AgClips
Recent AgClips
Federal Reserve: Observations on the Ag Economy- April ’18
Illinois Farm Policy News | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Agriculture NewsSixth District- Atlanta– “Agriculture conditions across the District were mixed. Drought conditions improved in much of the District although light frosts in March affected some crops. Agricultural exporters indicated that the weaker dollar was having a favorable impact. On a year-over-year basis, prices paid to farmers in February were up for rice, beef, broilers, and eggs and down for corn, cotton, and soybeans.
The economic colonization of rural Anerica
Daily Yonder | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Rural NewsThe transformation of the American economy was supposed to usher in a new era of prosperity via a “rural renaissance.” Where has that dream gone and how do we bring it back? Over the past 50 years, many rural communities seem to have lost their purpose. The trend during this period has been toward fewer, larger, and more specialized farms. The result has been declining rural populations, declining demand for local markets and locally purchased inputs, and a resulting economic decay of many rural communities.
Report Looks at Trade Retaliation Impact on California
DTN | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Federal NewsFarmers for Free Trade released a report that will highlight California concerns that retaliatory tariffs from China hurt commodities like almonds, grapes, apples, and what the group calls “many other iconic California exports.”
Latest Planting in Four Years
DTN | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe early rounds of the 2018 row crop season have some notable similarities to 2014. Winter temperatures were the lowest since that year in many northern and central areas, punctuated by a harsh cold wave in the first three weeks of April. Much of the Midwest and the Northern Plains had the coldest April 1-18 stretch on record. The cold, along with several occurrences of heavy and record-breaking snow, have led to fieldwork getting off to a very slow start.
Animal Welfare--New CAST Task Force Report
Council for Agriculture Science and Technology | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe drive to address agricultural animal welfare increases as the demand for food of animal origins correspondingly grows. A major emerging challenge is the continuous need to meet animal protein demands while simultaneously protecting animal welfare and developing broadly sustainable production systems. Large-scale, intensive systems predominate production animal agriculture in the United States.
Rural job recovery varies by county industry
Daily Yonder | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in NewsSince the Great Recession of 2008, rural employment is down 4% using the latest annual reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hardest hit are counties where mining (including oil and natural gas production) predominates. Though still in the negative, manufacturing counties are closer to pre-recession levels than other nonmetro areas.
Gary MN shows small town's big talents
Daily Yonder | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Rural NewsA forest project in northwest Minnesota highlights how a small community can partner with a university to improve an important community resource. Some other small towns are starting to take notice of the success. The 160-acre pine forest runs along Highway 32 and holds historical significance to the community. Generations of residents have worked on the forest since it was developed as a Conservations Corps project in the 1930s. Originally a dusty area with blowing soil, the site was transformed into a pine forest.
In small town America, the public housing crisis nobody's talking about
Daily Yonder | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Rural NewsThe shuttering of public housing complexes in two small Midwestern towns raises big questions for residents, HUD and Congress. To tell the story, I could use your help. It’s a Sunday morning in late February at the tiny Baptist church atop the hill in Thebes, a remote village of about 400 people in the southernmost part of Illinois. I’m here for a story assignment, but to know people is to worship with them.
Lawyers wrap up case blaming pork giant for ghastly smells
ABC News | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Agriculture NewsIndustrial-scale hog producers knew for decades that noxious smells from open-air sewage pits tormented neighbors but didn't change their livestock-raising methods to keep production costs low, the lawyer for farm neighbors told jurors in a federal lawsuit. The first in a series of federal suits raising accusations of nauseating hog operations in eastern North Carolina headed to a 10-member jury after attorneys summarized the evidence presented at a three-week civil trial. The test case involved 10 neighbors of one, 15,000-hog operation producing an estimated 76 tons of waste per day.
Russian Farmer Alters Rural Economy With Virtual Currency, as Moscow Watches Warily
Wall Street Journal | Posted onApril 26, 2018 in Federal NewsFarmer Mikhail Shlyapnikov says the best way to revive the ailing economy in this remote village is cutting financial ties to Moscow. Mr. Shlyapnikov has launched a cryptocurrency, the kolion, named after his hamlet some 80 miles southeast of Moscow, buoyed by an initial investment of a half-million dollars from investors in Russia and abroad.