Cattle graze at a military base in Florida. (Wirepec/iStock/Getty Images)

Florida finds atypical BSE case

Chicago | Reuters — A six-year-old beef cow in Florida tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday. The animal tested positive for atypical H-type BSE on Aug. 26 at the Colorado State University’s veterinary diagnostic laboratory, as part of routine surveillance of cattle that are found to

(NHC.noaa.gov)

Irma whips orange trees, shuts meat plants

Chicago | Reuters — Hurricane Irma stripped oranges from trees and prompted Tyson Foods to shut meat plants in Florida and Georgia on Monday to keep workers safe. Tyson, the biggest U.S. meat company, hopes to resume normal operations soon at chicken plants it shuttered in Cumming, Dawson and Vienna, Ga., and at a beef

(NHC.noaa.gov)

From sugar mills to hog farms, U.S. agriculture braces for Irma

Chicago/New York | Reuters — Hurricane Irma sent farmers and food companies scrambling to protect processing facilities, farm fields and animal herds in the south and southeastern parts of the U.S. on Wednesday. Florida sugar and citrus processors rushed to secure rail cars and equipment that could be crushed, blocked or turned into flying projectiles.



Mosaic Co. said its staff at Mulberry, Fla. are using this on-site 800-foot-deep ground water well to recover water lost from the sinkhole formation at their phosphate facility. (MosaicCo.com)

Sinkhole at Mosaic fertilizer site leaks radioactive water

Reuters — A sinkhole spanning 45 feet in diameter opened at a Mosaic Co. phosphate fertilizer facility in Florida, leaking 215 million gallons of “slightly radioactive water,” a company spokesman said Friday. Mosaic said the monitoring system at its New Wales facility at Mulberry, Florida, showed a decline in water levels on Aug. 27 from