The Christian Science Monitor describes a “a new class divide,” this one in rural America.  Patrick Jonsson tells us that a new class of “super farms” is concentrating income in fewer hands. “The widening gulf between the haves and have nots is not limited to the Rust Belt’s cast-off manufacturing workers, working class suburbanites, or inner-city poor working on a stagnant minimum wage,” Jonsson writes. “The same trends have taken hold in farm country, though in different forms. [node:read-more:link]

We’re now approaching the Everest level in our march to the total narcissistic society:  Thirty-somethings are writing their memoirs. [node:read-more:link]

As the dust settled on what turned out to be a volatile June and early July for commodity markets, agricultural producer sentiment has turned higher (Figure 1). The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer, which is based on a monthly survey of 400 agricultural producers, came in at 112 for July, up from 104 in June and 97 in May.  The improvement in producer sentiment occurred despite the fact that grain and oilseed prices declined sharply in late June and early July, the report said, adding that the uptick in sentiment was driven by producers' expectations for the future. [node:read-more:link]

Canadian government invests CA$3.4 million to help AbCelex Technologies develop new line of antimicrobial poultry feed additives to battle Salmonella, Campylobacter [node:read-more:link]

Between 2005 and 2015, the number of licensed egg handlers in Oregon more than doubled, from 81 to 189, according to ODA records.  Though growers don’t need a license to sell eggs directly from a farm stand or at a farmers’ market, many want to be able to supply grocery stores and restaurants [node:read-more:link]

Excavators breached a dike Monday that for more than a century had protected farmland, furthering a state and federal plan to convert thousands of acres of agricultural fields into salmon habitat in the Skagit Delta.  Excavators started digging a gap in the 12-foot-high dike in the morning. By late afternoon, Puget Sound’s high tide was spreading saltwater over 131 acres that previously grew crops such as broccoli, red potatoes and vegetable seeds. [node:read-more:link]

According to the US Drought Monitor, released July 28, almost all of northeast and northcentral Ohio was in a “moderate drought,” the first of four levels of drought severity.

The moderate drought continues in northcentral Pennsylvania, and the majority of both states are classified as “abnormally dry,” a step before drought. The worst conditions are in the northernmost counties of Pennsylvani and into New York, where counties are suffering “severe drought,” or the second level of severity. [node:read-more:link]

While plant-based “milk” products, such as beverages made from almonds and soybeans, have some nutritional promise, they have a difficult time replacing milk from a cow, J.M. Madigan of North Carolina State University-Raleigh reported. To examine whether plant-based beverages hold the same nutritional aspects as cow’s milk and are overall better for the consumer, Madigan studied multiple research papers on cow-based milk and plant-based "milk" products and analyzed the potential benefits and limitations of each. [node:read-more:link]

The Texas company planning a crude oil pipeline that will cut across Iowa received the final federal permit approvals needed to proceed with construction. Documents posted by the Iowa Utilities Board show the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved 60 river crossings in Iowa for Dakota Access, a decision pipeline opponents hoped to stop.The company, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, plans construction of a $3.8 billion, 1,168-mile project that's already begun in Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota. [node:read-more:link]

Carfentanil a drug used to sedate elephants and other large animals which is 100 times as potent as the fentanyl have been found to be mixed with or passed off as heroin. The appearance of carfentanil, one of the most potent opioids known to investigators, has added another angle to cases of drug overdoses, heroin and abuse of fentanyl. [node:read-more:link]