AgClips
Recent AgClips
Killer wildfires continue to menace California's wine country, with 24 dead and hundreds missing
The Washington Post | Posted onOctober 12, 2017 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsThe 21 fires currently burning across the northern part of the state have killed at least 24 people, destroyed more than 3,500 buildings and torched more than 191,000 acres — a collective area nearly the size of New York City. Nine fires are now burning in Sonoma and Napa counties, the heart of California’s wine-growing industry.
Oregon county’s aerial spray ban gets day in court
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 12, 2017 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsSupporters of a prohibition against aerial pesticide spraying in Oregon’s Lincoln County are urging a judge to uphold the ordinance even though it’s pre-empted by state law. Lincoln County Community Rights, which supports the ban, argues that Oregon law that pre-empt local governments from regulating pesticides is unconstitutional.The ordinance was approved by voters earlier this year but is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by landowners Rex Capri and Wakefield Farms, who rely on aerial spraying.During oral arguments on Oct.
National Farmers Day
Land O Lakes | Posted onOctober 12, 2017 in NewsWe think farmers are awesome. Let's show a little love to the men and women who work hard to put food on dinner tables. Farmers today produce 262% more fodd with 2% fewer inputs than they did in 1950.
Why Trump’s Immigration Demands Haven’t Changed the Dynamics on Hill
Roll Call | Posted onOctober 12, 2017 in Federal NewsPresident Donald Trump’s decision to push for his border wall as part of an immigration deal — after previously saying it would be dealt with separately — would, at first glance, seem to lower the probability of a bipartisan accord. But the prospects were already grim. So Sunday’s release of Trump’s immigration policy priorities caused no major shift in the dynamics on Capitol Hill.
Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico's food supply — here's what the island's farms look like now
Business Insider | Posted onOctober 11, 2017 in Agriculture, Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsIn the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the devastation to Puerto Rico has sunk in. Many of the island's 3.4 million residents are still without access to power, running water, and health services. The Category 4 storm also left Puerto Rico without most of its farmland, roughly a quarter of the island's land divided into over 13,000 farms. After Maria barreled through with 155-mph winds, it wiped out approximately 80% of the territory's crop value.
U.S. dairy calls for end to Canadian supply management
Politico | Posted onOctober 11, 2017 in Federal NewsU.S. dairy producers are taking a hard line ahead of the fourth round of the NAFTA talks this week by urging the Trump administration to push for elimination of Canada’s supply management system. “I don’t know what the U.S. government is going to do, but we certainly are talking very clearly that we need complete elimination of [Canadian] tariffs,” said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for strategic initiatives and trade policy at the National Milk Producers Federation.
Rural Manufacturing Survival and Its Role in the Rural Economy
Amber Waves - USDA | Posted onOctober 11, 2017 in Rural NewsManufacturing is more important to the rural economy than to the urban economy. Rural manufacturing plants survive longer than urban plants, making rural areas better poised to retain manufacturing jobs.Access to financial capital is strongly associated with rural plant survival, while State and local tax rates may not be. However, U.S. manufacturing employment has been declining since the 1950s. Between 2001 and 2015, a period that included the 2001 and 2007-09 recessions, manufacturing employment fell by close to 30 percent.
‘Farm to Flask’ Distillers Lifting Local Spirits
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted onOctober 11, 2017 in Agriculture, Food, SARL Members and Alumni NewsDan Beardsley’s great-grandfather made moonshine on the family farm to make ends meet during Prohibition. Now he can boost farm profits with a legal distillery, thanks to a new Connecticut law that took effect Oct. 1. The law, based on a similar “farm to flask” law enacted in New York almost a decade ago, allows farmers to distill and sell spirits using their own produce without high-priced licenses or distribution requirements.
Sportsmen See Bad Precedent in Reopening Compromise to Protect Western Range Bird
DTN | Posted onOctober 10, 2017 in Federal, Rural NewsLeaders for sportsmen's and conservation groups in Western states are becoming more critical over the Trump administration's decision last week to reopen a protection agreement for the greater sage grouse in 11 states. After months of internal discussions, the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced last week it would reopen public comments on 98 greater sage grouse land-management plans across the West. BLM cited the need to respond to a U.S.
EPA chief: I’d ‘do away with’ wind, solar tax credits
The Hill | Posted onOctober 10, 2017 in Energy NewsEnvironmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said on Monday that the federal tax credits for the wind and solar power industries should be eliminated. Pruitt told a crowd at a Kentucky Farm Bureau event that the credits stand in the way of utility companies making the best decisions about power generation.“I would do away with these incentives that we give to wind and solar,” he said, referring to wind’s production tax credit and solar’s investment tax credit.