AgClips
Recent AgClips
Losing our local fabric, one thread at a time
The Cap Times | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Rural NewsBut everything changes, and that will, too. Wisconsin-based Book World, which somehow managed to be the fourth-largest book chain in the U.S., will soon vacate storefronts across the Midwest. The company cited the loss of sales to online competitors. So small communities like Rice Lake, Sturgeon Bay, Shawano and 17 others in Wisconsin will lose one more thread of local fabric. A few may have a local bookstore tended by dedicated owners. Most will go without, and their communities will be the less for it. Hopefully a new model will emerge in these towns.
Dollar General is expanding in rural Midwest, presenting a threat to small-town grocery stores
Omaha World Herald | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in NewsA fire destroyed their local grocery store in 2008, but people in this Woodbury County town of 1,600 pooled their money to rebuild.Now the town is again in danger of losing the store it worked to keep.
New App Maps Overdose Epidemic in Real Time
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Rural NewsIn the summer of 2016, drug overdose deaths in Baltimore were exploding and health commissioner Dr.
Massive Fracking on Nevada Public Lands Sought by Trump Administration, Conservation Groups Launch Legal Protest
EcoWatch | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Energy NewsThe protest—filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, WildLands Defense and Basin and Range Watch—says the BLM has violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act by failing to analyze the risks of drilling for oil and fracking with dangerous chemicals on such a massive scale. Development of these parcels, one of the largest fracking plans in the country, could contaminate ground and surface water, threaten endangered species and cause irreparable harm to the global climate.
New Jersey orders Udder Milk to stop illegally selling raw milk
Food Safety News | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Food NewsPublic health officials have ordered a New Jersey company to cease and desist its illegal sales of unpasteurized, raw milk following confirmation that a woman who drank it was infected with antibiotic-resistant brucellosis. The New Jersey Department of Health issued cease-and-desist orders to Udder Milk on Friday, but did not post the news on is website until Monday. Neither the state health department nor the Udder Milk website indicated where the delivery business is located. No business entities named Udder Milk are listed with the New Jersey or New York secretaries of state offices.
Pennsylvania Reconvenes Rural Development Council
Lancaster Farming | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsOn Monday, state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding presided over the first meeting of the reconstituted Rural Development Council on behalf of Gov. Tom Wolf.
Rural Housing Challenges Through the Lens of Two New England Communities
University of New Hampshire, Carsey School | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Rural NewsIn this brief, we use interview and focus group data to describe some of the ways that restricted rural housing stock affects working families in two rural New England counties, and explore solutions proposed by rural residents and experts to make housing affordable (see Box 1 on page 2). Rural amenities and scenery make residence in certain New England regions desirable for second-home owners, vacationers, and retirees.
Rural program generates energy savings through efficiency
Billings Gazette | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Energy, Rural NewsLow-to-moderate income renters and homeowners in rural Arkansas are reaping the savings from a program they pay for themselves over time to improve energy efficiency in their house or apartment.Tammy Agard, president and co-founder of EEtility in Arkansas, told nearly 190 people attending the 46th annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council Saturday about a program in which an energy cooperative lends people money for energy efficiency or renewable energy improvements to their homes.Residents pay nothing out-of-pocket for the improvements, but instead pay off the loan over time t
How Many Robots Does It Take to Fill a Grocery Order?
Bloomberg | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Agriculture NewsIt once took online grocer Ocado two hours to put together a box of 50 food items. Now machines can do it in five minutes. The U.K.'s biggest online grocer hit a milestone this year: Ocado Group Plc put together an order of 50 items, including produce, meat and dairy, in five minutes. Fulfilling a similar order at one of the company’s older facilities takes an average of about two hours. The secret: a fleet of 1,000 robots that scurry about a warehouse snatching up products and delivering them to human packers.
FDA Launches Visualization Tool for Antibiotic Resistance Genes
FDA | Posted onNovember 15, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched an interactive research tool called Resistome Tracker. Resistome Tracker is one of the first publicly available tools to provide visually informative displays of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria. It is designed mainly for public health officials, academics and researchers who are using new genomics technologies to track and treat infectious diseases.