The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has awarded 16 Rural Development Fund Grants. Eligible counties include those with a population no greater than 60,000 residents or micropolitan statistical areas.The department received 66 proposals with requests totaling nearly $5.1 million. [node:read-more:link]
Iowans flooded the Capitol Monday to oppose a pair of bills aimed at limiting the ability of governments and private organizations to purchase new land for conservation and public use. [node:read-more:link]
Legislation that proposes new restrictions to the commonwealth's open records law would make Kentucky one of only a handful of states that prevents nonresidents from obtaining public documents there, according to national experts. [node:read-more:link]
South Dakota is following the national trend when it comes to the shortage of large animal veterinarians. However, the state is also trying to be proactive in addressing the problem and that was a part of the focus of the recent James Bailey Herd Health Conference in Brookings.Farquer said he believes vet schools need to get back to finding people that grew up in rural areas and want to return there. [node:read-more:link]
General Mills on March 4 announced its commitment to advance regenerative agriculture practices on one million acres of farmland by 2030. The company will partner with organic and conventional farmers, suppliers and trusted farm advisors in key growing regions to drive the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices. A contributor to climate change, it is estimated that the global food system accounts for roughly one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and 70 percent of water consumption. [node:read-more:link]
Harold Labrensz spent much of his 89-year life farming and ranching the rolling Dakota plains along the Missouri River. His family figured he would die there, too. But late last year, the nursing home in Mobridge, S.D., that cared for Mr. Labrensz announced that it was shutting down after a rocky history of corporate buyouts, unpaid bills and financial ruin. It had become one of the many nursing homes across the country that have gone out of business in recent years as beds go empty, money troubles mount and more Americans seek to age in their own homes.For Mr. [node:read-more:link]
Roughly half of Wisconsin’s dairy farmers have left the business in the last fifteen years, with high production costs and lower demand to blame. “We did everything we could to survive,” one family tells NBC’s Kevin Tibbles after they were forced to sell their cows. [node:read-more:link]
When Art Cullen won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2017, it marked an important change for the small-town newspaper editor. Cullen and his brother John run the Storm Lake Times, a twice-a-week paper staffed mainly by family members that seeks not only to knit together a strong community in the diverse, 10,000-person town of Storm Lake, Iowa, but also to keep a record of—and engage in an active conversation about—the way agriculture there has changed. [node:read-more:link]
Increasing demand for renewable energy in Oregon has spurred a proposal to exempt most such projects from compulsory review by a statewide siting panel. [node:read-more:link]
Senate Bill 96 increases the penalty for intentionally injuring or killing search-and-rescue dogs and horses employed by police and fire departments.43 Florida K-9s have died in duty over the years, according to Officers Down Memorial Page records.Currently, it's a third-degree felony to hurt or kill a police search-and-rescue or fire dog or horse. If SB 96 passes it would become a second-degree felony. That would possibly triple the prison time from a possible maximum of five to 15 years. [node:read-more:link]
