AgClips
Recent AgClips
Tennessee Economic Development Officials Offer To Help Rescue Rural Hospitals
Nashville Public Radio | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Rural NewsTennessee's economic development officials want to help rescue rural hospitals. They propose dispatching restructuring specialists to a dozen or more hospitals that are teetering on the edge. Tennessee has lost more hospitals since 2012 than any state but Texas, and the Department of Economic and Community Development argues that hospitals are doubly important for rural communities. They're often the largest employer around, and without one, it's virtually impossible to recruit major businesses to the area.
Midwestern BioAg gets a dream opportunity with new partnership with General Mills
Wisconsin State Journal | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Agriculture, Food News“Biological farmers want to feed the soil life and create the ideal home (for plants) and we’ve got a whole concept,” Zimmer said. A major food manufacturer, General Mills, agrees. Last month, it announced it was partnering with Midwestern BioAg — the Madison-based biological farming company Zimmer founded in 1979 — to convert the 34,000-acre Gunsmoke Farm near Pierre, South Dakota, into an organic farm. When it’s completed in 2020, it will become the largest organic transition in North America, Zimmer said.
New Momentum for Addiction Treatment Behind Bars
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Rural NewsFrom the moment they are arrested, people with an addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers and those who are taking medications to beat their addictions face the prospect of painful opioid withdrawal. At least a quarter of the people in U.S. prisons and jails are addicted to opioids.
Faking support animals can get you evicted from S.D. rentals beginning in July
Argus Leader | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsSouth Dakota tenants who lie about having a disability to keep a pet in their rental unit will be subject to eviction and fees beginning in July. The governor signed into law this month a proposal that would allow landlords to evict tenants who fake a disability or provide false documentation claiming they have a medical condition to keep an emotional support animal.Supporters said the law is crucial in preventing tenants from lying about their medical conditions to forego payments for pets.
MD bill to give research animals chance at adoption advances
WTOP | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsMaryland state Senate has already approved the Beagle Freedom Bill, which includes both cats and dogs but is named for the most common type of research dog. A similar bill has failed for the past two years and was opposed by several research institutions including John Hopkins Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Hopkins now supports the bill, which was amended to allow researchers to run adoption programs, among other changes.
Neighborhood Effects: How Small Towns Give Poor Kids a Head Start
Daily Yonder | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Rural NewsNew research shows that children from poor families in rural communities earn more by their mid-20s than their urban peers, contrary to stereotypes about the disadvantages of growing up rural. A major study of individual incomes found that poor children who grow up in three-quarters of rural counties earn more than the national average by their mid-20s. Find out about what researchers call “neighborhood effects” in rural communities and the lifelong advantages of growing up in places with less income disparity, good schools, and strong civic life.
Clean Meat
OFW Law | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Food NewsAll the time, we hear the loud voices of consumer groups that insist the public must be informed about the food we eat. "Label it organic." "If it has GMOs, the consumer must know." "You should not label it natural if it is not natural," whatever 'natural' means. Now, we have millions of dollars being invested in a new "clean meat" industry. But it’s not "meat," as we know it. It’s not a beef steak or a pork chop. Can the food be labeled "clean meat" or "clean beef" if the product is grown from cell cultures in a lab? Cultured meat products don’t come from conventional animals.
Vermont needs to make ‘tough decisions’ on cow herds
Vermont Digger | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThere are more cows in Vermont than the state’s agricultural land can accommodate under current practices, according to a new study from a UVM research fellow. But a promising solution to the problem would place a financial burden on struggling dairy farmers. The study recommends “precision feeding” as a promising approach to reduce dairies’ rate of water pollution without reducing herd sizes.
Federal court shuts NY cheese facility linked to Listeria outbreak that killed two
USA Today | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Food NewsA federal court has shut down the New York creamery linked to a multistate listeriosis outbreak in 2017 that sickened at least eight people, resulting in two deaths. Vulto Creamery LLC and its owner, Johannes Vulto, were ordered to cease all food preparation, production, and related operations at the Walton, N.Y. facility until they can ensure no listeria is present.
Rural Broadband’s Only Hope: Thinking Outside the Box?
Government Technology | Posted onApril 10, 2018 in Rural NewsAs states struggle to close the connectivity gap in rural areas, some experts believe a federal mandate, similar to the one that first brought those residents electricity, might be in order.The American landscape of broadband in rural areas is spotty at best. It is a picture covered with splotches of color. Some maps are covered with red indicating there is no service; and other maps are covered in blue where access can be found.