Every day, power plants and industries across the globe emit nearly 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — an effect that has pushed our climate into a dangerous zone, causing the Arctic to melt at an alarming rate, sea levels to rise, and weather patterns to shift across the world. But change is brewing and our best shot at reducing those emissions might be right under our feet. Projects are now being developed that capture the harmful gas before it's released into the atmosphere and bury it deep in the Earth. [node:read-more:link]

Farm Loans Rise to Record Level.Survey Results at a Glance:  The overall index fell below growth neutral for the 20th straight month. Loan volume soars to record level as banks reject fewer loan applications.Almost one-third of bankers indicate no change in lending practices stemming from the downturn in the farm economy.  For 2017, bank CEOs expect approximate cash expenses to exceed cash revenues for 17.1 percent of grain farmers, down from 19.5 percent in 2016. Farmland prices declined for the 41st straight month, but the percent of cash farmland sales remained steady from 2015 [node:read-more:link]

Butterball plans to close the former Gusto Packing pork processing plant in Montgomery, Ill., it purchased in 2013, eliminating about 600 jobs, and ending production of the Gusto-branded bacon and ham products the plant was making. “With this closure, the company will be exiting the pork business both branded and private label by July 17, 2017.” [node:read-more:link]

More than 124,000 acres of Delaware farmland are now permanently preserved for future generations, with 3,039 acres of easements selected into the state’s preservation program in the 21st year of selections made by the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation. The farms in this round would not have been preserved without matching funds from multiple sources, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, New Castle County and Kent County Levy Court. [node:read-more:link]

Idaho beekeepers are building modern storage facilities to protect their bees during the winter to so they can take full advantage of strong demand for their pollination services. French, with Cox’s Honey, explained he wants as many hives as possible to survive the winter so he can take full advantage of increasing demand for pollination services in California’s almond orchards. [node:read-more:link]

President Donald Trump said he would seek to keep his tough immigration enforcement policies from harming the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Earlier this week, the New York Times printed their latest agriculture-focused article, “A Strong Case Against a Pesticide Does Not Faze E.P.A. Under Trump.” This is just another in a series of stories that lack balance and fail to represent the perspective of farmers or any other sector of the agriculture community. [node:read-more:link]

Major mining companies, including some of the world's biggest suppliers of fossil fuel, are seeking to use more renewable energy themselves as they strive to drive down costs and curb emissions. [node:read-more:link]

Iowa's Republican senator on Wednesday raised concerns that U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has commissioned a "hastily developed" study of the reliability of the electric grid that appears "geared to undermine" the wind energy industry.In a letter sent to Perry, Senator Chuck Grassley asked a series of questions about the 60-day study he commissioned. [node:read-more:link]