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New Hampshire already lags behind most of its neighbors in expanding its use of renewable energy but that hasn't stopped several groups from using this legislative session to attack those nascent efforts. Led by the Americans for Prosperity,  these groups support a bill that would pull New Hampshire out of the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program has reduced carbon dioxide emissions from electrical generation in those eight states by 40 percent over the last decade. [node:read-more:link]

The Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) checkoff program is launching a new Roadway and Bridge Improvement Calculator, an online service intended to help local communities better plan road and bridge projects.  Simple, customizable and fast, the calculator will allow communities to save time and money during budgeting and planning stages so that more financial resources can be put toward the actual improvement of roads and bridges. Wagner acknowledges county and city engineers, town officials and others need to consider many factors when planning road and bridge projects. [node:read-more:link]

From “cow committee” to the New Hampshire Senate floor, dairy farmers inch ever closer to receiving funds to help make up for last summer’s drought.  In a 19-3 floor vote Thursday, state senators moved forward a bill that would provide $2 million to the Milk Producers Emergency Relief Fund board to then be distributed to the state’s dairy farmers.  The board recommended that the Legislature appropriate a $3.6 million one-time payment for dairy farmers back in October. [node:read-more:link]

Cargill Inc. said it plans to spend $2.7 million (C$3.5 million) to expand and upgrade its beef facility in Guelph, Ont., where the company processes 1,500 head of cattle each day.  The Ontario government will supplement the cost of the expansion project by contributing about $442,000 (C$582,000), a move that Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said will help the province remain competitive, according to a release from the agency. The Cargill project also is expected to help maintain the 1,600 local jobs at the plant west of Toronto.  [node:read-more:link]

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee convened a hearing on Wednesday to get input from transportation leaders from rural regions as lawmakers and the new administration assemble an infrastructure package.   “Funding solutions that involve public-private partnerships, as have been discussed by administration officials, may be innovative solutions for crumbling inner cities, but do not work for rural areas,” Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said.  “Public-private partnerships and other approaches to infrastructure investment that depend on a positive revenue stream from a project [node:read-more:link]

North Dakota dairy producers are taking aim at attracting a specialty dairy products plant in hopes of saving the declining industry. North Dakota has seen a reduction of 350 dairy farms in 2002 to 86 dairy farms today, losing five since the last legislative session. The number of cows is down to 16,000 compared to 40,000 in 2002. Aimed at helping struggling dairy enterprises, a joint study between the North Dakota Dairy Coalition and the South Dakota Department of Agriculture identified the industry’s best options for getting a new processing plant in the area. [node:read-more:link]

On the heels of the introduction of a bill in South Dakota that would require retail beef products sold in the state to bear a country-of-origin label, a committee in the Wyoming House has approved a similar bill.  A majority of House Agriculture Committee members  voted in favor of sending House Bill 198 to the full House of Representatives. [node:read-more:link]

A Utah lawmaker wants to send people to jail for harassing farm animals with drones, all-terrain vehicles and even dogs through a proposal that's unique in the U.S. and has gained an unlikely opponent.  Republican Rep. Scott Chew, who's also a rancher, said Tuesday that he introduced the bill because farmers incur significant costs and hardships when livestock are injured. [node:read-more:link]

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s proposed fiscal 2017 budget recommends $10 million for ag research center, $400,000 for wolf control efforts and $500,000 in ongoing funding for graduate student housing at University of Idaho agricultural research stations. [node:read-more:link]

Hawkes Company is a family-owned business in Minnesota that sought to harvest peat moss, for landscaping, in nearby bogs. The Corps claimed jurisdiction over the property as regulated wetlands, even though a Corps reviewing officer found the Jurisdictional Determination invalid. This put Hawkes in an untenable position: Hawkes could (1) abandon all use of the land at great loss; (2) seek an unnecessary federal permit for a few hundred thousand dollars; or (3), proceed to use the land without federal approval subjecting Hawkes to fines of $37,500 a day and criminal prosecution. [node:read-more:link]