AgClips
Recent AgClips
Dairy divided over supply management
Politico | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in Agriculture NewsSome dairy farmers are eyeing federal supply management as a way to stabilize the industry amid four years of low prices, but not everyone sees limiting production as a savior. We’ve got part two of our dairy policy deep dive.
NRCS announces funding available to assist farmers in Western Lake Erie Basin
Agrinews | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in Federal NewsIndiana Natural Resources Conservation Services announced that there is funding available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for farmers who are voluntarily looking to invest in conservation practices that will help improve water quality in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Gerald Roach, assistant state conservationist for programs with NRCS, said counties in the Western Lake Erie Basin include portions of Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Wells, Noble and Steuben.Landowners who have acreage in the following watersheds may be eligible for funding: St. Joseph-Maumee, St.
Rural America Growing Again Due to Migration Gains
Carsey School of Public Policy | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in Rural NewsFor the first six years of this decade, rural America experienced overall population loss for the first time in history. New Census Bureau estimates suggest that last year overall growth accelerated in nonmetropolitan America where 46.1 million people reside. The population gain was small, just 37,000 (.1 percent), but it contrasts with a loss of 32,000 just two years ago and to a modest population gain last year. Population growth was fueled by renewed net migration coupled with a surplus of births over deaths, though this natural increase is dwindling.
The world's first robotic harvest happened in an apple orchard in NZ
Capital Press | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in Agriculture NewsA major milestone for the apple industry was reached this spring in a remote New Zealand orchard: the world’s first commercial robotic harvest. The harvest started in February and will end in late April or May in one of New Zealand’s largest orchards, T&G Global, with a machine built and operated by Abundant Robotics of Hayward, Calif.Using robots to replace human pickers has been a decades-long dream of the apple industry.
The maybe disaster of Northwest Missouri
Daily Yonder | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsRecovery continues in and along the Missouri Valley in Iowa.
Oregon farmland rezone bill survives deadline
Capital Press | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsA controversial proposal to allow more home-building on farmland along Oregon’s border with Idaho has survived a critical deadline, potentially keeping it viable through the end of the legislative session. Property within the Eastern Oregon Border Economic Development Region could be rezoned from “exclusive farm use” to residential uses under House Bill 2456, subject to multiple conditions.Under the amendments approved by the committee, rezoning proposals would have to be examined by a review board that would issue an opinion to the county government.
USDA announces cooperative funding for cattle RFID project proposals
Feedstuffs | Posted onApril 18, 2019 in Agriculture NewsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced the availability of $1 million in cooperative agreement funding to support animal disease traceability (ADT) and electronic identification for cattle. According to APHIS, the money will fund between two and five projects that are designed to help USDA increase the accuracy, efficiency and cost effectiveness of collecting key pieces of traceability information while also supporting the cattle industry’s management and marketing needs.
5G technology is coming to rural America
The New Food Economy | Posted onApril 17, 2019 in Rural NewsAt an afternoon press conference at the White House, flanked by tower linemen and ranchers, the president and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai announced the agency’s largest-ever auction of wireless spectrum—that is, the radio frequencies over which wireless communications signals travel—for the purpose of deploying fifth-generation wireless (5G) technology. As Mashable explains, wireless networks run on radio waves that FCC controls and opens up to private carriers through an auction process. In other words?
Trump signs Colorado River drought plan
AP News | Posted onApril 17, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsPresident Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a plan to cut back on the use of water from the Colorado River, which serves 40 million people in the U.S. West. The Colorado River drought contingency plan aims to keep two key reservoirs, Lakes Powell and Mead, from falling so low they cannot deliver water or produce hydropower. It was negotiated among the seven states that draw water from the river.Mexico also agreed to store water in Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border if the U.S. legislation was approved by April 22.
Homegrown energy can't tame U.S. pump prices
The Wall Street Journal | Posted onApril 17, 2019 in Energy NewsOnce upon a time, stormy politics in the Mideast routinely inflicted pain on Americans at the pump. Recently it was storms in the Midwest as infrastructure issues in a region known for corn, not petroleum, made it difficult for some refiners to get the ethanol needed for gasoline. America’s energy renaissance didn’t help one bit. Almost all U.S. gasoline is blended with 10% ethanol thanks to the Renewable Fuel Standard.