AgClips
Recent AgClips
Texas regulators to put information of oil company penalties, complaints online
Houston Chronicle | Posted onJune 20, 2017 in Energy NewsThe Railroad Commission of Texas oversees one of the most prolific oil and gas regions in the world, the agency's hordes of data and documents remain snared in a filing system that has yet to make it to the 21st century. The commission has been unable to make available online all of the information it collects, as it is hobbled by some troubled oil and gas companies whose fees account for most of the commission's budget, and limited funding from the state.
Nevada’s New Solar Law Is About Much More Than Net Metering
Green Tech Media | Posted onJune 20, 2017 in Energy, SARL Members and Alumni NewsNevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 405into law to the cheers of solar companies and advocates. AB 405 reinstates net metering for rooftop solar customers in Nevada, after utility regulators eliminated the policy in December 2015, throwing the Silver State’s solar market into disarray. Because the policy change was applied retroactively, it triggered enormous public outcry, and the steep new fees effectively put a freeze on new rooftop solar installations.
Federal Pullback, Climate Change Could Boost State Spending on Disasters
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onJune 20, 2017 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe roughly 150 mph winds hopped over Chef Menteur Highway and blew out walls at a NASA assembly plant. By the time the tornado fizzled out over Lake Borgne, it had caused millions of dollars of damage. Together with a cluster of other windstorms, it yielded the seventh presidentially declared major disaster of 2017. States have come to rely on these declarations, a practice that helps individuals and communities recover from disasters. And since the 1980s, the federal government has been on the hook for the majority of recovery costs when a disaster is declared.
KY Food banks may get boost from new law protecting donors from lawsuits
Louisville Courier Journal | Posted onJune 20, 2017 in Food, SARL Members and Alumni NewsAs thousands of Kentuckians struggle to feed their families, nonprofits hope a new law will encourage supermarkets to donate food they typically throw away by shielding them from being sued if someone gets sick after eating their donations. There have been virtually no lawsuits filed over someone getting sick from consuming donated food, but fear of legal action has still stifled donations, said Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, who launched an initiative last year that led to the "Food Immunity Bill." The law, which goes into effect June 29, protects groceries, farmers and other enti
One Ohio Town’s Immigration Clash, Down in the Actual Muck
The New York Times | Posted onJune 20, 2017 in Rural NewsMigrant workers arrive here every spring to work in the “muck,” which is what everybody calls the fertile soil that makes this part of Ohio the perfect place to grow radishes, peppers, cucumbers and leafy greens. The temporary workers can be seen planting, weeding and, later in the season, harvesting crops that will be sold at national supermarket chains. But there’s trouble in the muck this growing season.
Opioid crisis threatens rural Georgia's workforce
Valdosta Daily Times | Posted onJune 19, 2017 in Agriculture, Rural NewsThe state’s emerging opioid crisis may be partly to blame for the workforce shortages stymieing local efforts to attract new jobs. This was one of the revelations from the second meeting of the state’s new House Rural Development Council, which met recently in Toccoa. The group of legislators is tasked with identifying potential policy fixes for the economic challenges facing the rural Georgia.
Overall nonmetro population declines
USDA | Posted onJune 19, 2017 in Rural NewsThe number of people living in nonmetro counties declined by nearly 21,000 (-0.05 percent) between July 2015 and July 2016, continuing 6 years of modest population losses. Although many individual nonmetro counties have shown population losses for decades, this is the first period of overall nonmetro population decline. ERS tracks demographic change in nonmetro areas and conducts research to help explain the relationship between population change and the socioeconomic well-being of rural and small-town residents.
State Labor Regulations and Labor-Intensive Agriculture
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onJune 19, 2017 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe state of U.S. agricultural production is changing. Over the next decade, increases to minimum wage and other changing labor regulations will have a dramatic impact on fruit, vegetable and other labor-intensive agricultural production in the U.S. These impacts will be on top of evolving immigration policies and trends, which have been receiving a lot of attention in mainstream media as well as farm media in recent months. Many of these changes will undoubtedly be welcome to farmworkers and their families.
California firms up marijuana rules, will allow deliveries
Capital Press | Posted onJune 19, 2017 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsCalifornia would set standards for organic marijuana, allow pot samples at county fairs and permit home deliveries under legislation set to be considered by lawmakers Thursday as the state prepares for next year’s start of legal marijuana sales. Lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration are working to merge California’s new voter-approved recreational pot law with the state’s longstanding medical marijuana program.
Farmworkers Arrested by Border Patrol After 13-Mile Dairy March
NECN | Posted onJune 19, 2017 in NewsTwo dairy farmworkers were heading back to a Franklin Country farm where they live and work after participating in a 13-mile march from Montpelier to the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. That’s when U.S. Border Patrol agents detained them on Saturday night.Immigrant dairy farmworkers and activists Yesenia Hernández-Ramos and Esau Peche-Ventura, 19 and 26, continue to be detained, and the immigrant justice group they’re involved with, Migrant Justice, is planning a rally outside of the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility where Hernández-Ramos is detained. Both are in U.S.