that we didn’t have to reduce the scope of the Rocky Ring Road in any way, but putting that additional money in from the Commonwealth to make sure that full scope of the project is realised.

    We’re also- finally, we’ve got some agreement on what the projects are under the Beef Road corridors. This is a $500 million program between the Queensland Government and ourselves. So 38 million is being released for that today. And then some further money being released for the Rockhampton to Gladstone corridor projects. But this is a really good day for the Bruce. What we’re trying to do as a joint government initiative is to really fix this road. We know that its safety is not up to scratch. We hear it every single day, and the fact that 41 people lost their lives last year alone is way too many. A single life lost is too many, but 41 was certainly something that we were highly concerned about, hence the commitment. So really what we’re trying to do here is improve the safety of the Bruce substantially, lift it from where it is two star to at least three star. If we can get it higher, we will through road safety treatments, but really concentrating on the worst bits first. And that’s what these projects do. And I want to thank very much, Minister Mickelberg, for working so closely with ourselves to really get this first tranche $300 million released, for getting on with it. The work has started. I think you’ll see workers on the road either today or in the coming days actually getting on with these projects. I’ll hand over to Minister Mickelberg and then we’ll take some questions.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Thank you very much, Minister. Well, it’s an absolute pleasure to join here today with the Australian government delivering on our commitment to better the Bruce Highway. We made it very clear over the last four years and through the recent election campaign that the Bruce Highway was one of our key priorities as a new Queensland Government, and it has been a tremendous privilege to be able to partner with the Australian government to deliver these critical works on the Bruce Highway. Nine billion dollars over the next six years to fix those worst parts of the Bruce Highway. And work has started today. We have workers on site now working on that early works package. So $300 million of funds, which has been released already, and they’re getting on with the job to address those immediate priorities.

    As the Federal Minister mentioned, we have the Bruce Highway Advisory Council here in Rockhampton today, our second meeting of the Bruce Highway Advisory Council, which has local representatives from up and down the Bruce Highway in every single region that the Bruce Highway passes; key stakeholders like the Queensland Trucking Association – we’ve got Gary Mahon here from the Queensland Trucking Association, who you’ll hear from soon; the RACQ – David Carter from the RACQ as well. This is a body by which we can consider what needs to be done to address the Bruce Highway and prioritise the work across the Bruce Highway. We know there is considerable amount of work that needs to be done on the Bruce.

    As the Federal Minister mentioned, over 40 lives were lost on the Bruce Highway last year. That is simply unacceptable. We’re committed to ending that toll which impacts Queenslanders every single- nearly every single week we lose a Queenslander on the Bruce Highway. That is simply unacceptable, and we can and must do more to make the Bruce Highway both safer and more resilient and more reliable. And that’s our commitment today. We’ve got a broader package of works outside this $9 billion program, projects like the Rockhampton Ring Road and others, and we’re committed to getting on with the job of delivering those projects on time and on budget. And it’s an absolute pleasure to be able to join with the Federal Government to kick off those works on the Bruce Highway here today, and hopefully we’ll see many more projects over the next six years delivered under this program. And I just want to thank the Federal Government for their commitment. It is a testament to being able to deliver for communities that we can work together to deliver a very considerable investment in Queensland’s major road network, of which- I think about 62 per cent of Queenslanders used the Bruce Highway in any given year. Many people use it every single day, including myself. I know the work that needs to go on the Bruce Highway, and we’re committed with getting on with the job of delivering that.

    I’ll hand over now to Gary Mahon from the Queensland Trucking Association to talk about what it means for Queensland’s trucking industry.

    GARY MAHON: Thank you, ministers. We’re absolutely delighted to be here today to see and acknowledge the state and federal ministers working together in partnership on what is the most critical road in the state as far as we’re concerned. It is the spine of the state in terms of road freight resupply, but it also has significant safety implications for everybody who uses that road. As far as we’re concerned, the safety improvements obviously are essential, but we also need to remind that other treatments that go to the sustainability of this route are vitally important as well. Overtaking lanes, you know, bridge treatments, bridge replacements, wide centreline marking and all of those treatments need to be dealt with together because we also have a situation unfolding right now in Far North Queensland where it’s cut off yet again. So Far North Queensland right now is fully cut off for the second time in about five weeks. So when you look at that section between Townsville and Cairns, it deserves a fair bit of remedial treatment as well, and it needs to be sooner rather than later. I heard the word unacceptable used before. It is unacceptable in today’s day and age that Far North Queensland has to live with being fully cut off more than twice a year. So if this event goes on up North Queensland the way it’s going, we could be in the order of 14-odd days where Far North Queensland cannot be supplied with daily normal replenishment. Supermarkets, hardware, pharmaceuticals, people getting to medical treatment, and all of those things that go with daily life. So we’re delighted to be endorsing this program of works. We’re even more pleased to see the state and federal governments working so closely together. And as a third point, to have that being done within the next six years is even better. So that will make a material difference to regional Queensland in a very quick space of time, and we couldn’t endorse that more strongly. Thank you.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Thanks, Gary. Hand over now to David Carter from the RACQ.

