AgClips
Recent AgClips
Kentucky cuts vision, dental care for up to 460,000 people
Associated Press | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsGov. Matt Bevin’s administration cut dental and vision coverage for as many as 460,000 Kentuckians after his Medicaid overhaul plan was rejected in court. The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services called the cuts an “unfortunate consequence” of Friday’s ruling by a federal judge. Democrats and advocates for the poor condemned the Republican governor’s move as rash and possibly illegal. U.S. District Judge James E.
As State ‘Water Wars’ Get Salty, Oysters Get a Say
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsFlorida and Georgia have been arguing about the water that flows into the Apalachicola Bay for three decades, about as long as Tommy Ward and his family have been selling oysters from the bay. Florida says Georgia draws more than its fair share of water from the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers before they fuse to create the Apalachicola River. Georgia uses the water to supply thirsty Atlanta and the vast farmland south of the metropolis.
Wisconsin’s Dairy Future: The Walmart Impact
WSAW | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsAn agricultural business expert says Wisconsin’s cheese production would likely act as a buffer if the milk processing model Walmart started using this summer ever expanded to impact America's Dairyland. "It should be remembered for Wisconsin, 85 to 90 percent of our milk goes to cheese manufacturing," University of Wisconsin – Madison College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Renk Professor of Agribusiness Brian Gould said. “For Wisconsin, beverage milk is not that important. For individual farms it is if they happen to supply to a plant.
Electric co-ops say tax law threatens rural broadband aid
Agri-Pulse | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Energy NewsA little-noticed provision in the 2017 tax reform law could threaten the non-profit status of rural electric cooperatives if they use federal disaster aid or take advantage of a new initiative to expand broadband service. The provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts means that government grants to co-ops, including disaster aid and assistance through a rural broadband program Congress enacted earlier this year, are now taxable, according to a letter the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has (NRECA) sent to the congressional tax-writing committees. Under Section 118 of the old
Oregon OSHA adopts stricter rules for pesticide drift protection
Capital Press | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsOregon OSHA adopted rules Monday establishing “Application Exclusion Zones” under the federal Worker Protection Standard to shield farmworkers from drifting pesticides in fields and orchards. Oregon regulators will allow farmworkers and their families to take shelter indoors from drifting pesticides under controversial rules adopted Monday by the state Occupational Health and Safety Administration, or Oregon OSHA.
Trump country hit hard by Chinese tariffs
Politico | Posted onJuly 7, 2018 in NewsThe brunt of the penalties are likely to affect U.S. soybean growers. Nearly one-third of U.S. soybeans, or about $14 billion, is sent to China each year, where the commodity is primarily used to feed China’s enormous pork industry. Now that the commodity is about to become significantly more expensive, Brazil and other alternative soybean growers will be the beneficiaries of the escalating tensions. The latest actions will be on top of the tariffs on about $3 billion in U.S.
Aging agriculture: Older beginning farmers struggle to find land, break into farming
Ames Tribune | Posted onJuly 7, 2018 in NewsBen counts himself among farming’s “lost generation,” the people in their 30s and 40s that want to start farming, but can’t find the land, equipment, capital or support from the industry to begin. Ben was born in eastern Iowa, and his family moved near Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri when his dad bought a few acres of land to farm on. They lost the farm during the 1980s Farm Crisis, and Barron started looking into the trades with the goal of starting his own contractor business. He came as close as walking into an advisor to talk about a small business loan.
Trump's trade war against China is officially underway
The New York Times | Posted onJuly 7, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsA trade war between the world’s two largest economies officially began on Friday morning as the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, a significant escalation of a fight that could hurt companies and consumers in both the United States and China. The penalties, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m., prompted quick retaliation by Beijing. China said it immediately put its own similarly sized tariffs on an unspecified clutch of American goods.
Smithfield getting beat up in costly court cases
Farm Futures | Posted onJuly 5, 2018 in Agriculture NewsLate last Friday, a North Carolina jury again ruled against Smithfield Foods in a nuisance lawsuit. The jury awarded a couple who live over 1/4 mile from the concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) $25 million for flies, odor and large tractor trailers going by their property. The jury deliberated for three days according to sources. Sources say this was Smithfield’s best case, and the farm itself was owned by a former local police chief.
EPA leader Scott Pruitt resigns after numerous scandals
CNBC | Posted onJuly 5, 2018 in Federal Newscott Pruitt's polarizing tenure as head of the Environmental Protection Agency has come to an end. President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that he has accepted Pruitt's resignation. Trump said that the agency's deputy administrator, Andrew Wheeler, will become the acting head of EPA. The departure follows months of scrutiny that gathered momentum following reports that Pruitt had rented a Capitol Hill condominium linked to an energy lobbyist on favorable terms.