AgClips
Recent AgClips
Fight over household wells highlights rural growing pains
High Country News | Posted onFebruary 8, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsIn 2016, a Washington Supreme Court ruling put the brakes on rural homebuilding in several areas across the state. The so-called Hirst decision required counties to prove that new household wells wouldn’t drain needed water from nearby streams before they issued building permits. But last month, state legislators, under pressure from landowners and building and realtors’ associations, passed a bill that, with some caveats, allows new wells. The challenge of balancing rural growth with the needs of other water users and the environment extends far beyond Washington state.
Why the Bundy crew keeps winning in court
High Country News | Posted onFebruary 8, 2018 in Federal NewsLast week a Las Vegas jury acquitted two men — Ricky Lovelien of Montana and Steven Stewart of Idaho — for their parts in the 2014 armed standoff between the federal government and supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy. The jury found co-defendants Eric Parker and Scott Drexler not guilty of most charges but deadlocked on some. When it comes to trying the Bundys and their supporters, federal prosecutors now have a terrible record, winning just two convictions after two trials of six defendants in Nevada this year.
Montana legislators again push for FSIS investigation
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onFebruary 8, 2018 in Federal, SARL Members and Alumni NewsA state congressional delegation from Montana has sent a second request to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service asking for an investigation into the actions of federal inspectors overseeing meat plants in that state. The lawmakers first sent a letter in December to the agency’s Inspector General Phyllis K.
Listeria found in NY raw milk; state urges public to throw it out
Food Safety News | Posted onFebruary 8, 2018 in Food NewsNew York officials again today warned the public to immediately dispose of unpasteurized Breese Hollow Dairy raw milk because of Listeria monocytogenes contamination. The state has issued Listeria alerts for the dairy’s raw milk at least three other times since 2007. The David Phippen Farm, which operates under the Breese Hollow name, suspended operations on Feb. 2, when state agriculture officials informed the owners that a routine test sample showed preliminary positive results for Listeria monocytogenes.
The USDA predicts a 12-Year Low in Farm Profits
Pacific Standard | Posted onFebruary 8, 2018 in Federal NewsLackluster crop prices and signs of stress for agriculture have continued in 2018, as the United States Department of Agriculture predicts net U.S. farm profits to hit a 12-year low, according to a new report.
The first USDA Farm Income Forecast of 2018, released on Wednesday, predicts a 6.7 percent decline in net farm income, in addition to the lowest average of net cash farm income since 2011.
The big public land sell-out
High Country News | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Rural NewsNext month, hundreds of corporate representatives will sit down at their computers, log into something called Energynet, and bid, eBay style, for more than 300,000 acres of federal land spread across five Western states. They will pay as little as $2 per acre for control of parcels in southeastern Utah’s canyon country, Wyoming sage grouse territory and Native American ancestral homelands in New Mexico. Even as public land advocates scoff at the idea of broad transfers of federal land to states and private interests, this less-noticed conveyance continues unabated.
Court sides with Humane Society in pork case
The Fence Post | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThe U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today ruled that the National Pork Board must cease further payments to the National Pork Producers Council for purchase of the slogan, "Pork: The Other White Meat," but did not agree with all the plaintiffs' arguments in the case. The case had been filed by the Humane Society of the United States, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, and Harvey Dillenburg, an independent pig farmer, against the Agriculture Department, which oversees checkoff programs.
Empty barns: Prolonged low milk prices pressuring dairy farms to fold
InForum | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThere wasn't really a last straw that made Billy Euerle walk away from his Garfield dairy farm last year.Things had been bad for several years.He trudged through his days, milking Hot Chocolate and Caroline and Brooke and all the others, barely sleeping. Facing terrible milk prices and crushing debt, he struggled to find motivation. Every chore seemed to take twice as long, and his whole family was feeling the stress. To top it off, severe storms in 2017 ravaged several farm buildings."You just had to fool yourself every day that you were going to make it," said Euerle, a father of four.
Why 6 millennial entrepreneurs chose this tiny Iowa town to run their businesses
Des Moines Register | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsBut this isn’t a column about rural neglect and decay. It’s about the new — the surprisingly vibrant business community in this tiny town of 230 people whose downtown anchor is a 154-year-old retail store.
Australian farmland to be offered to local buyers first under new rules introduced by Federal Government
ABC Australia | Posted onFebruary 7, 2018 in Agriculture NewsNew rules overseeing the sale of Australian farmland to foreign investors will force real estate agents to show they have given local investors the chance to purchase the land first. Treasurer Scott Morrison's new 30-day advertising clause will become part of the guidelines the Foreign Investment Review Board considers when assessing the sale of farmland.Sellers will have to demonstrate they have undertaken an open and transparent process.