    DAVID CARTER: Thank you. And I’d also like to start by just endorsing a lot of Gary’s comments there. It’s great to see federal and state governments working well together to sort out a problem that is significant for all of Queensland. The Bruce Highway needs work. It needs a long term program of work. The $9 billion commitment is a terrific signal from both governments about how important this road is. The package of works that’s been announced today, the $300 million of funding, allows for projects that are ready to go, that Main Roads have identified as ready to go, to start and get going on lifting the safety on these roads. There are so many places where we can improve from two stars to three. There’s no shortage of work. This allows work to commence now and more work to be done on the next phase of those projects that can be done as well.

    We also need to acknowledge, as RACQ, the great support and collaboration we had with Gary and the Queensland Truckers Association, with the Farmers’ Federation, with the Local Government Association of Queensland, the College of Surgeons, and indeed the tourism industry as well in this conversation about the importance of fixing the Bruce for the benefit of all Queenslanders, which is really- as Minister Mickelberg just said, this road is vital to all of us here in Queensland. So it is a very good day to see money actually hitting the ground now, to see the work commencing, and we look forward over the next six years or so to see this $9 billion spent well and safety on the Bruce Highway improved significantly.

    CATHERINE KING: Thank you. Happy to take questions. We’ll start with me or with-

    JOURNALIST: Catherine [indistinct]…

    CATHERINE KING: Yes, of course, of course.

    JOURNALIST: Gary just touched on Far North Queensland, with the flooding event up there. Will you make flood proofing work a priority as part of this package?

    CATHERINE KING: So separately to this package, there’s already- I’d have to check the figures, but there’s already a couple of billion dollars allocated to the Bruce Highway in Far North Queensland, including, I think, [indistinct] that’s yet to be allocated to a specific project. We’ll work, obviously, with the Queensland Government about how that money is to be spent on the Bruce on some of those bigger projects. Obviously, as part of our disaster recovery arrangements, we have now built in that we will build back better rather than just replacing what is existing. So obviously, around that particular area, there was some flooding earlier in the year. We’re still working our way through those disaster arrangements with the Queensland Government about what we do. But obviously, as we continue- as we do the safety work, we want to continue with those projects that are already existing within the pipeline to make sure we actually get some substantial improvements to the movement particularly of freight and people around the state.

    JOURNALIST: Do you think it’s good enough that regional Queenslanders, particularly in the north, has continually had their lives and businesses disrupted by the state of the highway?

    CATHERINE KING: Well, again, this is why we’re putting this investment in. This is a $9 billion investment on top of the $10 billion worth of projects that we’re already delivering along the highway. In particular, what we’ve tried to do with this package is to look at not down south, but really look to central and north because they are the areas where the road is at its worst, and that’s why we’re concentrating on those areas with these projects.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: I might just touch on that [indistinct]…

    CATHERINE KING: Yes, sure. Of course.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Just in relation to the flooding in the north, obviously, we had a significant event about six weeks ago I think it was. And we had the Prime Minister and the Premier on the ground at Ollera Creek, which was washed away, and the commitment from both the Prime Minister and the Premier, as the Federal Minister alluded to, is to build back better. So we’re focused on building in flood mitigation and improvements to capacity where we can, where we need to rectify damage. For example, at Ollera Creek, we’re going to build that crossing back better and build flood resilience into it.

    Now, will we be able to make the Bruce Highway completely flood-proof? No, it’s built on a floodplain, but we can certainly reduce the impact and the incidence and the severity of the flooding that occurs in places like Ingham. And right now, the Bruce Highway is cut again at the Seymour Bridge, and as Gary spoke about, so too are the inland routes. So we need to be looking at all aspects of the routes, north and south, in North Queensland. So whether that is the Kennedy Development Road, the Hann Highway, the Bruce Highway, we need to be building in resilience wherever possible, and we’re committed to working with the Federal Government to delivering just that. And I think you’ve got a unity ticket from the Prime Minister and the Premier of Queensland to deliver better roads and more resilient roads, both on the Bruce Highway and on our inland routes as well.

    In relation to this package, though, one point I wanted to make. So this $9 billion, every single dollar of this package will be spent north of Gympie. None of this money will be spent in the south east. It will address critical concerns, safety issues from Gympie through to Cairns, and I think that’s a really important point to make. We know that those sections of the Bruce Highway are where the safety issues are greatest. And while we have flood impacts closing the Bruce Highway, so too do we have serious motor vehicle crashes which also closed the Bruce Highway, and this money will go a long way to reducing some of those instances.

