AgClips
Recent AgClips
To Survive The Bust Cycle, Farmers Go Back To Business-School Basics
National Public Radio | Posted onMay 26, 2016 in Agriculture NewsAfter several boom years while the rest of the economy struggled, farming is entering its third year on the bust side of the cycle. Major crop prices are low, while expenses like seed, fertilizer and land remain high. And that means farmers have to get creative to succeed.
Modern crop farms in the Corn Belt are sophisticated businesses. So put aside your notions of bucolic red barns surrounded by a few cows. And pull out your best business school vocabulary, because crops are commodities.
Report Says GMOs Offer No Risk To Human Health
Growing Produce | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in NewsA study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine has found no difference in the risks to human health between genetically engineered (GE) crops and traditionally bred crops. The recently released study, also found no conclusive cause-and-effect evidence of environmental problems from GMOs. Although the study did indicate evolved resistance to current GE characteristics is of concern. The committee recommends new crop varieties should be evaluated and regulated by characteristics instead of by the process in which they were developed.
Here's How a Bayer-Monsanto Merger Affects Workers, Farmers, and Investors
Fortune | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsBayer wants to buy Monsanto for $62 billion, hooking up the German chemical and drug company with the St. Louis-based producer of seeds and weed-killers. The deal would create a global giant in agriculture technology touching much of global food production through the development of seeds and pesticides. They would combine different regional strengths: Monsanto is big in the United States, while Bayer has a larger presence in Europe and Asia. Bayer says the head office for the combined seed business will be in St. Louis, Missouri, where Monsanto is headquartered.
Bayer Says It’s Confident It Can Meet Monsanto Deal Demands
Bloomberg | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsBayer AG, whose $62 billion takeover bid was rejected earlier by Monsanto Co., said it’s confident it can overcome the seed company’s concerns about the regulatory and financing risks related to a deal that would create the world’s largest supplier of seeds and crop chemicals. The conciliatory tone from both sides sets the stage for an improved offer from Bayer.
Failed oil well near Wasta may put state in $2 million hole and could endanger water
Rapid City Journal | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in Energy NewsAn attempt three years ago to drill an oil well 9,700 feet deep, through multiple water aquifers and a highly dense layer of pre-Cambrian rock near Wasta, ended very badly.And now the state of South Dakota may be on the hook for a $2 million repair and clean-up bill, and officials are worried over the failed well's impact on local fresh water supplies. The trouble began when a drill bit broke partway down after going through several aquifers. The bit and a long length of drill pipe are still in the hole at the well that is located about 45 miles east of Rapid City.
Utah's Governor’s Office of Economic Development provides $2 million in rural business incentives
Deseret News | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in NewsThe Governor’s Office of Economic Development recently approved eight rural Utah businesses for Rural Fast Track grants. Rural Fast Track grants are post-performance matching funds available to small businesses in qualifying Utah counties. Aimed at creating high-paying local jobs, the program provides an efficient way for rural companies to purchase necessary equipment, create new positions or reach other goals to grow their business
Income Inequality: A Growing Threat to Eliminating Rural Child Poverty
USDA | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in Rural NewsRural child poverty fell by 3 percentage points from 2012 to 2014.
Book- "All Electric America" Says climate change response too slow
Daily Yonder | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in NewsDavid Freeman, a celebrated eco-pioneer and former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, argues that the nation’s most electrified region needs an even higher dose of that magic juice that the New Dealers promised would make this impoverished seven-state region look like the rest of America and become a model of economic development for the world. Freeman’s vision this time is far broader and more likely to have enduring impact and global implications than TVA has had in its 83-year history.
Reassessing Local Wind Energy Standards
Center for Rural Affairs | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in Energy NewsWind energy continues to be a growing industry in the United States. Several states are tapping this renewable resource for over 20% of their power needs. As growth continues, projects are breaking new ground. Developers are interacting with more communities and landowners in the process. While landowners received at least $180 million in land lease payments (and that number could continue to grow to $1 billion annually by 2050), many still face challenges from the development of projects on their land.
For many Somali refugees, meat processing offers hope — then takes it away
Washington Post | Posted onMay 25, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThough meatpacking plants have long relied on labor by immigrants, particularly Hispanics, major companies have moved to hire Somalis, who have the dual advantage for employers of being legal and relatively cheap. In one slice of a changing low-wage America, these are the new ideal workers. Only a decade earlier, meatpacking jobs went almost exclusively to Hispanics. But now more Mexican immigrants are leaving the United States than coming to work, and the number of unauthorized immigrants is receding after decades of growth.