As dozens of states consider adopting fees and less-favorable rates to tilt the scales against net metering, advocates say a proposal in Indiana would offer rooftop solar customers the worst deal in the country.  Senate Bill 309, would end net metering by 2027 at the latest, and earlier than that for new panel installations by customers of utilities that hit caps on net metering capacity. The new rules would require customers to buy all the electricity they consume from the utility at a retail rate while selling everything they generate to the utility at a lower wholesale rate. [node:read-more:link]

A pair of bills now before the Nebraska legislature would provide a new potential funding source for community solar projects, and mandate that utilities allow community solar projects initiated by their customers. LB 610 would explicitly allow the Nebraska Environmental Trust to consider issuing grants to community solar projects. The trust’s funds, coming from a portion of the state’s lottery proceeds, amount to roughly $16 million yearly. [node:read-more:link]

“All of a sudden, rural is on everyone’s mind,” said Kai A. Schafft, director of the Center on Rural Education and Communities at Penn State, adding that November’s vote amplified the plight of people who had heretofore been “pretty systematically ignored, dismissed or passed over.” That’s partly because, while the federal government labels 72 percent of the nation’s land area “rural,” it is home to only 14 percent of the population, and rural schools educate just 18 percent of the nation’s public school students. [node:read-more:link]

"We were able to reduce the numbers of bird fatalities on communications towers by simply extinguishing those nonflashing lights," she says. "Those fatalities were reduced by as much as 70 percent."  Exactly why isn't yet clear, but she has a theory.  "Some research has documented that when birds are exposed to long wavelengths of light such as red or white that it actually interferes with their ability to use magnetic fields for navigation," Gehring says.  She says that's especially true on cloudy nights when birds can't navigate by the stars. [node:read-more:link]

Dr. Eunsung Kan sees his concept of a closed-loop dairy farm, which reuses wastewater, emits zero waste and powers itself on manure, as the future of sustainable animal farming. Kan's research would utilize existing technology – biochar, a carbon material similar to charcoal, created from animal manure and agricultural waste, such as corn stubble or rice straw – that would be used to filter solid waste and effluent. [node:read-more:link]

Don't expect any quick action on a Farm Bill that's due in 2018. That's the view of federal agricultural policy analysts who were panelists on a “Food Policy and Farm Bill” program at the 2017 Dairy Forum sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association. Approving a new Farm Bill in 2017 would be “a heavy lift” and even doing so in 2018 could be “a long shot,” according to Krysta Harden, who was chief of staff for Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack during the Barack Obama administration. [node:read-more:link]

The development of animal disease traceability programs will be crucial to expanding trade opportunities for America's cattle producers, according to the Washington Department of Agriculture. Dr. Scott Haskell, the assistant state veterinarian at the department, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture took a stab at creating a national program about 15 years ago. But it fell flat, largely due to the independent mindset of the country's cattlemen and -women.  "They have limitations on who they trust," Haskell said. [node:read-more:link]

A coalition of 17 American dairy organizations, farmers and milk processors have written governors in 25 states asking them to press Canada into halting a new dairy pricing strategy set to go into effect on Feb 1. The groups point to Canadian provincial policies for ingredient class milk prices that the groups state are displacing U.S. exports to Canada. Essentially, Canadian provinces created a new class of milk ingredients that was done largely as a strategy to reduce similar milk products from the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

To college administrators, rural students, many of them the first in their families to attend college, have become the new underrepresented minority. In their aim to shape leaders and provide access to the disadvantaged, higher education experts have been recognizing that these students bring valuable experiences and viewpoints to campuses that don’t typically attract agriculture majors. [node:read-more:link]

A study initiated to assess the feasibility of a new multi-species processing facility in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula determined demand was insufficient to support a new facility, but did find a clear need for increased slaughter and processing capacity in the region.  The research team concluded that targeted initiatives could increase the region’s capacity and throughput by nurturing incremental growth in production, processing and demand.  As a result of input received from producers and buyers, a group of stakeholders applied for and received a Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rura [node:read-more:link]