    JOURNALIST: Minister, you’re here today to announce stage one works. Where will that work begin?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, there’s 16 projects up and down the Bruce Highway. [Indistinct] So we actually inspected one of those sites yesterday, south of Tiaro, but there’s also works to the north of Townsville, south of Townsville, in Central Queensland here as well. We can provide you a map incidentally as well for your story subsequently. So the 16 early works packages, this is about getting on with the job of those areas where the work had already been done, the design work had been done. And we know there’s a critical need. Things like turning lanes off the Bruce Highway and onto the Bruce Highway, wide centreline, widening the shoulder, addressing the pavement where it is in a particularly bad state, these are projects that we could get on with the job of delivering straight away, and we have workers on site right now delivering those projects.

    JOURNALIST: Can you tell us a bit more about the committee meeting today?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Yeah. So, one of the tasks I was given by the Premier was to re-establish the Bruce Highway Advisory Council. We had our first meeting in Townsville before Christmas. And one of the other tasks I was given was to seek 80-20 funding from the Federal Government. I’m very pleased that the Australian Government have come to the party and provided 80-20 funding for this package of $9 billion on the Bruce Highway. It’s a welcome investment, and it’s a recognition of the fact that we needed to invest in this critical road for Queensland’s future.

    Look, the committee meeting today will actually be considering where we can best target the spending for the balance, the $8.7 billion of the balance of this program. There are many, many works that need to be done up and down the Bruce Highway. My department, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, have done a considerable amount of work over many years working out where those critical needs are. And today we will be discussing – the Federal Minister and myself and committee members which, as I said, includes local representatives, people who use the Bruce Highway for all sorts of different reasons, whether they’re truck drivers, a local representative here, her mother was tragically or was seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash on the Bruce Highway – and so people are invested in making sure that the Bruce Highway is safer, more resilient and more reliable. So, today’s meeting we will be discussing how we can best roll out these funds. And then the Federal Government and the Queensland Government will work collaboratively to get work started as soon as possible. 

    JOURNALIST: So, how important is it having everyday Queenslanders who have been impacted by the Bruce on that committee?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, I think it’s incredibly important to have local voices informing government policy wherever we can. And I was- one of the things I wanted to see when we re-established the Bruce Highway Advisory Council is to ensure that all sections of the Bruce Highway are representative- represented. So, whether that’s the Sunshine Coast right through to the far north, there’s our local representative from every single one of those districts on the Bruce Highway Advisory Council.

    They all bring a different approach and different challenges. The challenges on the Bruce Highway in my part of the world, on the Sunshine Coast, are fundamentally different to the challenges in the far north and in North Queensland, or here in central Queensland for that matter. And I think it’s really important that those who use the road every single day are listened to and that we take their views into account. Now, industry is a big part of that. Queensland Trucking Association, the RACQ, Local Government Association of Queensland, they’re really important stakeholders and they’re all members of the Bruce Highway Advisory Council as well. But so too are those local voices, because they bring a different way of looking at the problem. And they bring lived experience of having to drive the Bruce Highway every single day, in many cases.

    JOURNALIST: Minister, specifically in Paluma, near Townsville…

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Yes.

    JOURNALIST: …these residents have been taking three hour detours for a month now. Can you reassure them it’ll be fixed soon?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Look, we’ve got massive issues on the Mount Spec Road, which is the road to Paluma. Considerable impacts as a consequence of the flooding and the rain associated with the event six weeks or so ago in the north. It is going to take a considerable amount of time to rectify those, the damage to that road. We’re committed to working with the local community to support them through that process [indistinct], but the reality is it will take time. We have had significant landslips and, as a consequence, the road is currently not safe to be able to traverse.

    However, that’s why we appointed a local disaster coordinator in Andrew Cripps, and I’ve been working with both Andrew and the local member, Nick Dametto, local state member Nick Dametto, to ensure, one, that the community is informed, and two, to ensure that we get those works completed as soon as possible. But it will take time. The damage is very, very considerable and- but we’re committed to ensuring that we both address the immediate concerns of reopening the roads for locals so they can get to and from home and to and from work, but also ensuring that we build in resilience in the long term so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes of the past.

    JOURNALIST: Two questions. How much has the Ring Road project in Rockhampton blown out to?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: So, the Federal Government have committed an additional $200 million today, and the federal minister may wish to speak to that. Look, my focus as the new Transport- Queensland Transport Main Roads Minister is to deliver this project. And far too many projects have run over budget and over time here in Queensland for too many years. And I have a very clear directive from the Premier, which is to end that. And part of that is getting on with the job of finishing the projects that are in train now. Another part is ensuring that we address the drivers that are driving cost overruns.

    Rocky Ring Road has exceeded budget again and that is unacceptable, but by the same token we’re focused on delivering the project. It’s an important project that will deliver benefit to, not just people from central Queensland but all road users who traverse through this part of the world. It’s a safety improvement. It takes trucks off the road through the Rockhampton CBD, where we’ve got schools right now, and I think 26 odd sets of traffic lights off the top of my head. It’s an important project that must be delivered. My focus is delivering that project now.

