AgClips
Recent AgClips
Machines take over for people at Napa vineyard
Capital Press | Posted onMay 16, 2018 in Agriculture NewsIn the heart of the Napa Valley, a vineyard produces fine Cabernet Sauvignon with virtually no help from laborers. The 40-acre “touchless vineyard” was established by Kaan Kurtural, a University of California Cooperative Extension specialist who has devoted much of his career to improving production efficiency in vineyards as labor shortages have worsened. “We set this up to be a no-touch vineyard,” he said.
2019 Maryland Operating Budget Includes Historic Funding for Rural Communities
Rural Maryland Council | Posted onMay 16, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe Maryland Legislature approved the Fiscal Year 2019 State Operating Budget that includes funds to support the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund (RMPIF), a key step forward in addressing disparities in the State’s rural areas. The Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund will receive $6,000,000 in funding for targeted investment to promote economic prosperity in Maryland’s traditionally disadvantaged and undeserved rural communities.
U.S. ‘Nothing But You and the Cows and the Sirens’ — Crime Tests Sheriffs Who Police Small Towns
Wall Street Journal | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsRoss County, with its rolling forested green hills and quaint two-century-old county seat, is an image of idyllic rural America. But as night fell here on a warm Tuesday in May, chaos descended on the Ross County Sheriff’s Office. A neighbor called to report a disturbance, likely a violent domestic dispute, and another called to report a man slumped over the steering wheel of his pickup, likely an overdose. Calls of other suspicious vehicles came flooding in.
The Linkages between Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Regional Food Networks
Choices magazine | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Agriculture NewsEntrepreneurship has been the key driving force in developing and designing innovative food strategies at local and regional levels. Food strategies include methods and procedures of production, aggregation, distribution, transportation, marketing, and resource management. The three pillars of creating and establishing a successful venture involve entrepreneurial mindsets/attributes, entrepreneurial knowledge/skills, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
This Jobs Program Just Might Get People Back to Work
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsWhen the man in the teal hoodie mentioned that he had trained as a pharmacy technician, Lachelle Hill’s voice rose in excitement. “Why don’t I see that on here?” the state job counselor asked, pointing at the paperwork on the table between them. Unemployment insurance beneficiaries are required to look for work, but Hill wasn’t just checking Corey’s paperwork for compliance. She was helping him focus his job search, and trying to steer him toward positions he was qualified for.Such conversations are central to a reemployment grant program that the U.S.
Bee colonies stable despite steep annual losses
Capital Press | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Agriculture NewsWhile beekeepers have experienced severe annual colony losses for more than a decade, they’ve managed to keep total hive numbers stable, the USDA has found. More than a decade since the appearance of the mysterious “colony collapse disorder,” beekeepers still face abnormally high levels of bee die-offs, according to USDA.Despite the greater annual mortality rate, however, beekeepers have kept the total number of hives stable and generally haven’t sharply hiked up their pollination service fees, the agency found.
United States Issues First-Ever WTO Counter Notification Against India’s Market Price Support
USDA | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsU.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced that the United States submitted a counter notification in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Agriculture (COA) on India’s market price support (MPS) for wheat and rice. Filed on May 4, 2018, this is the first ever COA notification under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture regarding another country’s measures. Based on U.S. calculations, it appears that India has substantially underreported its market price support for wheat and rice.
The state of America's farmland
American Farmland Trust | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in NewsThe report’s research shows that between 1992 and 2012, almost 31 million acres of agricultural land were irreversibly lost to development. That is nearly double the amount of conversion previously documented and is equivalent to losing most of Iowa or New York. As alarming, this loss included almost 11 million acres of the best land for intensive food and crop production. This is land where the soils, micro-climates, growing seasons, and water availability combine to allow intensive production with the fewest environmental impacts.
Appeals court takes up challenge to Winona County's sand mining ban
Minnesota Public Radio | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Energy, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe tiny particles of silica sand found in Winona County are very round and hard — perfect for "fracking," the process of extracting oil and gas from below ground.But Minnesota Sands LLC, which leases about 3,000 acres in the area, can't mine the sand because Winona County banned sand mining for industrial purposes in 2016, citing environmental and health concerns.It's still allowed for construction and agriculture, among other local uses. Minnesota Sands will argue in an appeals court hearing Thursday that the ban violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S.
Center offers local leaders help in navigating big wind energy deals
Nebraska Radio Network | Posted onMay 15, 2018 in Energy NewsSeveral wind energy projects are being proposed and planned across the region and most of them need approval at the county level before advancing to state and federal levels. Lucas Nelsen, a program policy associate at the Lyons-based Center for Rural Affairs, says many county leaders don’t have the expertise needed to come up with appropriate rules and policies.“Counties can find themselves way over their heads just from the amount of information they have to dig through,” Nelsen says. “What we wanted to develop was a guide that just lays out the basic features of a wind energy ordinance.