AgClips
Recent AgClips
EU OKs Poland’s wild boar slaughter to fight swine disease
AP News | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Rural NewsThe European Union’s executive body is supporting Poland’s slaughter of wild boars as a way of protecting farm pigs and meat production from the deadly African swine fever. The government’s decision to shoot some 200,000 wild boars this hunting season has drawn wide public protests but veterinary and Polish environment officials insist it’s an approved method.Massive boar hunts are planned for remaining weekends this month.
Urban Sheriffs Flee ICE Program as Small Counties Join Trump’s Deportation Push
Pew Trust | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Rural NewsActivists in North Carolina’s two largest cities, Charlotte and Raleigh, knocked on an estimated 12,000 doors last year to talk to voters about immigration and upcoming sheriff elections. Thanks in part to that push, Democratic sheriff candidates in both counties won in November on a pledge to end participation in 287(g), a program that allows county sheriffs to help federal authorities deport immigrants living in the United States without authorization.
Trump’s Shutdown Is a Sucker Punch for Struggling Farmers
The New York Times | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Agriculture, Federal NewsToday President Trump will address the American Farm Bureau’s 100th annual convention in New Orleans. But any promises of help will be too late for many farmers. Had he set out to ruin America’s small farmers, he could hardly have come up with a more effective, potentially ruinous one-two combination punch than tariffs and the shutdown.The trade wars collapsed farmers’ markets. Now, with farmers down, he’s kicking them with a partial shutdown that has effectively slammed the door on farm payments, loans and more. It’s hurting rural Americans — those who formed a big part of the base of Mr.
Colorado could save $2.5B through 2040 by replacing coal with clean energy: report
Utility Dive | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Energy NewsA new model of Colorado's energy mix shows consumers could save $250 million annually over a 10-year span if the state were to replace its coal plants with a mix of wind and solar, backed up by energy storage and natural gas.The report, commissioned by clean energy developer Community Energy and completed by Vibrant Clean Energy, also estimates the new resources would cut Colorado's state-wide annual carbon emissions from power generation by almost two-thirds.The analysis adds to a growing body of data showing Colorado consumers would save money by making a rapid shift away from coal, and e
Oil and ethanol industries renew hostilities over mandate
Washington Examiner | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Energy NewsThe oil and ethanol industries are eager to renew hostilities with each other over the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel program and ethanol mandate, no matter that the government is closed. American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers kicked things off while presenting the first State of American Energy report he's published as head of the oil and natural gas industry's lead trade group.
Environmental groups pull out of Wolf Plan talks
Capital Press | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is forging ahead with a long-overdue update of the state’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, even as four environmental groups withdrew from mediation and announced they will oppose it. In a Jan. 4 letter to Gov.
NW legislatures take up issues impacting agriculture
Capital Press | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsIn Oregon and Washington, the changing climate tops the governors’ legislative agendas. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee hope to help stanch global climate change by capping carbon production in their states. Though both proposals would exempt farmers and ranchers directly, the prospect of higher costs for fuel, energy and fertilizers caused by the caps poses a concern for agriculture. Meanwhile, in Idaho, legislators and new Gov.
New bills would change how Michigan cops seize property
Detroit Free Press | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe new session of the Republican-controlled Legislature began on a bipartisan footing Wednesday with the Democratic attorney general and lawmakers from both parties uniting behind a package of bills to reform civil asset forfeiture.
Medicaid ‘Buy-In’ Could Be a New Health Care Option for the Uninsured
Pew Trust | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Federal, Rural NewsEven as calls for “Medicare for All” grow louder among Democrats in Washington, D.C., at least 10 states are exploring whether to allow residents to pay premiums to “buy in” to Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor. Currently, Medicaid recipients pay for their coverage in only a handful of states, and the buy-in plans that states are considering might not offer the full range of benefits available to traditional beneficiaries.
Trump farm bailout money will go to Brazilian-owned meatpacking firm
The Washington Post | Posted onJanuary 14, 2019 in Federal NewsU.S. taxpayers will buy about $5 million in pork products from a Brazilian-owned meatpacking firm under President Trump’s bailout program, which was designed to help American farmers hurt by the administration’s trade war. JBS. one of the biggest meatpacking companies in the world, will sell 1.8 million pounds of pork products through a Trump bailout program that buys surplus commodities from farmers and ranchers, say records published by the Agricultural Marketing Service.