    We were on site earlier this morning actually having a look at one of the bridge- bridges at the northern end. They were going to do a concrete pour this morning but they’ve been interrupted as a consequence of the rain. But we’re just focused on delivering the project now that it’s well advanced, and ending the blow-outs that existed under the former government. Minister, so you want to add anything to that?

    CATHERINE KING: No.

    JOURNALIST: When will it be delivered?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, we’re focused on delivering the project. The initial- so there’s two packages of works effectively at either end and the last package is for the centre which is for the bridge. We’re focused on ensuring that it’s delivered within the existing time frame. So at the moment, we’re working to a time frame of around 2029. However – and it is a complex project, I’m not going to shy away from the fact it’s a complex project. What we need to ensure, though, is that what we deliver reflects what the community needs, both here in central Queensland, and more broadly as a key spine of Queensland road- Queensland’s road transport network.

    JOURNALIST: When will the funding come through for the [indistinct] project?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Well, Federal Minister, I think that’s included in this batch as well. I might let you talk to that.

    CATHERINE KING: Yeah. No, I think it is. Yeah.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: So, I understand that’s actually included in these announcements from the Federal Government as well.

    JOURNALIST: Can you tell us anything more about the beef corridor works?

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Yeah. Look, the Queensland beef corridors initiative is a tremendous initiative which aims to build capacity and reliability into some of our inland routes which are traversed right through central Queensland here. So, it’s a partnership between local councils, the state government and the Federal Government. Minister King will probably like to speak to this, and Glen might like to talk to it given much of it sits in his electorate as well. But it’s a really important project that will both boost capacity for the beef industry, hence its name. But it’s also about building resilience and capacity into the- those regional interconnecting roads, roads between Moranbah and Emerald and Rockhampton, and to the south. These are critical roads that should have been invested in and need to be invested in to unlock both productivity from an economic perspective, but also connect regional communities. I might…

    CATHERINE KING: Yeah, sure. We’ll get you a full list of the projects that have been announced under the beef roads corridor. But really, what this has required is for the local councils to work with TMR and the Queensland Government to decide where exactly the money is going to be spent.

    So, we’ve signed off on the release of $38 million today to start a range of projects, small and large, across that network. We know that, increasingly, our large freight vehicles are travelling on these local roads and that whether it’s weather, that it’s the weight of vehicles, that it’s the volume of vehicles we’re seeing erosion on those roads. And really this is designed to strengthen, widen, make sure that our freight routes for your magnificent beef industry here, which is the best not only in the country but in the world – my hometown of Ballarat will be upset that I’ve said that, there are beef producers there as well – but nothing quite like up here. We recognise this is the beef capital for a reason. But making sure that that fantastic produce can get to market both within the country and outside, and so that $38 million.

    But that’s really meant that we’ve got now local government all working together with TMR to identify where the money is to go. And that’s released today, and we’ll get you the full list.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Glen might add to it.

    CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

    GLEN KELLY: Yeah, thank. Well, thank you, Minister, for acknowledging the beef capital of Australia. It means a lot to me, actually. But no, the development package is very important to the electorate of Mirani because of the amount of produce that does come out of there, whether it be beef, or grain. And the May Downs Road is a very important part of that development project. It’s- we’re sort of talking up to, I think in a couple of those regions in the electorate of Mirani, 50,000 head of beef cattle coming out of two feedlots. I mean, this package is very welcome into this region of ours, of Mirani, and certainly looking forward to councils and the state government working together to make sure that where these issues are in these roads are done correctly. Because I’m a big believer in of a little bit of time goes a long way, because we only want to do these things once. And I think with this development road package it’s going to be so important to the electorate of Mirani. Thank you.

    BRENT MICKELBERG: Any other questions?

    CATHERINE KING: You’re done. Lovely. Thank you.

    MIL OSI News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Tse Chin-wan heads to Beijing

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan was due to depart for Beijing this afternoon.

    During his stay in Beijing, Mr Tse will visit the General Administration of Customs to discuss various topics such as safeguarding food supplies to Hong Kong, the facilitation of Hong Kong-manufactured food exports to the Mainland, and overall co-operation on food trade.

    He will also visit the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs, and exchange views with officials on the sustainable development of agriculture and fisheries, restocking, multi-storey livestock farms and offshore fishing, with a view to enhancing communication and co-operation.

    In addition, Mr Tse will meet representatives from the Ministry of Ecology & Environment and the BRI International Green Development Coalition to exchange views on combating climate change.

    He will also meet representatives from the China Biodiversity Conservation & Green Development Foundation, and the Carbon Neutral Industry Development Innovation Committee, to discuss issues such as green development, ocean governance, and the carbon market.

