AgClips
Recent AgClips
Potholes in the plans to rebuild America
The Hill | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Rural NewsIn recent weeks, both presidential candidates have unveiled plans to repair and improve the country’s bridges, roads, internet and water systems. Democratic nominee Clinton says she will allocate $275 billion to the cause, including the creation of a national infrastructure bank designed to spur private investment, in what she has called the “biggest job creation program since World War II.” Meanwhile, presidential hopeful Trump boasts that he would “at least double” Clinton’s pledged investment.
John Block: Farm Problems
OFW Law | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsWe are looking at record crops of corn, soybeans, and wheat this year. Dairy farmers are suffering with the lowest prices since 2009. We have too much milk – not just here in the U.S.
10th District manufacturing activity continued to decline
Kansas CIty Fed | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Federal NewsThe Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released the August Manufacturing Survey today. According to Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the survey revealed that Tenth District manufacturing activity continued to decline modestly. “Firms reported another slight drop in activity in August but remained moderately optimistic about activity heading forward,” said Wilkerson.
Sustainability: it’s not a bad word and it also means profit
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsMore than a just few times this year, I’ve witnessed industry speakers who were reluctant to answer questions on sustainability. It turns many a speaker’s face red. Sustainability carries such broad implications that it’s difficult to define with a short answer. Some people in our industry have apparently come to despise the word, and seem to cringe when they hear it. Many seem to have become suspicious of the concepts it represents. Speakers know this and often avoid the subject. Sustainability simply means the ability to sustain, or put another way, theability to continue.
FDA awards grants for tribes and local food producers
The Packer | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Federal NewsThe Food and Drug Administration has awarded grants to help tribal operations and local food producers receive appropriate food safety training.The FDA said the Local Food Producer Outreach, Education, and Training to Enhance Food Safety and FSMA Compliance cooperative agreement was awarded to the National Farmers Union Foundation. The agreement will help deliver science-based, culturally specific food safety training, education and outreach for local food producers and processors.
Idaho judge dismisses case against business tax credit
Capital Press | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsA district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legality of a tax reimbursement credit that was passed in 2014 with the support of Idaho farm groups. The tax incentive has already helped Idaho land Amy’s Kitchen, an organic convenience food maker, and facilitated an $82 million expansion by Glanbia Foods, a cheese manufacturer. The tax credit will be used by a food product manufacturing company that plans to make a $15 million capital investment in Boise that will result in 80 new jobs.
Baltimore processor to build new poultry plant, create 100 jobs
Meatingplace (registration required) | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsBaltimore-based Holly Poultry is building a brand-new, USDA-inspected poultry processing plant that will bring 100 new jobs to that city once the facility is operational in January 2017. The 37,500-square-foot plant will allow Holly — a further processor of poultry products and a wholesale distributor of poultry, pork, beef and other refrigerated products — to separate its processing business from its wholesale commodity business.
Rancher billboards promote grazing, logging on public lands
Capital Press | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsStevens County ranchers are using billboards to raise awareness about public lands issues. The Stevens County Cattlemen are advertising with a billboard on Highway 395 south of Colville, Wash. The billboard depicts the message “Public Lands: Log it, graze it or watch it burn.” A billboard featuring the message “Wilderness: public land of no use — no logging, chainsaws, grazing, mining, bikes, wheelchairs and ATVs,” was located on the highway in Arden, Wash., earlier this year. The group first used the billboards in 2015.
Washington county authorizes action against wolves
Capital Press | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Rural NewsFerry County commissioners unanimously passed a resolution Friday authorizing the sheriff’s office to kill the remaining nine members of a wolf pack in the northeastern Washington county, if state wildlife officials don’t resume shooting wolves. “That pack of wolves needs to be gone,” Commissioner Mike Blankenship said. “I feel the sheriff has that power and that obligation as much as he would with a wild dog out there.” The Department of Fish and Wildlife halted the search Thursday for the Profanity Peak pack 13 days after shooting two adult female wolves from a helicopter.
Rural-Urban Voters False Dichotomy
Daily Yonder | Posted onAugust 25, 2016 in Rural NewsOne key to understanding current political reporting is that many national reporters seem to think that any area that is not within a major U.S. city is rural. Which leads to an aside: Isn’t it interesting how this data is always pitched as rural versus urban. A better description is that the nation’s huge cities are voting very differently from everyone else. The NPR reporter runs down the differences between major cities and the rest of the country – major cities are more mixed racially, for example, and people there on average have more education.