AgClips
Recent AgClips
State officials work to dismantle business incentive transparency, accountability bill
The Tennessean | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe agency responsible for attracting business to Tennessee has worked behind the scenes to dismantle state legislation that could increase transparency and accountability for business grants and tax breaks. Officials from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, with the backing of Gov.
New York DREAM Act held up by overly broad language
Albany Times Union | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsHeralded as a boon to undocumented immigrant New Yorkers, the DREAM Act has been on hold for more than two months because of legislative language that would allow foreign nationals attending college on temporary visas to obtain state tuition assistance.The legislation, which bounced around the Capitol for a decade before being passed by the Assembly and Senate in January, was crafted to benefit so-called "Dreamers," undocumented immigrant students who in many cases have lived most of their lives in America.
Trump Greenlights Major Medicaid Changes
Pew Trust | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Federal NewsThe Trump administration is allowing states to enact new Medicaid rules that will curtail benefits and reduce, rather than expand, the number of people eligible for the federal-state health program for the poor. New work requirements have received most of the attention. This year, the administration has granted permission to Arizona and Ohio to impose work requirements of 80 hours a month for most able-bodied adults.Since 2017, at least 15 states have either applied for or received permission to impose work requirements.
Three decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Alaska’s coast faces an even bigger threat
High Country News | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Energy NewsThe tragedy of that coastal Alaska paradise is only deepening as it enters another, even darker act.Changes brought by human emissions of carbon dioxide — warming and acidifying ocean waters — have proved as destructive as the spill, and they will not disperse, as the oil eventually did.A rich, complex community of life established on these shores after ice receded 10 millennia ago. It probably takes a period of stability that long for the relationships of a many-channeled food web to develop.
Iowa Senate bill could block group from using state loans to buy land for conservation, flood efforts
KCRG | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe Iowa Senate has passed a bill, Senate File 548, that would prevent an organization from buying land using a state loan program for water quality and flood mitigation projects. Some Senate Republicans said Wednesday the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has been using the low-interest loan program called the State Revolving Fund to buy land and then donate it to government conservation agencies.
Federal judge issues injunction on Lake Erie Bill of Rights
Farm and Dairy | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Agriculture NewsA federal district court has granted a temporary injunction on the City of Toledo’s recent action that gives Lake Erie its own legal rights.
Farmland Values and Debt: Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska
Farm Policy News | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Agriculture NewsAs farm income has fallen over the past few years, farm equity has also fallen, but it is only down about 5 percent from the peak in 2014, stabilized by high land values…with low commodity prices, farmers have increasingly tapped into their real estate equity to provide operating funds. Today, total debt is approaching record levels in real terms, and real estate debt has reached a record high in 2018.Farm real estate debt is expected to reach $263.7 billion in 2019, a 5.1-percent annual increase in nominal terms and a 3.3-percent rise in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Bitter Harvest: Debt And The Bankrupting Of The American Family Farm
Forbes | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Agriculture NewsMinnesota dairy farmers Amanda and Derek Zigan are still paying for a bold bet they made when dairy prices were flying high. The couple built a new barn equipped with state-of-the-art milking equipment, hoping to reduce their dependence on hired help, lower their vet bills and keep their cows healthier and more productive. Back in 2014, a local paper dubbed them Todd County, Minnesota’s first robotic farm.Then the bottom fell out of the dairy market.
Land conservation helps local economies grow
Eureka Alert | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsLand conservation modestly increases employment rates, a traditional indicator of economic growth, according to an analysis of New England cities and towns, led by scientists at Amherst College, Harvard Forest, the Highstead Foundation, and Boston University.
Boswell defends ERS, NIFA moves
Agri-Pulse | Posted onMarch 28, 2019 in Federal NewsA USDA senior adviser acknowledged “missed opportunities to engage stakeholders” on the department’s plan to move the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture outside the Washington, D.C., area, but said the relocations would benefit both employees and taxpayers.