    Mr Tse will return to Hong Kong on Friday afternoon. During his absence, Under Secretary for Environment & Ecology Diane Wong will be Acting Secretary.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Rural and Legal News – Court decision a pragmatic win for Southland farmers – Federated Farmers

    Source: Federated Farmers

    Federated Farmers are welcoming a court decision granting a ‘stay’ on rules in the Southland Water and Land Plan until legislative changes can be made by central government.
    The plan, following earlier court decisions, would have required more than 3000 Southland farmers to apply for an expensive resource consent just to continue farming.
    “Delaying legal processes until the Government’s proposed amendments to the RMA can be made is a pragmatic decision,” says Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick.
    “Requiring 3000 local farmers to get a resource consent would have been nothing short of an impractical and expensive box-ticking exercise for absolutely no environmental gain.
    “This would have been a significant cost for most farmers, ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 each, just to continue with their day-to-day farming activities.
    “We’re really pleased common sense has prevailed this week and farmers won’t need to waste their time or money jumping through bureaucratic hoops for no reason.”
    The Government have been very clear on their intent to make legislative changes to section 70 of the Resource Management Act later this year.
    “The activist groups who initially brought this case, like Fish & Game and Forest & Bird, should be hanging their heads in shame,” Herrick says.
    “All they’ve done is stir up a whole lot of angst and uncertainty in our rural communities and I don’t think they’ve taken any accountability for that.
    “Thankfully the politicians have listened and delivered a solution, and the court have put this stay in place so no more time or money is wasted while the law is being changed.”

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Australia: 9/DEAD END , EST 9C, WILLIAMSTOWN (Grass Fire)

    Source: Country Fire Service – South Australia

    WILLIAMSTOWN

    Williamstown Fire

    Issued for Williamstown, in the South Para Reservoir approximately 2km south of Williamstown township in the Mount Lofty Ranges.

    CFS advises that a fire is burning in pine slash at the South Para Reservoir near South Para Road, approximately 2km south of the Williamstown township.

    A warning message is current for this incident. Please refer to https://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/warnings/incidents-warnings/ for up to date information.

    CFS crews on 49 trucks are in attendance with the support of 8 aircraft, Forestry SA and Department for Environment and Water crews, and SAPOL. Farm Fire Units are also on the scene assisting the firefighting efforts. Crews are mopping up and will remain at the scene until the fire is fully extinguished.

    Smoke from heavy timber on the fireground is visible in the area.

    The cause of this fire is currently being investigated, but it is not believed to be deliberate.

    South Para Road remains closed. Other road closures may be in place in and around the fireground. A full list of current road closures is available at: https://traffic.sa.gov.au/

    To ensure your safety and that of firefighters and other emergency personnel who are working in the area, please do not enter the area unless necessary.

    Due to the extended dry conditions, fires can easily start in vegetation from activities involving heavy machinery and equipment. Although this is not against the rules on a Total Fire Ban day, the community should be mindful of this when undertaking these activities.

    MIL OSI News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI China: Guideline aims to promote balanced nutrition, healthier lifestyles

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    Students learn about healthy eating on the Chinese Student Nutrition Day in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, Dec. 5, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
    China has unveiled targets to enhance the nutritional quality of its food consumption by 2030 to promote a more balanced and healthy diet nationwide.
    The Food and Nutrition Development Guideline (2025-2030), jointly issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Health Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, was released on Monday and set key objectives for improving dietary habits and food supply quality.
    The guideline calls for a shift toward nutrient-rich food consumption, increasing annual per capita intake of foods high in protein and fiber.
    By 2030, it targets per capita annual consumption of 14 kilograms of legumes, 69 kg of meat, 23 kg of eggs, 47 kg of dairy products, 29 kg of seafood, 270 kg of vegetables and 130 kg of fruit.
    Nutritional recommendations outlined in the guideline advocate for daily caloric intake to remain at approximately 2,150 kilocalories for men and 1,700 kilocalories for women. The initiative emphasizes the importance of protein consumption, setting a goal for high-quality protein to account for more than 50 percent of total daily intake.
    Daily fiber intake is expected to rise to 25 to 30 grams, while consumption of edible oils should be reduced to 25 to 30 grams. The guideline also aims to cap daily salt intake at 5 grams and added sugar intake at 25 grams.
    China’s chronic disease prevention and control efforts face numerous challenges, as both malnutrition and overnutrition persist, according to Chu Xu from the National Health Commission.
    The new guideline takes a comprehensive approach by addressing nutritional concerns at the food production level, advocating for a nutrition-oriented strategy across the entire food industry chain, he said.
    The guideline focuses on modernizing food supply systems and promoting healthier cooking methods. Authorities plan to enhance food quality, expand nutritional research and popularize portion control tools to regulate salt, oil and sugar intake.
    Zhang Zhenhua, deputy head of the Department of Science, Technology and Education at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, emphasized the need for a national strategy to balance food supply with changing consumption demands.
    “We should systematically plan food and nutrition initiatives to coordinate socioeconomic development with public health, adapting to the population’s increasing demand for nutritious food,” Zhang said at a news conference on Tuesday.
    Measures also include developing central kitchens, adopting smart storage and cooking technologies and improving household food waste management, the guideline said.
    “We need to coordinate food resource utilization with environmental conservation, as reducing food waste is equivalent to increasing production,” Zhang said, adding that the guideline stresses promoting sustainable agriculture and preserving China’s culinary heritage.
    Wu Kongming, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said ensuring access to nutritious and affordable food is a global priority, with countries competing for key technological advancements.
    “The plan calls for an integrated food and nutrition technology innovation system covering the entire supply chain, from breeding and farming to processing, logistics and consumption,” Wu said.
    He suggested greater integration between food nutrition science and industry innovation.
    The academy will establish research platforms and set up joint research centers to advance technological breakthroughs in food processing and consumption patterns, he said.
    “We will create a collaborative platform for food and nutrition policy research, strengthening industry support and advancing nutrition-oriented agriculture,” Wu said.
    Public awareness initiatives such as National Nutrition Week and the Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival will further promote healthy eating habits and regional food culture, the guidelines said.
    Wu proposed expanding outreach initiatives such as open house events, social media campaigns and public forums to provide accurate, accessible nutritional information.

