AgClips
Recent AgClips
Seeking Certainty in Biofuels, But Finding Little
DTN | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Energy NewsActing EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler dropped into Iowa this week. Wheeler talked about "certainty" but offered none. Based on the news reports from the Des Moines Register and Cedar Rapids Gazette, Wheeler didn't say EPA was going to back off on small-refinery exemptions, and he said the agency is stilling "looking into" the possibility of E15 year-round. There were still no answers about the biofuel demand lost from EPA's small-refinery exemptions, only Wheeler pointing out the need for more transparency.
Agricultural Debt Continues to Increase
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Agriculture NewsAgricultural debt on a nominal basis in Illinois has been increasing since 1991. Nominally, agricultural debt reached a peak in 1984 of $188.8 billion (see the nominal line in Figure 1). From 1984 through 1989, agricultural producers retired debt and agricultural lenders wrote off some debt, resulting in a decline in total debt. By 1989, agricultural debt had declined by 31%, reaching a level of $131 billion. Since 1990, agricultural debt increased an average of 4.1% per year. The rate of increase varied from year-to-year but exhibited no escalating or decreasing trends.
Growers Push for Better Fruit and Vegetable Prices
Growing Produce | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Agriculture NewsApparently Australian growers have been feeling the same financial pinch that American growers are feeling. After years of their own costs going up without a corresponding increase in crop prices, Aussie farmers are fighting back.
New Tool For Farmland Seekers
Growing Produce | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Agriculture, Rural NewsBeginning farmers have a powerful new tool in their digital toolbox.
What Documentation Should I Have for Hunters on My Property?
Texas Agriculture Law Blog | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Rural NewsHunting Lease. All landowners should require a hunting lease be signed by anyone coming onto the property.
Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Reauthorized
FDA | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsThese two user fee programs enhance the FDA’s ability to maintain a predictable and timely animal drug review process, foster innovation in drug development, and expedite access to new therapies for food-producing and companion animals.
Danes to fence German border to stop boars with swine fever
AP | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Agriculture NewsDenmark is to erect a 70-kilometer (43.4-mile) fence along the German border to keep out wild boars, in the hope of preventing the spread of African swine fever, which can jeopardize the country’s valuable pork industry. Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it had approved the outline for the steel fence, which will be up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall.
Modernizing renewables mandates is no longer about the megawatts
Utility Dive | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Energy NewsMandate innovations should no longer be limited to megawatts of wind and solar. State mandates, called renewable portfolio standards (RPS), set a standard for the renewable MWs that state load serving entities (LSE) must have in their portfolios by a specified date. RPSs, mandated in D.C. and 29 states, are at least partially responsible for 56% of the 120 GW of renewables built since 2000, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
EPA analysis of its own new climate proposal: thousands of people will die
Vox | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in Energy, Federal NewsThe Environmental Protection Agency has released the details of its plan to replace President Obama’s signature climate change policy, the Clean Power Plan, and it’s pretty much what we expected: a tepid pledge to fight climate change that’s actually a coal bailout.For the new proposal to stand, it has to be just as good as or better than the one it replaces in order to comply with the law. But it’s much weaker than the rule it’s replacing, so the EPA is arguing for a cost-benefit calculation that justifies a relaxed standard.
Georgia seeks new approaches for rural areas
The Moultrie Observer | Posted onAugust 22, 2018 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsAs a new think tank focused on rural Georgia starts up, the state’s small-town lawmakers regrouped in hopes of drumming up fresh strategies for growing jobs in districts like theirs. “Everything that we do is geared towards possible legislation that will address the issues of rural Georgia and economic development in rural Georgia, so this is not just a feel-good presentation,” Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, who co-chairs the House Rural Development Council, said to the group.“This is to actually try to move the needle in rural Georgia,” Powell said.