Germany is considering ordering its poultry farmers to keep their flocks indoors following an outbreak of bird flu in the country, German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt said. Germany and Switzerland reported new outbreaks of a severe strain of bird flu on Saturday, the latest in a series of cases across Europe. The H5N8 virus has also been found in Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Croatia. Germany will consult with countries including the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark about possible action, Schmidt said ahead of a meeting in Brussels. [node:read-more:link]

Betting the farm on record crop, livestock and dairy prices has turned into a losing investment for an expanding share of America’s agricultural heartland. The level of debt to income is the highest in three decades, and growers are increasingly unable to make loan payments.  Four years after record U.S. crop and farmland values boosted purchases of land and equipment, a global surplus has sent prices tumbling and farm income into the longest slump since 1977. [node:read-more:link]

Trump’s message of economic populism resonated in rural America. Just think about it: commodity prices are low, inputs are high, jobs are leaving, kids aren’t staying home after college, schools are struggling and infrastructure is crumbling. Many of these things, even in the broadest sense, played into Trump’s message of more jobs, lower taxes, and infrastructure investment. Many Democrats, in 20/20 hindsight, have criticized the Clinton campaign for what they categorize as ignoring rural voters during the campaign. [node:read-more:link]

flight by Alaska Airlines on Monday marked the first commercial flight fueled at least in part with a new fuel from wood waste. The flight carried passengers from Seattle, Wash., to Reagan National Airport just outside of Washington, D.C. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was on hand to greet the passengers as a way to highlight the new biofuel, which came from wood waste off private lands in Montana, Oregon and Washington. The biofuel could potentially provide a sustainable bio-products industry in the Pacific Northwest utilizing wood harvest left-overs that would otherwise go to waste [node:read-more:link]

CoBank, a cooperative bank serving agribusinesses, rural infrastructure providers and Farm Credit associations throughout the United States, announced it is launching a new program for veterans with disabilities from America’s rural communities. In partnership with its customers and the nonprofit group No Barriers USA, CoBank will sponsor up to 50 veterans from rural areas across the U.S. to participate in outdoor expeditions that challenge them mentally and physically and help them to transform their lives. [node:read-more:link]

Authorities in Yadkin County, N.C., are investigating what may have caused a multiple-alarm fire over the weekend that killed an estimated 12,000 chickens. [node:read-more:link]

This report highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas, focusing on the U.S. rural economy, including employment, population, poverty, and income trends. Unemployment continued to decline in rural areas in 2015, falling close to levels last seen before the Great Recession, as employment continued to grow. After declining for several years, rural population stabilized. Median annual earnings rose in rural areas and poverty fell markedly in 2015, as in urban areas; the rise in earnings occurred across most major industry sectors. [node:read-more:link]

hite House officials conceded Friday that the president’s hard-fought-for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal would not pass Congress in light of the election of Donald Trump, who campaigned on anti-global trade policies.  Desmond O’Rourke, publisher of the World Apple Report, noted that several weeks ago Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he would not allow debate on the TPP to be raised in the lame duck session. The White House announcement confirms that. [node:read-more:link]

A Rice University energy expert sees long-term growth for oil, gas and even coal—just not in the developed world.  Speaking to the American Petroleum Institute’s Acadiana Chapter, Rice Center for Energy Studies Senior Director Kenneth B. Medlock III said energy growth may be most brisk over the next 20 years in the portions of the world that hunger for the quality of life enjoyed in developed countries like the United States, Canada and Japan. [node:read-more:link]

Fish catches in overfished European waters — stretching from the Arctic to the Black Sea — could increase by 57 percent if stocks were managed sustainably.   The Oceana environmental group says scientists believe catches of haddock, cod, herring and sardine in the Atlantic could increase by at least 300 percent. Group spokeswoman Maria Cornax said Tuesday there was “no excuse” not to start fishing sustainably.  “This is actually meant to help the fishery industry,” she said. [node:read-more:link]