    MIL OSI China News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-Evening Report: Flooding in the Sahara, Amazon tributaries drying and warming tipping over 1.5°C – 2024 broke all the wrong records

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew King, Associate Professor in Climate Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, The University of Melbourne

    Climate change is the most pressing problem humanity will face this century. Tracking how the climate is actually changing has never been more critical.

    Today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published its annual State of the Climate report, which found heat records kept being broken in 2024. It’s likely 2024 was the first year to be more than 1.5°C above the Earth’s pre-industrial average temperature. In 2024, levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit the highest point in the last 800,000 years.

    The combination of heat and unchecked emissions, the organisation points out, had serious consequences. Attribution studies found a link between climate change and disasters such as Hurricane Helene, which left a trail of destruction in the southeastern United States, and the unprecedented flooding in Africa’s arid Sahel region.

    Slowing these increasingly dangerous changes to Earth’s climate will require a rapid shift from fossil fuels to clean energy.

    The record heat of 2024

    From the North Pole to the South Pole, the oceans and our land masses, the report catalogues alarm bells ringing ever louder for Earth’s vital signs.

    Steadily rising global average temperatures show us the influence of the extra heat we are trapping by emitting greenhouse gases. The ten warmest years on record have all happened in the past ten years.

    The report shows 2024 was the warmest year since comprehensive global records began 175 years ago. The planet was an estimated 1.55°C (plus or minus 0.13°C) warmer than it was between 1850 and 1900.

    Together, 2023 and 2024 marked a jump in global mean temperature from previous years. There was a jump of about 0.15°C between the previous record year (2016 or 2020 depending on the dataset) and 2023. Last year was even warmer – about 0.1°C above 2023.

    Last year was the first year the planet was likely more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This doesn’t mean we have broken the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of holding warming under 1.5°C – temperatures would need to be sustained over a number of years to formally lose that fight. But it’s not good news.

    There are a few extra factors at play in this record-breaking global temperature, including an El Niño event boosting eastern Pacific Ocean temperatures in the first part of 2024, falling pollution from shipping leading to less cloud over the ocean, and a more active sun as well.

    Researchers are hard at work unpicking why the Earth’s average temperature jumped in 2023 and 2024. But it is clear the 2024 record-breaking warmth and most other damning statistics in the report would not have occurred if it wasn’t for human-induced climate change.

    Much of the Northern Hemisphere was more than 2°C warmer in 2024 than 1951-1980 levels and many equatorial areas saw new annual temperature records.
    NASA GISS, CC BY-NC-ND

    Carbon dioxide up, glacial melt up, sea ice down

    It’s not just global temperatures breaking records.

    Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere reached 427 parts per million last year. Sea level rise has accelerated and is now about 11 centimetres above early 1990s levels, and the oceans are at their highest temperatures on record.

    Seasonal sea-ice in the Arctic and around Antarctica shrank to low levels (albeit short of record lows) in 2024, while preliminary data shows glacial melt and ocean acidification continued at a rapid pace.

    Almost all parts of the world were much warmer in 2024 than even recent averages (1991–2020) and much of the tropics experienced record heat.

    From cyclones to heatwaves, another year of extreme events

    In the English-speaking media, extreme events affecting North America, Europe and Australia are well covered, such as the devastating Hurricane Helene in the US and the lethal flash flooding in Spain.

    By contrast, extreme weather and its fallout in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia get less coverage.

    In September 2024, Super Typhoon Yagi killed hundreds and caused widespread damage through the Philippines, China and Vietnam. Later in the year, Cyclone Chido struck Mayotte and Mozambique causing more than 100,000 people to be displaced. Hundreds died in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan due to spring floods following an unusual cold wave.

    Unusual flooding hit parts of the arid Sahel and even the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile the worst drought in a century hit southern Africa, devastating small farmers and leading to rising hunger.

    Much of South and Central America was hit by significant drought. Huge tributaries to the Amazon River all but dried up for the first time on record. Severe summer heat hit much of the Northern Hemisphere, while more than 1,300 pilgrims died during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca as heat and humidity pushed past survivable limits.

    Globally, extreme weather forced more people from their homes than any other year since 2008, which had widespread floods and fires.

    Did climate change play a role in these extreme events? The answer ranges from a resounding yes in some cases to a likely small role in others.

    Scientists at World Weather Attribution found the fingerprints of climate change in Hurricane Helene’s large-scale rain and winds as well as the flooding rains in the eastern Sahel.

    Paying the price for decades of inaction

    This report is a dire score card. The numbers are sobering, scary but sadly, not surprising.

    We have known the basic mechanism by which greenhouse gases warm the planet for over 100 years. The science behind climate change has been around a long time.

    But our response is still not up to the task.

    Currently, our activities are producing ever more greenhouse gas emissions, trapping more heat and causing more and more problems for people and the planet. Every fraction of a degree of global warming matters. The damage done will keep worsening until we end our reliance on fossil fuels and reach net zero.

    Andrew King receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather and the National Environmental Science Program.

    Linden Ashcroft has received funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather

    – ref. Flooding in the Sahara, Amazon tributaries drying and warming tipping over 1.5°C – 2024 broke all the wrong records – https://theconversation.com/flooding-in-the-sahara-amazon-tributaries-drying-and-warming-tipping-over-1-5-c-2024-broke-all-the-wrong-records-252490

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI China: Continued Chinese development boosts opportunities for China-UK relations: ambassador

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang has called on business communities in both countries to seize the opportunities presented by China’s continued stable development.

    Zheng made the statement at an event hosted on Monday briefing the “two sessions”: the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress – China’s top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

    Zheng said this year’s sessions have shown the world that China is committed to advancing the country’s modernization with high-quality development. China will firmly act as an “enabler,” providing “more stability and positive energy for the world,” in areas such as economic development, sci-tech innovation, green transition, and global peace and stability, he added.

    The “two sessions” also showed the success of China’s political system, the ambassador stressed, adding that it is “the secret behind the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability” in China.

    Highlighting the importance of a stable and constructive China-UK relationship in a chaotic and turbulent world full of challenges, the ambassador called on both sides to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, implement the outcomes of previous dialogues, and strengthen cooperation while properly handling differences between the two countries.

    Sherard Cowper-Coles, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, said that a Chinese government report released during the sessions responds to tackling serious challenges in a coherent and disciplined way.

    “It talks about increasing consumption, putting more money in the pockets of the Chinese people, stimulating innovation and opening China up more to investment, and inviting visitors around the world not just commercial businesses, but the tourists and students as well, all very very important,” Cowper-Coles said.

    Michael Mainelli, former Lord Mayor of the City of London, acknowledged that this is a pivotal moment for the UK in the relationship between China, and the global community. He said the sessions “have set the stage for policies that will influence not only China’s trajectory, but also its interactions with the world.”

    As a global financial and technology center, London looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China in finance, green finance, artificial intelligence and other fields, Mainelli noted. 

    MIL OSI China News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI China: Spring farming underway in China’s Hebei

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    Spring farming underway in China’s Hebei

    Updated: March 19, 2025 09:09 Xinhua
    Self-propelled sprinkler equipment conducts irrigation in a winter wheat field in Dongtianzhuang Town, Fengnan District of Tangshan, north China’s Hebei Province, March 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Farmers plant ginger in a field in Chahe Town, Fengnan District of Tangshan, north China’s Hebei Province, March 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows farmers laying drip irrigation pipes in a field in Chahe Town, Fengnan District of Tangshan, north China’s Hebei Province, March 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    An aerial drone photo shows farmers laying drip irrigation pipes in a field in Chahe Town, Fengnan District of Tangshan, north China’s Hebei Province, March 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    A drone photo shows a self-propelled sprinkler equipment conducting irrigation in a winter wheat field in Dongtianzhuang Town, Fengnan District of Tangshan, north China’s Hebei Province, March 17, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    MIL OSI China News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Canada: Urban deer removal complete in Cranbrook, Kimberley

    The Province, with the support of the ʔaq’am First Nation and the cities of Cranbrook and Kimberley, has completed the removal and testing of urban deer to curb the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD).

    The operation took place Feb. 18-28, during which time 100 deer were removed from Cranbrook and 26 from Kimberley. All deer removed in this project were tested for CWD at a Ministry of Agriculture laboratory in Abbotsford. One white-tailed adult female from Cranbrook tested positive for CWD by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. All other deer tested negative.

    CWD is a fatal infection that affects species in the deer family (cervids), such as mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose and caribou. The disease spreads through grooming, body fluids, and shared spaces. While highly contagious among cervids, there have been no reported cases of CWD spreading to humans or pets. It is inadvisable for people or pets to consume meat from an infected animal.

    The risk of spread is higher in urban deer because of population density. Urban deer populations in Cranbrook and Kimberley are of special concern because of their proximity to five CWD cases detected in the Kootenay region in the last year.

    Targeted removal was undertaken by trained professionals following strict protocols to ensure public safety and minimize stress on the animals.

    Future management decisions will continue to be made in consultation with First Nations and local municipalities. An urban deer collaring program has been initiated to better understand the movement and ranges of these animals to inform risk assessment and an appropriate response. Other actions may include additional removals and testing of urban deer in Cranbrook and Kimberley.

    Provincial wildlife staff thank all the volunteers and partners who assisted with this project.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI Canada: Statement from the Honourable Kody Blois, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Cutting red tape to ensure the resiliency and competitive advantage of Canada’s agricultural sector

    March 18, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – Canadian Food Inspection Agency

    As Canada’s new Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development, ensuring the resilience of our agriculture sector and enabling a competitive advantage and level playing field for Canadian agricultural products are among my top priorities.

    To support these priorities, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is working to remove unnecessary red tape and burden and ensure that our processes and regulations continue to enable prosperity for our agriculture producers, agri-food businesses, and communities across Canada. These measures include:

    • Speeding up product approvals to provide alternatives to U.S.-sourced animal feed.
      This measure will alleviate the burden of tariffs on animal feed producers, by increasing the number of approved feed ingredients from within Canada or from other countries. The CFIA will work with industry to understand prioritization needs and provide new guidance to facilitate the pre-market evaluation process for the approval or registration of some feeds products which are already authorized by a trusted foreign regulator. Together, these measures will enable quicker access to alternative feeds, reduce costs to farmers in the short-term, and support future supply chain sustainability for Canadian producers for years to come.
    • Aiming to harmonize our bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) enhanced feed ban with U.S. requirements. Globally, the incidence of BSE has declined significantly and in 2021, the World Organisation for Animal Health recognized Canada as a country with negligible risk for BSE. Currently, differences between Canadian and U.S. requirements put our beef industry at a competitive disadvantage to their U.S. counterparts. We are working with industry on options to reduce unnecessary costs and improve competitiveness while continuing to protect animal health and maintain Canada’s international trade access.
    • Addressing stakeholder irritants and leveling the playing field for Canadian producers through advancing key regulatory changes that support industry growth and enable fair trade. Canada will explore increasing the maximum slaughter age for feeder calves from 36 to 40 weeks to permit a higher market price for Canadian producers. We are also working to ensure parity between Canadian hatcheries and U.S. hatcheries by harmonizing testing requirements for salmonella enteritis, in line with recent updates to Canadian hatchery regulations.
    • Removing outdated prescriptive requirements and supporting innovation to enable industry-led actions to meet consumer demands and evolving market conditions. We will examine removing unnecessary or outdated labelling requirements for r fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we will continue work on a new approach to modernizing fresh fruit and vegetable grades, with the goal of having grades that are outcome-based, harmonized with trading partners where possible, and align with the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations. The CFIA is committed to working with industry to understand obstacles and consult on requirements like standardized food container sizes, which can create unintended trade barriers within Canada, and internationally.

    We will continue to use all available measures to reduce red tape, streamline our processes, modernize our regulations, and reinforce our commitment to open and fair trade.

    Canada’s farmers, producers, and agri-food businesses are essential to our economy, and we are committed to ensuring they have the tools and support they need to succeed at home and on the world stage.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

    March 19, 2025
  • MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto, Rosen Join Colleagues in Demanding Trump Administration Reverse Major Cuts to Food Assistance for Schools

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto

    Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) joined Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and 29 of their colleagues in demanding the Department of Agriculture reverse its cancellation of food purchase programs across the United States, warning of the harmful impacts this move will have on both families and American farmers. Nevada utilizes these federal funds to support the state’s food bank network and school nutrition programs by purchasing local foods from farmers and producers in Nevada, benefiting students, families, and the local economy.

    “We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need,” wrote the Senators. “These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.”

    “At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” they continued. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country.”

    The full letter can be found here.

    Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen have been vocal opponents of the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut critical programs Nevadans rely on all while trying to give further tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. The Senators have pushed multiple Departments under the Trump Administration for detailed, public information regarding the impacts of President Trump’s federal funding freeze, hiring freeze, and terminations on Nevada – including to the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the General Services Administration. Earlier this year, Cortez Masto and Rosen urged the Department of the Interior to immediately cease its freeze of Inflation Reduction Act funding for the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025
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